Penguins Re-assign 14 Players

Today, the Pittsburgh Penguins made their second roster reduction of their 2009 training camp and re-assigned 14 players within their organization.

2009 first round draft pick, defenseman Simon Despres -- who handled himself quite well in camp -- was returned to his junior team in St. John, Quebec, Canada.

The other 13 players were assigned to the Penguins' main AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre Scranton. Those players are:

Konstantin Pushkarev, Wade Brookbank, Nick Johnson, Dustin Jeffrey, Luca Caputi, Tim Wallace, Wyatt Smith, Joe Vitale, and Eric Tangradi, together with defenseman Jonathan D'Aversa, Robert Bortozzo and Chris Lee.

Goaltender Brad Thiessen also was assigned to Wilkes-Barre.

Still with the team, but who were not regularly on the big club last year, are goaltender John Curry, defenseman Ben Lovejoy, Nate Guenin and Deryk Engelland, and forwards Ryan Bayda, Chris Connor and Paul Bissonette.

After today's cuts, the Penguin roster sits at 29, and they need to re-assign 6 of the 7 remaining players before September 30 to get to their official starting roster for this NHL season.

I don't think there's any chance that Curry or Engelland will stick. Bissonette is obviously a guy the franchise likes, but I doubt there's room for him with Eric Goddard and Mike Rupp around., so he's likely to go as well.

That leaves Guenin and Lovejoy fighting for the spot as the team's 7th defenseman, and Bayda and Connor in contention for the spot as the team's 13th forward.

Personally, I think Bayda and Guenin have the inside track for those spots.

Time will tell -- as well, perhaps the peformances of these guys in the last 2 exhibition games tomorrow night and Saturday night. As I mentioned earlier, the Penguins are treating them as dress rehearsals for the regular season which means, at least tomorrow night, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury, among others, are all expected to be in the lineup.

I wasn't surprised to see most of the guys who were sent to the AHL go down -- including Caputi and Tangradi. The Penguins want those two guys playing big minutes on a regular basis and dominating while they do so. Hopefully one or both will be the first call-up(s) when the need arises.

If there was one young guy I thought had a fair chance of capitalizing on Cup-winning hero Max Talbot missing the first 6 or so weeks of the year while recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, it was Nick Johnson.

Johnson has good size, a diverse and talented skill set, and at 24, decent experience. He can play in several different places in the lineup. If Caputi or Tangradi aren't the first call up from WBS when someone is needed, Johnson will likely be the guy instead.

If there was any move that I thought was interesting, it was that the club kept Pushkarev, rather than cutting him.

Pushkarev -- a former 2nd round pick from the Toronto Maple Leafs about 5 years ago -- was brought in on a tryout contract about 10 days after camp started. He has good skill, but has had trouble in the past translating what he shows in practice to games. He's also been criticized previously for not playing better in his own zone.

I didn't get a chance to see a lot of him this pre-season (in part because he recently arrived)m but obviously the team has seen enough of him -- and likes what they see -- to feel he at least belongs on the organizational depth chart.

Let's Go Pens