Pens moves: Sprong still here, Gonchar released & more

The Penguins made some major moves today, trimming the roster to 25 following the team’s final exhibition game in Carolina last night. The most notable of them all? Rookie Daniel Sprong is still on the roster, and has not been sent to his junior team yet. 

The team also released veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar  from his pro tryout, and sent Derrick Pouliot to the farm team after an unimpressive preseason.

Other moves:

• The club also reassigned forwards Bryan Rust and Jean-Sebastien Dea and waived defenseman David Warsofsky and center Kevin Porter, both of whom will be sent to the Baby Pens if they clear.

The remaining 25:

• Includes Eric Fehr, likely to start the season on Long-Term injured reserve and Tom Kuhnhackl, also a candidate for the same designation.
• The Gonchar and Pouliot moves clear spots for both Adam Clendening and Tim Erixon, but it sounded like Pouliot could be on the next bus back to Pittsburgh when he gets his game in order.
• Sending Rust and Dea down, means forward Bobby Farnham has also managed to stick for now. 

Of Note:

Rutherford offered Gonchar an off-ice position, and declined to get into specifics about it because it’s unclear if Gonchar plans to pursue playing with another team.

Many in the organization really like Gonchar, and he was given every opportunity to earn a spot. 

“It’s hard at this stage of anybody’s career to get their game going right away,” said Rutherford. “I did see improvement in each game, but it makes it hard when you really only have three weeks…I hope he stays with the organization.”