Photo by Shelley Lipton/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
It’s almost the start of a new year
The season is getting closer than ever. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they’ve invited 51 players to camp that opens next week. They are:
(* denotes AHL only contract, ** is unsigned draft choice)
Goaltenders (6): Casey DeSmith, Alex D’Orio, Tristan Jarry, Emil Larmi, Matt Murray, Dustin Tokarski*
Defensemen (17): Mat Abt*, Calen Addison, Niclas Almari, Kevin Czuczman, Brian Dumoulin, Erik Gudbranson, Jack Johnson, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Michael Kim*, Kris Letang, John Marino, Marcus Pettersson, Juuso Riikola, Chad Ruhwedel, Justin Schultz, Zach Trotman, David Warsofsky
Forwards (31): Andrew Agozzino, Justin Almeida, Anthony Angello, Zach Aston-Reese, Jordy Bellerive, Kasper Bjorkqvist, Nick Bjugstad, Joseph Blandisi, Teddy Blueger, Joseph Cramarossa, Sidney Crosby, Thomas Di Pauli, Jan Drozg, Alex Galchenyuk, Jake Guentzel, Ryan Haggerty, Patric Hornqvist, Adam Johnson Dominik Kahun, Sam Lafferty, Nathan Legare**, Jake Lucchini, Evgeni Malkin, Jared McCann, Sam Miletic, Oula Palve, Samuel Poulin**, Bryan Rust, Ben Sexton*, Dominik Simon, Brandon Tanev
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No real surprises, there are no professional tryouts, at least at this time, which isn’t shocking since the Pens are pretty well-stocked and don’t have a lot of needs there.
Interesting to see the unsigned restricted free agent Pettersson invited as if nothing is out of sorts. Pettersson’s agent has indicated in interviews this summer the player won’t be coming back to America until his contract is signed and his work visa can be secured (which he needs the contract to complete). So we’ll see what happens there. It wouldn’t be too typical for an unsigned player to skate with the team in this scenario, but a contract should be signed sooner than later now given the date on the calendar.
One notable absence is Filip Hallander. Hallander has already started playing his year (on the top line no less!) with Lulea in Sweden as their season has begun, so he’ll be staying out there all year.
Otherwise, as expected all the NCAA draftees like Penn State’s Nikita Pavlychev and Clayton Phillips and North Dakota’s Judd Caulfield are current enrolled in school and aren’t a part of a professional training camp.
And here’s the schedule. Per the team, all practices at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex will be free of charge and open to the public.
Friday, September 13
9:00-9:45 AM - Team 1 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
9:00-9:45 AM - Team 2 Practice (Covestro Rink - Rink 2)
10:00-10:45 AM - Team 1 vs. Team 2 Scrimmage (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
10:45-11:05 AM - Teams 1 and 2 Conditioning (Fedex Rink 1 & Covestro Rink 2)
11:30 AM-12:15 PM - Team 3 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
12:45-1:30 PM - Team 3 Practice and Conditioning (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
Saturday, September 14
9:00-9:45 AM - Team 2 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
9:00-9:45 AM - Team 3 Practice (Covestro Rink - Rink 2)
10:00-10:45 AM - Team 2 vs. Team 3 Scrimmage (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
10:45-11:05 AM - Teams 2 and 3 Conditioning (Fedex Rink 1 & 2)
11:30 AM-12:15 PM - Team 1 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
12:45-1:30 PM - Team 1 Practice and Conditioning (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
Sunday, September 15
9:00-9:45 AM - Team 3 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
9:00-9:45 AM - Team 1 Practice (Covestro Rink - Rink 2)
10:00-10:45 AM - Team 3 vs. Team 1 Scrimmage (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
10:45-11:05 AM - Teams 3 and 1 Conditioning (Fedex Rink 1 & 2)
11:30 AM-12:15 PM - Team 2 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
12:45-1:30 PM - Team 2 Practice and Conditioning (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
Monday, September 16
10:00 AM - Non-Game Group Practice (Covestro Rink - Rink 2)
11:30 AM - Morning Skate (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
7:00 PM - GAME AT BUFFALO (Penn State)
Tuesday, September 17
DAY OFF
Wednesday, September 18
10:10-11:30 AM - Team 1 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
12:40-2:00 PM - Team 2 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
Thursday, September 19
10:30 AM - Morning Skate (PPG Paints Arena)
12:15-1:45 PM - Non-Game Group Practice (PPG Paints Arena)
7:00 PM - GAME VS. COLUMBUS (PPG Paints Arena)
Friday, September 20
10:10-11:30 AM - Team 1 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
12:40-2:00 PM - Team 2 Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
Saturday, September 21
9:00-10:30 AM - Non-Game Group Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
2:00 PM - GAME AT COLUMBUS (Nationwide Arena)
Sunday, September 22
10:00-11:30 AM - Non-Game Group Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
5:00 PM - GAME AT DETROIT (Little Caesars Arena)
Monday, September 23
DAY OFF
Tuesday, September 24
11:00 AM - Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
Wednesday, September 25
10:30 AM - Morning Skate (PPG Paints Arena)
7:00 PM - GAME VS. DETROIT (PPG Paints Arena)
Thursday, September 26
12:00 PM - Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
Friday, September 27
11:00 AM - Practice (Fedex Rink - Rink 1)
Saturday, September 28
4:00 PM - GAME VS. BUFFALO (PPG Paints Arena)
Sunday, September 29
10:30 AM - Practice (PPG Paints Arena)
