The Penguins made their most significant round of training camp cuts to date on Sunday, trimming their roster to 28 players.
The Penguins assigned forwards Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen, Drake Caggiula, Filip Hallander, Jamie Devane, Kyle Olson, Nathan Legare, Raivis Ansons, Corey Andonovski and Drew O'Connor, defensemen Xavier Ouellet, Colin Swoyer and Jack St. Ivany, and goaltenders Filip Lindberg and Dustin Tokarski to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the AHL training camp.
Nylander, Caggiula, Ouellet and Tokarski must first pass through waivers in order to be assigned to the AHL roster. All four were put on waivers at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The Penguins also put Radim Zohorna on waivers at the same time, but he hasn't been cut from the roster yet. Players can play up to 10 games or spend 30 days on the NHL roster after clearing waivers before they'd need waivers again to be sent down to the AHL.
Additionally, the Penguins assigned defense prospects Owen Pickering and Nolan Collins to their respective junior teams. Pickering, the Penguins' 2022 first-round pick, is returning to the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL while 2022 sixth-round pick Collins is returning to the OHL's Sudbury Wolves.
Of the 28 players who remain on the roster, defenseman Taylor Fedun and forward Jonathan Gruden will almost certainly be sent back to Wilkes-Barre as well, but both are currently injured and can't be sent down until they're healthy.
Notable inclusions who remain on the NHL roster include Radim Zohorna, Josh Archibald, Sam Poulin and all nine defensemen. It's worth noting that Poulin is away from the team for a couple of days to attend to a personal family matter, and that could be a factor in his remaining on the roster. He's only had the opportunity to get into one preseason game so far, and if he's away there's no opportunity for things like exit meetings.
The full roster can be found here.
The Penguins have until the start of the regular season to trim the remaining group of players down to a cap-compliant roster of 23 or fewer players.
The Penguins' next preseason game is Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Detroit.
