It's still not clear whether Kasper Bjorkqvist will get into the Penguins' lineup for Tuesday's game against the Lightning, or who would come out of the lineup if he did play.
One thing is clear, though. If the Penguins were going to recall any forward from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after Monday's practice like they did, Bjorkqvist was the forward who earned a call.
"He's been one of (Wilkes-Barre's) best forwards," Mike Sullivan said after Tuesday's optional morning skate. "That was one of the decision-makers on why Kasper get called up. It is without question merit-based."
Bjorkqvist played left wing on the third line in the first two games of Wilkes-Barre's season, then was moved to the second line for the most recent two games after head coach J.D. Forrest shuffled the line combinations, something he told me was in part due to Bjorkqvist's play in those first two games.
Bjorkqvist has one goal in those four games, the overtime-winner against Hartford in the third game of the season:
Beyond the goal, Bjorkqvist has been physical, solid defensively, and a key part of the Wilkes-Barre penalty kill that has killed the last 10 opponent power plays its faced and is currently operating at an 88.2 percent success rate. In this play, he breaks up a pass between two Charlotte players to get the puck out of the Penguins' end:
Early in the Penguins' training camp, I asked Sullivan what his impressions were of Bjorkqvist, and he praised Bjorkqvist's compete level and size, listed at 6-foot-1, 198 pounds. Sullivan also called Bjorkqvist "positionally sound," which is a common thread in assessments coaches have given about Bjorkqvist. Nailers head coach Derek Army, who has never coached Bjorkqvist but is very familiar with his game because he watched him at Providence College, told me last month that "you'll never see him out of position."
Bjorkqvist played in three of Pittsburgh's six preseason games, going scoreless but recording three shots on goal, three hits, and drawing one penalty. At the start of camp, Sullivan said that the thing they'd most like to see Bjorkqvist improve is his speed. After watching Bjorkqvist in those preseason games, I asked Sullivan Tuesday what his impressions are now of Bjorkqvist, especially in regards to his skating.
"I think his pace has improved," Sullivan said. "Kasper is a guy that I think has the ability to play at this level and be a real conscientious player. He's a big body, he's strong in the puck, he's a real good penalty-killer. He's strong on the walls and in the battle areas. I would anticipate him being a very good role player."
Sullivan wouldn't disclose whether Bjorkqvist would be in the lineup for Tuesday's game. But it sounds like we'll be seeing Bjorkqvist playing in Pittsburgh at some point this season.
"It's hard to win a Stanley Cup with just 12 forwards, six defenseman and two goalies," Sullivan said. "It takes a whole lot more than that, and Kasper is in the conversation right now."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• The players who participated in the optional skate are Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith, Marcus Petterson, Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman, Juuso Riikola, Sidney Crosby, Dominik Simon, Teddy Blueger, Bjorkqvist, Sam Lafferty, Brian Boyle, Drew O'Connor.
• Crosby and Bryan Rust skated before practice, then Crosby stayed on the ice for the optional skate. Sullivan said that he will not play Tuesday.
Crosby worked on physical contact along the boards during the session with Bjorkqvist, a step in Crosby's recovery process. Crosby is wearing black in these clips, Bjorkqvist is in gold:
• Sullivan said that Kris Letang is symptomatic after testing positive for COVID-19, which means he must be isolated at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms, pet NHL COVID protocols. Jeff Carter remains asymptomatic, and Sullivan expects him to be able to come out of COVID protocol by the end of the week.
• Jarry will start in net.
• Kasperi Kapanen is still looking for his first goal of the season, but Sullivan isn't so concerned about Kapanen not finding the back of the net yet.
"He's a real good player," Sullivan said. "He's got a good shot. He has good offensive instincts, he's had a number of chances, the puck hasn't gone in yet. We're more concerned when players don't get chances. In Kappy's case, he's had a number of chances throughout the course of the early part of the season here, and the puck hasn't gone in the net, but we're confident that he's going to score goals."
• This is just my own take here, but I don't know why everyone got all worked up over O'Connor not being a regular in the line rushes Monday, and instead rotated in on the wings of the second line. Obviously, Crosby needs to take line rushes at center when he's practicing. But he isn't ready to play yet. What makes more sense, as a result? Jumbling the rest of the line combinations by moving O'Connor down just to let Crosby practice, even if those wouldn't be the combinations used in today's game? Or do what they did, and allow Crosby to practice as a center while allowing O'Connor to also still skate with his linemates and allowing the bottom-six players to skate with theirs?
We've seen this several times before, situations where a player is practicing but won't play the next game, or absent from practice for some reason but will play the next game. Sullivan has shown that instead of jumbling all the other combinations just to accommodate that one circumstance in that one practice, he'd rather do something like what the Penguins did on Monday.
