CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Little more than a week into training camp, the Penguins' regular-season roster is starting to take shape.
The two practice groups they've been using in recent days are neatly divided between players with a good chance to be with the team on opening night in Tampa Oct. 12 and those hoping to earn a promotion to the first group.
And while the final makeup of the team likely won't be settled for a little while longer, Brian Burke said that management feels no urgency to make a trade to plug any holes in the lineup.
Of course, a significant injury or two could scramble those plans -- a more negative prognosis for Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, both recovering from offseason surgeries, might do the same -- but for now, there apparently is no active pursuit of help from outside the organization.
That doesn't mean the Penguins won't be looking, though.
As clubs begin to get down to the 23-man limit for the regular season, it's entirely possible that some capable veterans will be assigned to minor-league teams -- and will have to clear waivers to get to the American Hockey League.
At the moment, the Penguins are projected to have little more than $120,000 in salary-cap space, but that's with a 23-man roster. Trade or waive one or more of those guys, and it might become possible to take on another contract.
That's not a front-burner consideration for the front office, but neither is it something that's been ruled out.
"I think we're planning on going with the group we have, but we're certainly going to watch," Burke said. "There have been some excellent waiver claims over the years in the NHL. People forget that Chris Kunitz was a waiver claim. We're going to watch the waiver wire closely, but we're planning on going in with the group we have."
Kunitz, it should be noted, actually changed teams on waivers twice in two weeks early in his career.
Oct. 4, 2005, he was claimed by the Thrashers after being waived by the Ducks. Fourteen days later, he was reclaimed by Anaheim.
The following season, Kunitz won the first of his four Stanley Cups. (The next three were with the Penguins.)
It wasn't a surprise that Burke pointed to Kunitz as an example of a good player who temporarily lost his spot on a major-league roster. After all, he was the GM who tried to send Kunitz to the minors in the first place.
"That's how smart I am," Burke said. "I put him on waivers in Anaheim and he was claimed by Atlanta. Thank God they put him back on."
MORE PENGUINS
• There are some pretty ferocious rivalries in Hockey East, and even when guys who came from competing schools team up with a pro franchise, the loyalties from their school days still surface occasionally. And so it was recently when Brian Dumoulin, who went to Boston College, was discussing why he believes Brian Boyle, who is in camp on a Professional Tryout deal, could be a good addition for the Penguins. "He can fit in well with our group, very well," Dumoulin said, citing Boyle's size, experience and penalty-killing acumen, among other attributes. And there was one more he tacked on at the end: "It's good to have another B.C. guy here in camp." Mike Matheson, another B.C. guy, presumably agrees. Mike Sullivan and Evan Rodrigues (Boston University), Zach-Aston Reese (Northeastern), Chad Ruhwedel (UMass-Lowell) and Casey DeSmith (New Hampshire) probably appreciate what they've seen from Boyle during camp, too, but aren't likely to be as enthused as Dumoulin about his choice of a college. -- Molinari
• Matheson, who became a first-time father earlier this year, learned quickly that having a child can have a profound impact on how people live their lives. And sometime soon, he figures to get a sense of how young Hudson's presence will affect his game-day routine. Turns out that most infants don't necessarily have much respect for the timetable a parent has developed over time to get fully prepared for an evening of high-level ice hockey, so Matheson realizes that he will have to be flexible. "There will definitely be a learning curve and adjustments, where I'll have to figure out what works well, knowing that family is super-important," he said. "Obviously, the most important. But at the same time, I have a job to do, and I need to be ready to do it. Finding that balance will be really important." -- Molinari
STEELERS
• With both Diontae Johnson and then JuJu Smith-Schuster missing time last week against the Bengals, the Steelers were forced to use -- and even overuse -- Najee Harris in the passing game. His 19 targets were the second-most by a running back since 1950. Only Alvin Kamara in 2018, when he had 20 in a 43-37 win over the Falcons, has had more. And Harris would have matched that record if not for having a first-quarter catch negated by a penalty. Harris finished the game with 14 receptions for 102 yards. But there was a reason he was the primary target. "I think defenses are actively taking away the deep ball, throwing safeties over top, so I think that's why we're doing underneath throws," said Chase Claypool. "It's another weapon to spread out the defense a little bit, if we're able to get him open. And he can obviously make plays with his feet and that's great." If the Steelers can remember that and also get Johnson and Smith-Schuster mixed back into the game, the offense should look better -- and take some of that receiving load off Harris. Kamara, by the way, had 15 catches for 124 yards in his 20-target game. He also didn't have another game that season with more than 12 targets, which sounds a little more realistic for Harris. Those passes to the running backs can help supplement and even open things up for the running game, but they shouldn't totally replace it. -- Dale Lolley on the South Side
