CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Hockey season is here.
The Penguins open training camp for the 2023-24 season Thursday at 9 a.m. in Cranberry. They'll play seven preseason games before the regular season begins Oct. 10 at home against the Blackhawks.
Mike Sullivan and the rest of the coaching staff have some decisions to make when it comes to the roster before opening night. Here are five storylines to watch for in position battles throughout training camp.
WHO FILLS IN FOR GUENTZEL?
The bad news is that Jake Guentzel, who underwent right ankle surgery at the start of August, won't be ready for the start of training camp. The good news is that it doesn't look like he'll be sidelined for too long. When Kyle Dubas spoke a few days after Guentzel's surgery, he said that Guentzel was only expected to miss somewhere around five games.
That means that Guentzel won't be out long enough to be eligible to go on long-term injured reserve, which requires a player to be out for at least 10 games and 24 days (whichever is longer). The Penguins will replace Guentzel in the top six with an affordable in-house option to start.
Assuming the top six when healthy is Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell and Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust, it would make sense for Smith to just shift up onto Crosby's line. But who gets the shot on Malkin's wing in the meantime?
Drew O'Connor could make sense, especially given that he's a left-handed shot. He scored at a point-per-game pace in the AHL and has settled into a different type of role at the NHL level, but it would be interesting to see what he could do along someone like Malkin. Other younger options spent more time in the AHL last season like Alex Nylander and Valtteri Puustinen, and are more suited for top-six roles But both of those two are natural right wings, and would either have to play on their off side or force some shuffling.
I wouldn't rule out Matt Nieto, either. He's obviously not someone who is going to be in the top six long-term, but for a handful of games? He's a left-shot winger, and he put up 12 goals and 12 assists in 81 games last season. They could do worse.
NEDELJKOVIC OR HELLBERG?
The backup goaltender job isn't a lock. Alex Nedeljkovic or Magnus Hellberg will earn it, and it'll be a competition familiar to them both.
Hellberg signed with the Kraken last summer but was claimed off waivers after training camp by Ottawa. He played in one game for the Senators, recording a 2.00 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage, before being placed on waivers again. He was reclaimed by Seattle, where he served a backup role for a little under two weeks. Before he was able to get into a game, Seattle put Hellberg on waivers again and he was claimed by the Red Wings. The lack of playing time over a month into the season allowed the Red Wings to first send Hellberg to the AHL on a conditioning assignment for four games, then Hellberg battled with Nedeljkovic for the backup job behind Ville Husso for the remainder of the season.
Hellberg appeared in 17 games for the Red Wings, recording a 3.29 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage. Nedeljkovic struggled backing up Husso last season with Detroit, and nearly lost his job to Hellberg. He cleared waivers in January and played 26 game with the Grand Rapids Griffins, recording a 2.71 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.
Nedeljkovic definitely seems to have the edge, but what if Hellberg significantly outperforms in in camp? Then it could be Nedeljkovic going down to Wilkes-Barre. Keeping Hellberg would be the cheaper option, too. Hellberg's cap hit is $785,000, and Nedeljkovic's cap hit is $1.5 million. If Nedeljkovic ends up in Wilkes-Barre, $350,000 still counts toward the cap. Including that in with the math, Hellberg getting the backup job would be $365,000 cheaper. It's not much, but it could help in terms of flexibility
WHO PLAYS WITH KARLSSON?
Whichever pairing is listed as the first pairing or second pairing doesn't matter much. As Dubas said after the Erik Karlsson trade was completed, both Karlsson's pairing and Kris Letang's pairing are capable of playing top-pairing minutes. They could have one of Karlsson or Letang on the ice for a total of 50 minutes a night if they wanted to.
Who their partners will be remains up in the air. We'll likely see both Ryan Graves and Marcus Pettersson skate with either partner throughout camp to see who makes for a better fit, and it'll come down to chemistry.
Where Karlsson fits on the power play is a question, too. He's an obvious fit for the top pairing, given his ability to get shots through in that role. The numbers show that he'd be an improvement. The Sharks' top power play unit last season consisted of Karlsson, Timo Meier, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Alexander Barbanov. Karlsson attempted shots the second-most frequently of any of them, at a rate of 24.44 per 60 minutes. On the Penguins, only Rakell (26.63) and Malkin (26.03) attempted shots more frequently on the power play last season. The Penguins' two most frequent power play quarterbacks -- Letang (18.95) and Jeff Petry (19.14) -- weren't even close to what Karlsson was attempting.
Then what about Letang? It's not unheard of for a power play unit to have two defensemen, but the more likely scenario seems to be that Karlsson quarterbacks the top unit, while Letang quarterbacks the second unit.
THE ENTIRE BOTTOM SIX
The Penguins made a lot of depth signings this summer. Nothing is a given in the bottom six. There are so many potential options, that it'll be a real battle to see who sticks.
Jeff Carter, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto are the sure bets to stick around, and you could probably throw O'Connor in that mix too. Rem Pitlick, Andreas Johnsson, Vinnie Hinostroza, Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen, Sam Poulin and Radim Zohorna are under contract and in the hunt for those spots. Austin Wagner and Colin White are the two forwards coming in on professional tryout contracts who have the best shots of making the NHL team.
That's 14 players fighting for six spots -- seven, if you count the extra forward that Dubas plans on carrying. Dubas has spoken before about not being swayed by waiver status in these kinds of decisions -- if they have to risk losing a waivers-eligible player to keep a player who is still waivers-exempt, then so be it if that's the best lineup possible. Still, contracts may be a factor here. Obviously, Carter is totally immovable with a no-movement clause and a 35+ contract. He definitely will be on the roster, but it's not a given that he has to play. Pitlick making $1.1 million might end up costing him an NHL roster spot too, given the cheaper options available and the ability to bury Pitlick's entire cap hit in the AHL if needed. The cap will be tight, and that might be a deciding factor.
Figuring out which seven forwards stick around, and who plays with who, will certainly be a challenge to figure out over these next three weeks.
ANY OPENINGS ON D?
The top two pairings are set in terms of personnel, it's just the actual combinations that remain a work in progress. What about after that?
P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel seem to be likely to take on third-pairing duties this season. Dubas' plan is to carry an extra seventh defenseman as injury insurance, and Mark Friedman could conceivably fill that role given his comfort playing either side.
What about other candidates for any of those roles? There's Ty Smith, but given that he's really only strong on the left side, his direct competition is Joseph. I can't imagine him taking Joseph's spot.
Some of the PTO options are interesting here. There are two -- right-handed Mark Pysyk, who didn't play last season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles, and left-handed Libor Hajek, who split last season between the NHL and AHL with the Rangers organization.
In November, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said that Pysyk plays a "simple" game and compared him to Olli Maatta.
“Pysyk is more about just being a simple defender,” Lalonde said. “I don’t want to put undue pressure on him because Olli (Maatta) is playing so well right now, but similar, right shot, minute-eating, safe defender, kind of where we want our entire game to be. That was our vision of signing him.”
That sort of game (and being right-handed) makes Ruhwedel seem to be the direct competition for Pysyk. Pysyk could beat out Ruhwedel for that third-pairing role, and then it could be Ruhwedel who resumes the role as seventh defenseman. Because of how close Wilkes-Barre will likely be to the AHL's veteran limit, Pysyk doesn't seem likely to be someone that gets signed only to end up in the AHL.
Hajek is a smooth-skating, two-way defenseman. If signed, he wouldn't count toward the AHL's veteran limit, so there would be no limitations there. Hajek could be someone who gets signed, sent down, and is a call up option later in the season if an opportunity presents itself.
