CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins will take the ice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex at 9 a.m. on Wednesday for the start of training camp.
The full schedule for the duration of camp can be found here, and here is the roster of of 38 forwards, 25 defensemen and six goaltenders who will be participating.
As preparations get underway for the 2024-25 season, here are five storylines to watch for throughout camp.
1. WHO ENDS UP IN THE BOTTOM SIX?
The Penguins have way too many forwards. That internal competition is great to have and something Kyle Dubas has stressed since taking over, but it will make for some tough decisions, in particular when it comes to the bottom six and who ends up on the waiver wire.
Say the top six is some combination of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Michael Bunting and Drew O'Connor. That leaves a lot of players competing for the remaining six (or seven, with an extra) forward spots: Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Blake Lizotte, Anthony Beauvillier, Matt Nieto, Rutger McGroarty, Valtteri Puustinen, Sam Poulin, Jesse Puljujarvi, Vasily Ponomarev, Emil Bemstrom and Jonathan Gruden. That's 14 forwards for those remaining spots, with some obviously more likely to make it than others. Nieto won't be ready for the start of camp as he rehabs from his May knee surgery, but he'll be back in the mix at some point.
Not many of these guys are exempt from waivers, either. Of the aforementioned forwards, only McGroarty and Ponomarev can be sent down to the AHL without passing through waivers first, which could be a factor in decisions. The Penguins will have to put some players on waivers, but that's not often a problem at this stage of the year -- every other team is largely healthy and making their own tough decisions about sending their own players down on waivers because of roster constraints. It might be awkward, but you might see someone who was a recent NHL regular end up in the AHL.
2. WHO IS THE SIXTH DEFENSEMAN?
If the Penguins' first five defenseman are some combination of Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson, Erik Karlsson, Ryan Graves and Matt Grzelcyk ... who rounds out the third pairing?
There are fewer players vying for this spot, but it's not any easier. The most likely candidates would be John Ludvig, Ryan Shea, Jack St. Ivany, newly-signed Sebastian Aho and PTO defenseman Nicolai Knyzhov. Of those five, only St. Ivany can be re-assigned to the minors without having to pass through waiver first. But St. Ivany had a strong finish to last season, and is also the only right-handed defenseman of that group -- keeping him up would give the Penguins three left-handed defensemen, and three on the right, which is ideal. But does that mean that Aho, who has been an NHL regular for the last three seasons, finds himself in the minors or out of the lineup as an extra?
3. WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE GOALTENDING PROSPECTS?
The Penguins have too many goalies. Another good problem to have.
After Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic at the NHL level, there's Russian phenom Sergei Murashov, Joel Blomqvist coming off an excellent first AHL season, one of the Swedish league's top goaltenders last season in Filip Larsson, and reigning ECHL goaltender of the year Taylor Gauthier. Those last four are capable of playing in the AHL and all probably should be, but it's looking like two won't be.
Gauthier is coming into camp injured, which obviously hurts his chances. He won't have much of an opportunity to compete, at least to start. Larsson certainly didn't leave Sweden and sign with the Penguins as a free agent this summer with the expectation of ending up in Wheeling, but that's where he might be. When Larsson signed there was zero indication that Murashov would be coming over from Russia, and Murashov is the one who really throws a wrench in the plans.
Murashov and Blomqvist are really 1A/1B when it comes to the Penguins' top goaltending prospect. Murashov's getting all the hype right now, but one can't forget Blomqvist. Blomqvist went 25-12-6 in Wilkes-Barre's regular season, tying Matt Murray for the second-most wins by a rookie goaltender in Wilkes-Barre history and coming one win shy of Marc-Andre Fleury's record of 26. He was an All-Star. He was also very consistent -- in his 45 appearances, he only allowed more than three goals six times, and three of those instances came in a single three-game stretch starting in November. He had one shutout, and 17 games where he only allowed one goal.
Both Blomqvist and Murashov should be getting starting AHL minutes. Do they go with a 50-50 tandem in Wilkes? Or does Murashov end up in Wheeling so both players can have a starting role somewhere?
4. WHO PLAYS ON THE POWER PLAY?
Change here is going to be inevitable. The power play was the storyline all of last season, and a half-decent one would have gotten them into the playoffs.
David Quinn taking over as the assistant coach managing the power play is going to give it a different kind of look, but what happens with the personnel? Karlsson and Letang on the same unit how they started last season, or split up like they finished? You couldn't say either one exactly worked. Which forwards round out the group? The second unit will definitely have a new look, with Reilly Smith and Jeff Carter gone.
This storyline won't really become a thing to watch until a little later in camp. The Penguins start out camp with the NHL and depth players/prospects intermingled, even in line combinations -- Mike Sullivan likes pairing two regulars with a prospect/depth guy on a line to start, and the power play will be the same way the first couple preseason games.
5. HOW DOES GRAVES LOOK?
If anyone's the most primed for a bounce-back season, it's Graves. He just had an underwhelming first year, and still has a massive contract -- five years remaining at $4.5 million per year.
The best stretch from Graves last season might have been the couple games toward the end when he was paired alongside St. Ivany. That was the Penguins' third pairing until Graves was injured, and it was the best the third pairing looked all year. If St. Ivany is the sixth defenseman that sticks around, that might be worth another look.
With Quinn also taking over the responsibilities of managing the defense, a new voice should help provide a fresh start.
