Chirps from Center Ice

Coal Street announced Saturday morning their roster for their training camp, which starts Tuesday morning.

Link here, but I’ll cut and paste the schedule and roster here for you.

Tuesday, Sept. 24
10:00 a.m.          Group A Practice                Toyota SportsPlex
11:15 a.m.               Group B Practice                Toyota SportsPlex

Wednesday, Sept. 25
7:05 p.m.            Game vs. Lehigh Valley     Mohegan Sun Arena

Thursday, Sept. 26
10:00 a.m.          Group A Practice                Toyota SportsPlex
11:15 a.m.               Group B Practice                Toyota SportsPlex

Friday, Sept. 27
7:05 p.m.             Game vs. Hershey             Mohegan Sun Arena

Saturday, Sept. 28
7:00 p.m.             Game at Hershey              Giant Center

Sunday, Sept. 29
3:05 p.m.             Game at Lehigh Valley     PPL Center

If you scroll to the bottom of that post I linked, you’ll also see the roster construction for players who will be at camp Tuesday morning. They are, and I’m cutting and pasting from the Coal Street release again, as follows:

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No surprises this season. Of the names listed above Chase Berger (AHL contract), Jordy Bellerive, Jan Drozg, Ben Sexton (AHL), Matt Abt (AHL), Michael Kim (AHL), Jon Lizotte (AHL), Alex D’Orio and Dustin Tokarski (AHL) were all cut from Pittsburgh’s camp Friday. The only names that may be foreign to you are Aaron Titcomb and Craig Skudalski are non-contracted (to Wilkes-Barre at least) invites. A welcome change from years past when you had names you never heard of on a line with one another in a preseason game.

The release mentions that players will be added as time wears, which is obvious because Pittsburgh still has 46 players on their roster at present, and only 23 can make the team at opening night. So essentially the Penguins need to cut half the roster as it stands today. There are players who will get assigned back to juniors (Calen Addison was yesterday) so you can expect an influx of two more goaltenders (or maybe just Emil Larmi if Tristan Jarry is traded or claimed on waivers) six or seven defensemen depending on how Pittsburgh wants to carry to start (Niclas Almari, Kevin Czuczman, P-O Joseph, John Marino, David Warsofsky are sure bets to either get cut or be placed on waivers, then a battle between guys like Juuso Riikola, Chad Ruhwedel and Zach Trotman for that seventh or eighth spot. Riikola wouldn’t require waivers, while the other two would.

Up front, Andrew Agozzino, Justin Almeida, Anthony Angello, Joseph Blandisi, Joseph Cramarossa, Thomas DiPauli, Ryan Haggerty, Adam Johnson, Sam Lafferty, Jake Lucchini, Sam Miletic and Oula Palve are sure bets to get cut and waived / re-assigned to the AHL. That’s twelve. Sixteen forwards left.

I have Kasper Bjorkqvist, Nathan Legare and Sam Poulin as the outliers. Forget about Poulin and Legare, as they are too young for the AHL. They would have to go back to juniors. Subtract those two, fourteen forwards left up top. Bjorkqvist I think you can make a case gets an extended look with Pittsburgh to start. That would mean that there would be a player like Ruhwedel or Trotman to hit waivers with Riikola as a straight reassignment to Wilkes-Barre while Pittsburgh carries seven defenseman and gives Bjorkqvist a longer look. Or, they may, for the sake of fear of losing Trotman or Ruhwedel to waivers, leave both on the NHL roster, carry eight defensemen and assign Bjorkqvist to Wilkes-Barre to tear the AHL to shreds. Who knows. I like that option better as a safer bet but like I’ve long said, I blog about the team, and don’t coach / run it.

Things get cute if they lose Jarry to waivers or a trade involving him or anyone else. Or, if they decide to give Poulin a longer look and let him start the season in Pittsburgh, like they did Daniel Sprong.

Like I said, easier to blog about the team than run it. We’ll see. More as it comes.

I’m a day late on the news, but Coal Street announced on Wednesday that they have signed Jamie Devane and also re-signed Yushi Hirano. Hirano is a depth signing for the Penguins and probably should push for more time now as he has a year experience playing North American hockey.

Devane is your Patrick McGrath replacement. Here’s why.

Patrick McGrath was a hand picked player by Clark Donatelli. They had experience with each other in Wheeling and a few seasons in Wilkes-Barre.

Devane was coached by new Penguins Head Coach Mike Vellucci in Plymouth of the OHL.

Devane is going to count as a veteran, and had a less than impressive turn last season with a bad Ontario Reign team. But, he has 318 pro games of experience. He has 47 total points (20-27) and 587 PIMs.

McGrath with the same amount of pugilistic grit with a slightly better offensive touch? Possibly.

I’ve had a few people ask me what’s going to happen with McGrath. Quite simply, he’s going to be with another organization next season. It’s a new regime in Wilkes-Barre with coaching. Yes, McGrath is a likable local guy and I personally am going to miss seeing his father on the concourse chatting up about cigars and Dennis Bonvie stories, but it’s a business at the end of the day.

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Emptying out the rest of the notebook since the last time I blogged. These would only get passing mentions if they stood alone on a separate piece, so instead of blogging for the sake of blogging, you fill the bucket with notes then empty the bucket with a big piece when the bucket gets full.

— The same day that the Pens signed Devane and Hirano, Charlotte added Cedric Lacroix. Lacroix scored two goals against the Binghamton Devils on the Penguins last game of the season in April in his only AHL action all season. Lacroix spent the season with Wheeling. He was actually traded in a futures trade with Greenville of the ECHL then signed his AHL deal with Charlotte.

— WBS General Manager Bill Guerin has interviewed for the Minnesota Wild GM job. This article, behind The Athletic Minnesota paywall, only has a few passing mentions of Guerin, but it’s worth a mention.

— Pittsburgh made a trade for John Marino for a draft with Edmonton a few weeks ago. Here’s what we know on him so far, link on the news in the tweets below:

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Mark Divver had this on the trade, which is something you should pay attention to because Divver has the pulse of college hockey in the Northeast:

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The condition on the draft pick is as follows: The Oilers will receive Pittsburgh’s 2021 sixth-round draft choice if Marino signs with the Penguins, or if the team trades his rights.

So we will see. UPDATE: Thursday afternoon, Pittsburgh made the Marino signing official. He’s signed for two years.

— Coal Street had a nice Q&A with Brandon Hawkins. 27 tattoos. That’s ridiculous.

— Here is one with Jon Lizotte. Lots of players that are going to be familiar names in the future.

— Chris Summers and Matt O’Connor will be playing for different teams next season. Summers with Nurnberg and O’Connor in Denmark.

That’s all. The Pens should have news here soon on a preseason schedule and possibly a promotional one as well. We are under 60 days until the start of the season. Go outside if you haven’t already.