• The Steelers have two former first-round draft picks, edge rusher Taco Charlton and safety Karl Joseph, on their practice squad. They are, of course, recognizable names. But neither has made an appearance on the active roster yet, even though, for example, the Steelers needed some help on the edge last week against the Bengals. There's a good reason. "They’ve gotta know what they’re doing before they can come in. They’re not going to just get off the boat right now and know what the crap that’s going on in our defense," said defensive coordinator Keith Butler. "Our defense is not highly complex, but it’s not easy either. It’s gonna take awhile for those guys to learn. Taco is a good-looking kid. You see the length on him and how he plays with leverage and stuff like that, it’s enticing to put him in there, but it wouldn’t be fair to him if we did unless he knew what the heck he was doing. I’ll say this 100,000 times: Mental mistakes and dadgum missed tackles get you beat on defense. So if you’ve got somebody who doesn’t know how to run the defense, you’d better be careful about putting him in. You’d better be careful what you call when you do put him in. That’s the biggest thing for us. There are some good-looking kids that we’ve got on the practice squad. When we bring them up, when we don’t, that’s a decision that we’ll have to make in terms of whether we think they’re ready or not. We end up losing a guy that we brought up and the way things are now, you’ve got to be careful about the way you do things." That would be Jamir Jones that Butler was referring to as being lost. He was released earlier in the week when the Steelers decided to keep Derrek Tuszka. The intent was to put Jones on the practice squad. But he was claimed by the Rams. -- Lolley
• The Steelers are obviously disappointed with the play of their offensive line. Don't be surprised soon if you start seeing other guys used to push the guys currently in the starting lineup. With Zach Banner closing in on a return, the Steelers could insert him at right tackle and then have rookie Dan Moore and Chuks Okorafor split time at left tackle to see which one they like better. The same goes at center with J.C. Hassenauer and rookie Kendrick Green and at guard with B.J. Finney waiting in the wings. At some point, developing young guys has to take a back seat to winning football games. And if the veteran players help win games more so than the young guys, well, it's a bottom line game. Guys such as Hassenauer and Finney might not have the ceiling that Moore or Kevin Dotson do, but they also probably don't have the basement, either. And right now, the young guys are making too many young-guy mistakes. Coaches can handle mistakes -- if you don't make the same one over and over. And that's what's happening right now in some cases. -- Lolley
PIRATES
• Ke’Bryan Hayes’ rookie season came to an end a little sooner than expected because of his left wrist soreness, closing the book on a less than stellar offensive campaign. Some of that could probably be linked to his first left wrist injury back in April, but talking to an analyst, there is a hole in his swing: His contact point. When his bat normally gets to the ball, it’s usually pretty deep over the plate, explaining why so many of his fly balls and line drives were to the opposite field. The good news is this is coachable, and young players like breakout prospect Matt Fraizer, had big years after focusing on their contact point and where they are catching the baseball. If Hayes does that and adds more pulled fly balls and line drives to his offensive profile, he could be the heart-of-the-order hitter the Pirates need. -- Alex Stumpf
• Another player who had his season come to a close this week was reliever Connor Overton. The reliever was hit hard in his final appearance against the Reds, but considering his journey to the majors, which included stints in independent ball, getting to the show is an accomplishment that the right-hander should celebrate. One of the people who played a role in that journey to the majors was the Pitching Ninja, the popular Twitter and Instagram user who highlights some of the game’s best pitches. He also runs another account called Flatground, used to help students look for college scholarships or amateurs to find professional playing opportunities. This past offseason, after failing to generate much excitement, Overton took video of himself during a velocity day and shared it with Flatground. It went viral, the Blue Jays saw it, and they signed him and eventually promoted him to the majors later in the year. “There’s nothing new to me at this point,” Overton told me in Philadelphia. “I’ve been all over the place, from indy ball, the minor leagues, five different organizations. At this point, this is all normal.” -- Stumpf
• While you would be hard-pressed to call it a major improvement, Pirates batters have fared better since former hitting coach Rick Eckstein was dismissed August 30, going from a .665 team OPS and 3.6 runs per game, both the worst in baseball, to a .689 OPS (entering Thursday) and 4.1 runs per game since. Talking with one player this weekend, he brought up how players feel the current set up of having no formal hitting coach hasn’t had as big an impact as they initially thought. It’s still about personal accountability, and there are other coaches -- Christian Marrero, Don Kelly, hitting coordinator Jonny Tucker -- that they can reach out to. Yes, this set up is temporary, and while the results are hardly good, they are at least ending the year trending in the right direction. -- Stumpf
