CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins' season-opening roster became mostly set Monday afternoon with the semi-surprising demotion of Zach Aston-Reese to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL, along with journeyman defenseman Zach Trotman, as well as Mike Sullivan confirming that training camp sensation Juuso Riikola will start out with the big team.
Got all that?
If not, before getting into the moves themselves, here are the lines and pairings from the hour-long practice at the Lemieux Sports Complex:
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Simon-Brassard-Rust
Cullen-Sheahan-Aston-Reese
(Sprong-Grant)
Riikola-Letang
Maatta-Johnson
Oleksiak-Schultz
(Trotman-Ruhwedel)
Obviously, with Aston-Reese out, Daniel Sprong and Derek Grant will be the two vying for fourth-line duty alongside Matt Cullen and Riley Sheahan. Sprong was a partial participant in practice after hurting his left knee three days ago in Columbus and, though he told me afterward the knee "felt fine and I could push off on it," that might be enough to keep him out for the Thursday night opener with the Capitals.
Just as obviously, Chad Ruhwedel is the odd man out on defense while Riikola looks highly likely not only to make his NHL debut, but also to do that alongside Kris Letang on the top pairing. Brian Dumoulin, Letang's usual partner, sustained an upper-body injury in Columbus and, though Dumoulin skated on his own before the practice and Sullivan called that "encouraging," only one additional practice remains before the opener.
Aston-Reese and Sprong, the organization's top two prospects, had both been expected to make the roster. Jim Rutherford had stated as much on multiple occasions, and Sullivan evidently thought the same way. But Aston-Reese's recovery from reconstructive jaw surgery -- the result of a vicious high hit from the Capitals' Tom Wilson in the playoffs -- apparently took a toll on his summer preparation, at least from management's point of view, and he wasn't himself throughout camp or preseason games.
"I thought Zach got better as the camp went on," Sullivan said. "I thought the Columbus game was his best. But we know there's another level to his game, and part of the decision with Zach is what's best for him in the big picture. And we don't think it hurts for a guy like him to get a handful of games, to play a lot of minutes in critical situations to get his confidence back, to get his swagger to his game back. And so, we don't see any downside to this."
Sullivan had met with Aston-Reese -- and Trotman -- just before meeting with reporters.
"As I said to Zach, by no means does this diminish what we think of him as a player. We know he's an NHL player. And we know he's a guy who's going to help this Pittsburgh Penguins team win."
Aston-Reese doesn't need to clear waivers to go to the AHL. Although Sullivan didn't mention it, that surely was a factor, too.
"We talked about this decision a long time before it was made," Sullivan did say. "And part of that decision was what we felt was best for Zach's overall development as a player."
And did the rehab from jaw surgery, a process that forced him to eat for weeks through a straw and lose significant weight, plus the concussion symptoms that Aston-Reese himself described as being worse, have an impact?
"I think it had some," Sullivan replied to that. "That was a tough injury that he endured. This is the first bit of hockey he's had since. That was part of the discussion we had."
Aston-Reese spoke with reporters before being told of the demotion, though that questioning was entirely about Wilson's latest cheap shot, that to the Blues' Oskar Sundqvist in a preseason game Sunday:
I asked Aston-Reese about his emotions upon seeing that, particularly since he and Sundqvist had gotten to know each other in Wilkes-Barre when the latter was a Penguins prospect:
For Riikola, the 24-year-old with the smooth stride, skill set and power that prompted management to sign him out of the Finnish Elite League this past summer, it'll be the culmination of one of the most surprising camp showings for this franchise in recent memory.
Sullivan was adamant he wasn't surprised, though, if only because he kept an open mind from the outset.
"We didn't have any preconceived notions going into camp with him," Sullivan said. "Our scouts highly recommended him and they thought he could play our style. Based on my observations, they were right. He's a real good player and he had a really strong camp."
I asked Riikola before Sullivan's session if he'd already bought a house.
"Yeah."
Wait, what?
"No, I mean no," he came back with a broad smile. "I'm just happy to be here."
And does he feel he earned this opportunity?
"I don't know. I just played hockey."
Man of few words.
Only other news on the day: Tristan Jarry, out since the Columbus game with a lower-body injury, remained off the ice. Casey DeSmith clearly will back up Matt Murray in goal, as had been predicted all along, anyway.