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On Pouliot, Wilson and more questions facing the Penguins at training camp

By Jason Mackey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 7 years ago

The Penguins on Thursday afternoon released their training camp roster.

As expected, there were few surprises. No Sergei Gonchar or Tom Sestito PTOs. Just the usual suspects and a pretty decent amount of talent in the pipeline.

While there isn’t a ton of competition for jobs — you could argue their 18 skaters are set — I thought it might be an interesting exercise to examine the bottom of the Penguins’ NHL depth chart heading into camp.

Forwards: The X-factor here, to me, Scott Wilson. You remember Wilson. He was supposed to be Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust before they did what they did in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Wilson, of course, played just 24 games and finished the year on injured reserve because of a right foot/ankle injury. In those 24 games, Wilson scored five goals. Played some top-six minutes, too.

Assuming Wilson’s healthy — I’ve heard nothing to indicate he’s not 100 percent — he’ll have to prove he’s more than the Penguins’ 13th forward. But the unfortunate reality of this business is that injuries happen.

This training camp is also coming off the World Cup of Hockey, which will force coach Mike Sullivan to provide some of his players with additional rest to navigate an 82-game season and a short summer. Wilson will get ample opportunity to prove himself.


Marc-Andre Fleury will share starts with Matt Murray this season. (Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)

Defense: The top two pairings are likely set. Left to right, I’d project Olli Maatta and Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin and Trevor Daley. The biggest change could be flipping Maatta and Daley, but that’s your top four.

The third pairing should be the most interesting. Watch Derrick Pouliot. I keep hearing good things about him, including how well his pre-camp conditioning tests went Thursday.

Pouliot worked out with Gary Roberts for a second consecutive summer. That’s never a bad thing. But it sounds like it really stuck. “It’s one thing to do it,” one source said. “It’s another to believe it.” I’ve gotten several “just wait and see” responses when asking around about Pouliot … which is exactly what I’ll do.

If Pouliot cracks the top-six, that means that, barring injuries, Ian Cole and Justin Schultz will sit. Cole was a mess at the beginning of last season and nearly played his way out of the lineup. Given a second shot, he adopted a more physical style, played it well and never came out again.

Schultz is in a contract year. Given his offensive talents and the opportunities he’ll have to pile up points, you think he’s not motivated? Again, some real intrigue here.

Goalies: I’ll be really interested to see how the Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray dynamic will work. Both are wonderful people, but both probably also believe they deserve to take the lion’s share of reps.

That sounds great … until you actually have to do it. But that’s a conversation for the start of the regular season, not training camp. The Penguins offered some intrigue when they released their training camp roster, specifically as it relates to PTO Leland Irving.

My first inclination was to make a joke about how Jim Leyland has finally returned to Pittsburgh, but I think this says something more serious about Tristan Jarry and his shaky standing with the organization.

Irving is 28, and he’s a former first-round pick of the Calgary Flames (2006). He’s certainly not going to supplant Murray or Fleury, but he offers a failure obvious insurance policy. Irving went 12-22-6 with the Iowa Wild in the AHL last season despite putting up a respectable 2.68 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.

He’s played 13 games in the NHL, all for the Flames, and certainly has a decent amount of experience.

THIS ’N AT

Some quick-hitting observations:

  • Beyond Wilson, the next-in-line appears to be Jake Guentzel. This surprises me. Guentzel is fast, but doesn’t have a ton of pro experience and could probably stand to add a few pounds. No denying Penguins management loves him, though.
  • Got a lot of questions in my chat relative to Evgeni Malkin. I’ve watched the same World Cup games you have, and I’m not blind. So … let me say this: The Penguins would never deny a player the opportunity of representing his country. They couldn’t. However, if Malkin gets an extended break during training camp to either rest, heal or both, I wouldn’t be surprised. Looks like he needs it.

Helpful links:

Roster release with schedule

Training camp roster