The Penguins were movin’ and shakin’ on Thursday, sending five players to their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club and waiving six others.
The five players assigned to the Baby Pens include forwards Mathieu De St. Phalle and Aidan McDonough, defensemen Scooter Brickey and Chase Pietila and goalie Taylor Gauthier. Pietila is the lone player among the assignees on an NHL contract.
Hitting the waiver wire were forwards Danton Heinen, Joona Koppanen and Valtteri Puustinen, along with defensemen Sebastian Aho and Philip Kemp and goaltender Filip Larsson. If they aren’t claimed by 2 pm on Friday, they can be assigned to the Baby Pens.
With the possible exception of Heinen, a nine-year NHL vet with 96 big-league goals on his resume, no real surprises among the 11.
However, coach Dan Muse split the remaining players into two groups, and there were some definite surprises there. Forward Tristan Broz, who by all accounts enjoyed a strong preseason, and defenseman Owen Pickering practiced with what’s generally regarded as the minor-league group, along with Alexander Alexeyev, Robby Fabbri, Boko Imama, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Sam Poulin, plus McDonough and the six waived players.
That leaves the following players in what’s considered to be the NHL group:
Forwards: Noel Acciari, Justin Brazeau, Sidney Crosby, Connor Dewar, Filip Hållander, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindel, Ville Koivunen, Blake Lizotte, Anthony Mantha, Evgeni Malkin, Tommy Novak, Rickard Rakell and Philip Tomasino
Defense: Harrison Brunicke, Connor Clifton, Matt Dumba, Ryan Graves, Caleb Jones, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Ryan Shea and Parker Wotherspoon
Goal: Tristan Jarry, Sergei Murashov, Arturs Silovs
In other announcements, Bryan Rust will miss a minimum of two weeks with a lower-body injury. Hard-luck defenseman Jack St. Ivany is expected to be out six weeks with a lower-body injury.
They’ll join goalie Joel Blomqvist and forwards Kevin Hayes and Rutger McGroarty on the Rx list.
Phew! That’s a lot of activity to digest.
A few random thoughts.
The Pens are apparently giving serious consideration to keeping a pair of teens, the 18-year-old Kindel and the 19-year-old Brunicke, at least for a nine-game run. In particular, the former appears to have leapfrogged Broz, at least for the time being. Matched against the Red Wings’ and Sabres’ top lines, his play driving and overall play was exceptional.
With Imama all but ticketed for Wilkes, it appears the Pens will once more eschew a heavyweight in favor of a toughness by committee approach, with Acciari, Clifton, Dewar and Dumba the leading practitioners.
While I get that “Cookie’s” (Acciari’s) a warrior, not to mention a shot-blocking penalty killer, I’d be sorely tempted to cut bait with him.
Graves, too.
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Rick
Totally agree on Acciari, and I think you can add Hayes into that equation. Time to open it up and give
more of the younger players an opportunity. I know it's pre-season, but I like what I'm seeing. I only
saw a small sample of Pietila, but I like his toughness. Your thoughts?