The deadline for the NHL to submit their final opening night roster is five o’clock this afternoon, and the 23 men making that list for the Penguins may contain a few surprises. The Pens start their season tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden against Mike Sullivan and the New York Rangers.
Five players who didn’t make the cut cleared waivers yesterday and were assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, including veteran defenseman Ryan Graves. The others are forwards Boko Imama, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, and former number one draft choice Sam Poulin, along with defenseman Alex Alexeyev, a former Washington Capitals first round pick.
It will be a record-breaking twentieth NHL season for the “Big Three”, (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang), and the opening night roster very likely will also include 18-year-old 2025 first round draft pick Ben Kindel and 19-year-old rookie defenseman Harrison Brunicke. Both would have nine games before they could be returned to their junior teams, or they could stick with the Penguins for the rest of the season.
New coach Dan Muse says the youngsters earned their way onto the Penguins’ roster.
Muse will have a mix of veterans and young skaters on his blue line. He says the decision to waive Ryan Graves was not easy.
Muse will be coaching against his former team, the New York Rangers, against the man who used to coach the Penguins, Mike Sullivan. He sounds a lot like Sullivan when he talks about how he wants the Penguins to play.
Three key Penguins who will not be on the ice tomorrow night in New York are star winger Bryan Rust, who will miss at least the first two weeks of the season with a lower body injury, and forwards Kevin Hayes and Rutger McGroarty. Hayes went down with an injury early in training camp and McGroarty has missed the entire camp.
Defenseman Jack St. Ivany is going to miss at least six weeks after suffering a lower body injury last Wednesday against Buffalo, according to the Penguins.
