The Penguins open the season at home on Tuesday at 8 p.m. against the Blackhawks.
Season-opening rosters are due the day before -- Monday at 5 p.m.
But based off of the personnel the Penguins had on the ice for Sunday's practice at PPG Paints Arena, we have a pretty good idea of what the Penguins' lineup could look like on opening night.
The Penguins came into training camp with two forward spots realistically up for grabs -- the 13th forward when healthy, and the third-line right wing spot. The fourth line has been pretty set as Matt Nieto, Noel Acciari and Jeff Carter since even the informal skates prior to training camp. Lars Eller has the third-line center job locked down, and his left wing will likely be Drew O'Connor when the roster is healthy.
The Penguins had an absurd number of forwards competing for those two spots. There were Austin Wagner and Colin White on professional tryout contracts. Then Radim Zohorna, Rem Pitlick, Andreas Johnsson, Vinnie Hinostroza, Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen, Sam Poulin on NHL deals and fighting to not be sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Last week Kyle Dubas added a 10th forward option to the mix in Jansen Harkins, who was claimed off waivers from Winnipeg.
In the last few rounds of roster cuts, Pitlick, Johnsson, Nylander, Puustinen and Poulin were sent down to Wilkes-Barre. White -- despite being signed to an NHL contract on Saturday -- was not on the ice for practice on Sunday. Neither were Hinostroza or Wagner. The former will presumably be sent down to the AHL, while the latter remains unsigned. The two unsigned defensemen who were in training camp on tryout contracts -- Libor Hajek and the now-injured Mark Pysyk -- were not at practice.
The Penguins put their last round of players on waivers on 2 p.m. on Sunday. Since the waiver period lasts for 24 hours, today was the deadline to put players on waivers in order to get them off of the roster before season-opening rosters are due Monday. The Penguins put White, Zohorna, Hinostroza, Mark Friedman and Magnus Hellberg on waivers.
None of those players have been officially "cut" yet. They're on the roster until they clear and are sent down. That's because if a player clears waivers, they don't have to be sent down to the minors immediately, or even at all. They can play up to 10 NHL games or spend up to 30 days on the active roster before needing to clear waivers again to be sent down. The Penguins will likely keep one of those waived forwards in order to give them the planned 13 forwards on the roster, and signs point to Zohorna. Of the remaining depth forward options, only Harkins and Zohorna practiced with the team Sunday and they were also the only two of those forward options to have stalls in the locker room. Zohorna's stall was right back in his old spot from the last time he was with the Penguins, to the left of Tristan Jarry.
Putting Zohorna on waivers Sunday could have simply been a matter of retaining some roster flexibility if needed. Today would have been the day to make the move for the flexibility, since the influx of players on waivers across the league makes it more likely that Zohorna will clear. It also gives the Penguins the option to fill that spot with a player claimed off waivers, in the event that a player was waived by another team today who they like more than Zohorna.
While nothing is set in stone yet, and barring a last-minute waiver claim, it looks like the final two forward spots on the Penguins' opening roster belong to Harkins and Zohorna, while the seventh defenseman will be Ryan Shea. While both Shea and Friedman had stalls in the locker room, Shea practiced and was not put on waivers, while Friedman did not practice and was put on waivers.
Making the roster is quite the turn events for Harkins, who thought he might end up in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose only a few days ago.
"I'm just trying to enjoy each day, show up and work hard," Harkins told me after practice Sunday of making the team. "It's been a whirlwind of a week. ... I felt pretty good coming out of the summer into camp in Winnipeg. It was a quick turnaround. But I mean, we travel a lot for for a living. So you couldn't really make too many excuses, I just tried to come here and play the same way and try to show what I could do in a short couple of days. It's worked out to this point, so you try to keep it going."
Harkins looks to play on one of the wings of the third line. He's capable of playing all three forward positions, and skated on the left side of the third line in the Penguins' preseason finale. But once O'Connor resumes his place on the third line, Harkins could then shift to the right. Either way, he's likely to be on a line with Eller, as he was in the last preseason game.
"I mean, I hope so," Harkins said Sunday when I asked about potentially playing with Eller. "He's a great player. I watched him for a long time, played against him quite a few times. He's just really smart with the puck, he's always has it on a string and is never in a rush, always kind of in control. I think personally, you've got to try to find a way to complement your linemates. For me, it's just playing fast, using my speed and hopefully he can find me."
If Zohorna goes unclaimed and sticks around, then his role could be that of a 13th forward on the roster.
It looks pretty likely that Penguins will have the luxury of having that extra 13th forward on opening night, too. They might be fully healthy.
When Jake Guentzel underwent right ankle surgery on August 2, the timeline looked grim. He was to be evaluated in 12 weeks. That means he wasn't even supposed to be evaluated until Oct. 25, let alone be close to a return. Over the summer, the prognosis looked better. Dubas said that a realistic timeline would be five games, which would have Guentzel sidelined until Oct. 24 in Dallas.
That timeline seemed to shrink as training camp went on. Guentzel was skating on his own since the start of camp. He rejoined the team for practice in a non-contact capacity two weeks ago. He's been a full-contact participant in the last three practices. On Thursday, Guentzel started to rotate in on his usual spot on the left side of the top line and took some turns in place of Rickard Rakell on the top power play unit. The Penguins didn't do forward line rushes on Sunday, but they did work a lot on the power play ... and they shuffled some personnel around in order to accommodate Guentzel. The top unit was Erik Karlsson, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Rakell and Guentzel, and Kris Letang was shifted to the second unit with Carter, Harkins, Bryan Rust and Reilly Smith. That's a sure of a sign as any that the Penguins are preparing for an imminent Guentzel return.
I asked Mike Sullivan after practice if there's a chance that Guentzel is ready for opening night on Tuesday, given his usage on the power play in practice.
"There is," Sullivan said. "I think right now his status is day-to-day. He'll more than likely be a game-time decision, we'll see how he gets through the next couple of days. He's an important player for us and we're real encouraged with his progress."
Guentzel said after practice that he had no idea yet whether he'll play, and that he still had to speak with doctors, but things seem encouraging right now.
"I feel good still," he said. "It gets better every day, you feel more comfortable out there. That's another day, a big day today to get those full reps with the power play. ... I've just got to be smart with myself and make sure I'm 100% comfortable out there. We'll see what happens."
If Guentzel does play, that could give the Penguins a roster on opening night of:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Reilly Smith - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Drew O'Connor - Lars Eller - Jansen Harkins
Matt Nieto - Noel Acciari - Jeff Carter
(Radim Zohorna as the extra forward, unless he doesn't clear and/or they like anyone better on the waiver wire)
Ryan Graves - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
(Ryan Shea as the extra defenseman)
Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic
Most of those combinations were what the Penguins used in their dress rehearsal for the preseason finale. Rust was back with Crosby, albeit with O'Connor filling in on the left side. Smith has been with Malkin since the start of camp, and Rakell was moved to the opposite wing last week. The defense pairings have been the same for most of camp.
The Penguins have one more practice before opening night -- Monday at 11 a.m. at PPG Paints Arena. There should be more clarity on the roster and potential line combinations then, and any waiver news will be known shortly after at 2 p.m.
By then, we'll have a pretty good idea of what the Penguins' lineup will look like for the first game of the season on Tuesday against the Blackhawks.
