Penguins Training Camp: New groups, power play work begins

Talkin’ Pens practice

The Penguins have gone from three training camp teams down to two practice groups But other than sending six players back to juniors on Saturday, they haven’t made wide roster cuts yet. A handful of players who aren’t in either group skated before the two teams, a likely sign their days in NHL camp are very numbered.

Stitching together the two teams, you can see some early formations of what could be the eventual starting points for the season.

Some interesting angles and observations that stand out. There’s no need to over-react in any directions about a September practice splits but we can also start to take a little measure of the developing picture.

• Anthony Beauvillier continues to get a look with the Crosby-Rust duo. Drew O’Connor has been the wildcard of camp, moved around to several different lines and from wing to center for the preseason game. As they learn more about the combinations, a switch could be coming there (it’s not likely O’Connor is going to be on the fourth line for much longer) but the opportunity for Beauvillier to keep a key spot is still on the table.
• The obvious early camp experiment to see Ville Koivunen with star players looks like it’s wrapped up, Michael Bunting returns to his familiar position alongside Evgeni Malkin.
• Kevin Hayes staying on the wing looks like it’s turning into the answer of one of the more intriguing placements on the team. It does lead one to wonder if Hayes+Eller will have the footspeed to keep up, if they’re used together.
• Cody Glass continues to be featured in practices in key spots, which could tie into some bad news for Valtteri Puustinen, as evidenced by him ending up the odd player out and shuffled down with AHL level players today. Again, it’s one day of camp and it can’t be emphasized enough that reading too deeply for any big picture extrapolations is not wise. But if only for the day and early camp, the stock arrow is pointing up on Glass and at least stagnating a bit for Puustinen.
• Ditto some “where does he fit based on this” for Sam Poulin, who perhaps beginning to enter afterthought territory. Rolling on his off-wing with AHL players isn’t the most encouraging of spots, Poulin could use a preseason game and playing well to get back on the radar.
• Speaking of that, while some may fall, others will rise. Jesse Puljujarvi has had the most visible good day of anyone so far, and as a result he’s been rewarded with a promotion in placement from last week’s practice to now running with the two most NHL ready NHL prospects today. Puljujarvi’s hat trick performance against Buffalo surely didn’t go unnoticed, how he will build on this opportunity will be an interesting watch.

And for the defense:

• Erik Karlsson skated before practice, per a team rep. Doesn’t sound like anyone is too worried at all about his status, and Sebastian Aho again served as a placeholder today.
• While reading too much into early pre-season workflows is always unadvisable, it’s not difficult to understand that Matt Grzelyck and Kris Letang being attached at the hip so far this camp probably does mean something moving forward. Plans are always subject to change if it becomes apparent it’s not working well, but this long look is likely the Pens’ preferred second pair for this season.
• Ryan Shea had a good enough camp last year to unexpectedly make the team at the start of the regular season. Just a little nugget to keep in mind for future roster outcomes when debating who the seventh (or eighth) defender on the roster might be.

The team also started working on their power play for the first time.

No surprises there, the personnel hasn’t changed, it is what it is. How new assistant coach David Quinn can scheme up a design and what kind of mentality he can create for them will ultimately determine how much improvement we may see from last season or not.