The Penguins have set their roster for tomorrow night’s opening game of the season against the New York Rangers. Yesterday, they decided to send 18-year-old training camp sensation Harrison Brunicke to his junior hockey team, Kamloops of the Western Hockey League. Coach Mike Sullivan says Brunicke made a great first impression.
Before leaving for British Columbia, Brunicke got in one final practice with the Penguins in Cranberry.
The opening roster will be missing some familiar names. Jeff Carter has retired and Bryan Rust and Alex Nedeljkovic are starting the year on injured reserve, as are Matt Nieto, Vasily Ponamarev, and Blake Lizotte. Nieto is on long-term injured reserve and is at least two months away from returning from offseason knee surgery.
Defenseman Sebastian Aho and forward Boko Imama both cleared waivers yesterday and were assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
With Rust out, Sidney Crosby had Drew O’Connor and Anthony Beauvillier skating on his wings yesterday on the top line. Sullivan says Beauvillier has the speed element and stick skills he’s looking for to complement Crosby.
Team president and general manager Kyle Dubas says the Penguins have what it takes to make a playoff run this season if everyone pulls together.
Dubas says there are not a lot of expectations for the Penguins across the NHL after they failed to make the playoffs the last two years, and he’s fine with that.
Tomorrow night’s game faces off at 7 o’clock at PPG Paints Arena. The airtime is 6 o’clock on 92.5 FM U92 with new play-by-play man Joe Brand and longtime color commentator Phil Bourque.
Comments