CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins will have plenty of issues to address when they convene at their practice facility in Cranberry, Pa. Friday for the first day of training camp drills.
Such as, which forwards will play where, and with whom?
Who will slide into the void on the No. 1 power-play unit that was created when Phil Kessel was traded to the Coyotes this summer?
What will be the lingering effects of their four-game loss to the Islanders in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs?
The simple truth is, the average Agatha Christie novel probably doesn't generate as many questions as Mike Sullivan and his staff will be confronting over the next few weeks.
Oh, sure, there are some pretty safe bets -- for starters, Sidney Crosby will line up alongside Jake Guentzel and work like he cares a lot, Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang will form the top defense pairing and Matt Murray will be the go-to goalie -- but even some things that seem fairly set might not necessarily be.
Consider this: The way Mike Sullivan sees it, there actually will be spots on the major-league roster up for grabs over the next few weeks.
Never mind that the Penguins have returned most of their 2018-19 squad or that, more importantly, CapFriendly.com says they have 12 forwards, eight defensemen and three goalies on one-way contracts, which pay the same salary, regardless of where the player works. Those totals do not include forward Dominik Kahun, who is on an entry-level deal but is expected to contend for a top-six role.
"I think there's always jobs," Sullivan said. "This is a league where performance is always going to be the (determining factor). We're a team that has high expectations, so we're going to demand excellence."
Perhaps, but Jim Rutherford likely isn't eager to pay an NHL salary to someone playing in Wilkes-Barre. That means prospects who might be capable of getting games with the parent club this winter -- guys like forwards Sam Lafferty and Anthony Angello and defensemen Calen Addison and John Marino, among others -- probably would have to significantly outperform someone with a one-way contract to still be in the NHL three weeks from now.
That doesn't mean it couldn't happen, though.
"Even if you're committed to a one-way player, if somebody else plays better -- whether you figure it out coming out of camp or within the first month or two -- that player, we'll get them in the lineup," Rutherford said. "We have good depth at all positions now. If somebody else steps up and is better and bumps somebody out (of a job), we'll figure out how to make that work."
He added that he expects to carry "22 or 23" players on his Opening Night roster.
A key variable in all of this is how Rutherford clears the salary-cap space needed to accommodate the one-year, $874,125 contract defenseman Marcus Pettersson signed today. If he does it via surgical demotions to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, creating just enough cap space to squeeze in that contract, the chances of someone ascending to the NHL roster on the basis of a strong showing in the preseason shrink. If, however, Rutherford pulls off a multi-player trade, it could open a spot for someone who didn't appear to be in management's short-term plans just a few months ago.
Rutherford has said he has contemplated moves that could be made if he is unable to work out a trade, but has not detailed them. Teams are allowed to exceed the cap ceiling by 10 percent during the off-season and Rutherford declined to speculate on when space-clearing moves could be made, saying only that it will happen "prior to Opening Night."
Although it's impossible to predict what trade possibilities might develop over the next few weeks -- variables like training-camp injuries and sub-par performances during the preseason could have a significant impact of what other teams are interested in doing -- Sullivan seems certain of at least a few things once on-ice workouts commence.
"It's going to be a competitive camp," he said. "We're excited about the group we have. I think there's a lot of depth we have in our organization, at all the positions. I know we're going to have some difficult decisions, as a coaching staff."