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Penguins Make First 12 Roster Cuts

The Pittsburgh Penguins made their first training camp cuts today, re-assigning 12 players and whittling their camp roster down to 43.  Over the next 2 weeks, the Penguins will need to skinny the roster down by another 20 players to arrive at the 23 players required by September 30th for the start of the regular season.  General Manager Ray Shero announced that 10 players would be heading to the AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  This includes forwards Aaron Boogaard, Zack Sill, Joey Haddad, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Nick Petersen and Keven Veilleux.  Also heading to the AHL are defensemen Lane Caffaro, Brian Strait and Alex Grant and goaltender Jordan Parise.  The Penguins also re-assigned Nathan Moon to the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey league and released defenseman Jamie Hunt.  The roster moves leave the Penguins with 26 forwards, 13 defensemen and four goaltenders.

The entire Penguins team will head to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday night to participate in a Black and Gold intra-squad game at Wachovia Arena.  The Stanley Cup will be in attendance as a team of Penguins headed up by Sidney Crosby will take on another team of Penguins headed up by Evgeni Malkin.  The game is sold out and proceeds will be donated to charity.  The Penguins will then return home to face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday evening at Mellon Arena, before taking their pre-season on the road.

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Penguins Send 13 Players to AHL, Trim Roster to 29

As anticipated, Pittsburgh Penguins’ General Manager Ray Shero announced the next round of training camp cuts today, sending 13 players to the AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  The 13 players sent to Wilkes-Barre includes forwards Kris Beech, Ryan Stone, Adam Henrich, Aaron Boogaard, Tim Wallace, Jonathan Filewich, David Gove and Christopher Minard.  It also includes defensemen Deryk Engelland, T.J. Kemp, Ben Lovejoy and Joey Mormina, as well as goaltender David Brown.  The cuts trimmed the Penguins’ training camp roster to 29 players

Of the 29 remaining players, the Penguins have retained 16 forwards, 10 defensemen and 3 goaltenders.  That list includes propsects Janne Pesonen, Connor James, Paul Bissonnette, Bill Thomas, Alex Goligoski, Danny Richmond, and John Curry.  With surgery/injuries affecting the normal Penguins’ defensive lineup, Defensemen Alex Goligoski and/or Danny Richmond could find themselves on the roster as the season starts.  There is potential for one or two positions on wing being open for competition, as well, as training camp and pre-season hockey winds down. 

The current roster includes the following players (by natural position,  not necessarily the position they are being played)

• Left Wing
  • Ruslan Fedotenko
  • Jeff Taffe
  • Matt Cooke
  • Janne Pesonen
  • Paul Bissonnette (Converted from D)
  • Connor James
  • David Gove
• Center
  • Sidney Crosby
  • Evgeni Malkin
  • Jordan Staal
  • Tyler Kennedy
  • Max Talbot
• Right Wing
  • Miroslav Satan
  • Petr Sykora
  • Pascal Dupuis
  • Eric Godard
  • William Thomas
• Defense
  • Sergei Gonchar
  • Ryan Whitney
  • Mark Eaton
  • Hal Gill
  • Kris Letang
  • Brooks Orpik
  • Darryl Sydor
  • Rob Scuderi 
  • Alex Goligoski
  • Danny Richmond
• Goal
  • Marc-Andre Fleury
  • Dany Sabourin
  • John Curry

The Penguins’ prospects will have two more opportunities to impress the hockey staff before the team leaves for Sweden on Saturday night.  It is uncertain whether the Penguins will make the final roster cuts before they leave.  While I wouldn’t be surprised by a few cuts, I don’t expect they will cut to the final roster since they will still have several more days of practice in Sweden and a final pre-season game in Finland on October 2nd before the season starts in Stockholm on October 4th.  I expect that the Penguins coaching staff will keep their options open and guard against any late injuries while on the road overseas.  Therefore, I expect at least 1 or 2 extra forwards and defensemen to make the trip to Sweden.

The Penguins return to Mellon Arena on Wednesday night to host the Toronto Maple Leafs.  The roster for the game has not yet been released.  The game will be aired nationally on TSN.

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