The Countdown To Camp

Now that September is upon us, it's time to get back in hockey mode.

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!

Okay. I can't complain. The Penguins run to the Stanley Cup finals really shortened the off-season. It wasn't that long ago when we were celebrating Petr Sykora's triple overtime winner in game 5. After the meaningful period of free agency, there's really only been about 6 weeks or so without significant news, Ryan Whitney's injury notwithstanding.

Now, however, it's time to get in the swing again. Penguins' training camp starts in approximately 10 days on September 16. Prior to that, the Penguins will hold their annual rookie camp beginning next Wednesday, September 10. The Penguins' top prospects will be in Pittsburgh for 3 days of conditioning and workouts under the tutilige of Wilkes Barre head coach Dan Blysma (and under the watchful eyes of Penguins' head coach Michel Therrein and GM Ray Shero) before heading off to Kitchener, Ontario Canada to play in a tournament against the prospects from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, and Ottawa Senators.

This is the 2nd or 3rd year the team has done this. Last year, the "junior" Penguins had a pretty good showing in that tournament.

This year, all eyes will be on defenseman Alex Goligoski in both the rookie camp and the main camp. Goligoski, who will be wearing number 13 now, has every opportunity to crack the top 6 and push Darryl Sydor back into the press box or out of town to start the year.

Although Goligoski will deservedly command most of the attention, left wing Luca Caputi will also be on the radar of a lot of observers, myself included. Caputi has really come on as a prospect in the last year, and the challenge for him will be to establish himself as an offensive force at the pro level, whether that be in the NHL or initially at the AHL. Caputi contribued in the Baby Penguins' playoff run when he arrived last season, but didn't dominate as he did with the Niagra Ice Dogs of the Ontario Hockey League. He's proven to be a quick learner and has the work ethic to do what it takes, but only time will tell if he sees any action with the big club this year. For as much as I'd love to see him crack the Penguins' roster, I think he's probably ticketed for Wilkes-Barre. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I'll post more next week on the rookie camp.

Until then ...