Penguins forward prospect Filip Hallander made a bold statement on his goals for the main training camp when he spoke during development camp.
"I'm here to take a spot," he said. "If you're coming to main (training) camp, you have to have the mindset of taking a spot."
His first few days of training camp didn't exactly put him in the best position to do that, though.
Hallander missed the first four days of training camp with what Mike Sullivan called a "nagging lower-body injury" at the time. He rejoined one of the Penguins' practice groups in a non-contact jersey for another practice before finally being a full participant on Day 6.
By then, he had missed all of the early training camp scrimmages, and wasn't quite ready to be thrown into those early preseason games.
When the Penguins play their fourth game of the six-game preseason schedule Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena against the Sabres, Hallander will be in the lineup for the first time.
"I'm just happy to be back and play," he said after Tuesday's morning skate. "I'm just looking forward to an opportunity to show myself and show my skills and help the team."
This will be the first NHL preseason game of Hallander's career, after missing the previous preseasons while playing in the SHL season in Sweden. It's just the preseason, but it'll be the first time he gets to put on an actual Penguins jersey, and play an actual game in North America.
"It's exciting, and I'm a bit nervous as well, I'm not gonna lie," he said. "It's a big moment and of course it's just preseason, but for me it's an opportunity to show myself as well so I'm looking forward to it."
While it would have been ideal for Hallander to be able to participate in training camp from the beginning and get into more preseason games, Sullivan says that the door hasn't closed on Hallander's initial goal of coming into training camp and taking a spot.
"There is time," Sullivan said. "There is opportunity. ... I'll be more interested in watching him in an NHL exhibition game and seeing how he performs, so he's going to get an opportunity tonight. And it will give us an opportunity to get more familiar with his game. It's unfortunate that he's been hurt because it's robbed him of those opportunities to this point, but he's back in the fold right now."
Just from watching Hallander in practices, Sullivan praised his work in the battle areas and play around the net, as well as the "edge" in his game.
Hallander's goal hasn't changed, though it may have been made more difficult by the circumstances at the start of camp. But there's a full week before the puck drops for the start of the Penguins' season on Oct. 12 in Tampa Bay, and Hallander is looking to use that time to prove that he belongs in the opening night lineup.
"I'm just trying to make the most of it, the time that's left before season starts."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• Sullivan said that Zach Aston-Reese and Jake Guentzel, who both tested positive for COVID-19, continue to improve. He said that Aston-Reese did have symptoms but is feeling better, and Guentzel to this point remains asymptomatic. NHL protocols say that a vaccinated player remains in isolation for 10 days from the onset of symptoms. In Guentzel's case, since he is asymptomatic, my understanding is that he would be handled the way asymptomatic cases were last season, where two negative tests a day apart would clear a player to return.
• Casey DeSmith will play the full game for the Penguins, Louis Domingue will back up.
• The Sabres will have Aaron Dell and Dustin Tokarski split the game in net.
• The Penguins used these lines in the skate:
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Radim Zohorna - Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn - Teddy Blueger - Kasper Bjorkqvist
Filip Hallander - Drew O'Connor - Anthony Angello
• Zohorna spoke about what it's like playing center at this level, having also played center in the preseason game in Buffalo. Zohorna was dealing with a non-COVID illness to start the season, and said that he still doesn't feel so good, making that game in Buffalo more difficult.
"It was after that flu that I had, so it was very hard for me," he said. "It's harder to play center than wing. The center must skate some more. We'll see, I hope this game will be good."
• The defense pairings rotated. Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin skated as a pair, and Marcus Pettersson and Mark Friedman skated as a pair. Juuso Riikola rotated with both Letang and Dumoulin on either side, and P.O Joseph did the same with Pettersson and Friedman.
With four left-handed defensemen in the lineup and no clues from the skate pairings as to whether Riikola (who has experience on the right side) or Joseph (who has no experience on the right side) will play on their off side, I asked Sullivan if they'd use this game as an opportunity to see how both fare in that position.
"Possibly, possibly," he said. "Yes. Juuso has played the right side for us. I know it's not his ideal position, but he is capable. And so he'll start on the right side. We'll see how it goes from there.
• Hallander said that he's been getting to know his fellow Swede, Pettersson. But he's gotten close with the Finnish players in camp, noting that a lot of the Finns speak Swedish as well. He's not quite able to speak with the Finns in their own language, though.
"I'm far away from speaking Finnish," he laughed.
• The top power play unit remained the same from last game: Letang, Kasperi Kapanen, Bryan Rust, Jeff Carter, Danton Heinen
• The second power play unit was Joseph, Riikola, Jason Zucker, Anthony Angello, Radim Zohorna
• The first penalty-killing unit was Pettersson, Dumoulin, Brock McGinn, Teddy Blueger
• The second penalty-killing unit was Kasper Bjorkqvist, Drew O'Connor, Hallander, Friedman
• The Sabres used the following lines at their morning skate in Buffalo, per NHL.com's Heather Engel. The defense rotated.
Brett Murray - Dylan Cozens - Jack Quinn
Drake Caggiula - Tage Thompson - JJ Peterka
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby - Arttu Ruotsalainen - Victor Olofsson
Anders Bjork - Cody Eakin - John Hayden
