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Penguins Day 3 Notebook: Carter Injured in Scrimmage; Who is Looking Good?

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Pittsburgh Penguins, Jeff Carter, Kasperi Kapanen

CRANBERRY — The injury bug didn’t wait long to start munching on the 2022-23 Pittsburgh Penguins.

The insidious and hungry little creature that has made the Penguins roster one of the five most injured rosters over the past few years struck again during the Penguins Training Camp Day 3 scrimmage when Jeff Carter left the scrimmage and did not return. Nor did he participate in conditioning drills following the scrimmage.

Coach Mike Sullivan said only that Carter is being evaluated for an upper-body injury.

Shelly Anderson contributed to this story.

Here is a clip of Carter before he left the scrimmage — Shelly

Split personalities

The Penguins are going the split-squad route Sunday, with one group of players going against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 1 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena and another group going against the Blue Jackets in Columbus at 7 p.m.

So how does that work? Sullivan, who made it clear it wasn’t his idea, has put some thought into that.

“This is my first experience with them,” Sullivan said. “There are some logistical challenges. We’re going to divide the coaching staff. Mike Vellucci is going to coach the game at home, and Todd Reirden is going to coach the game in Columbus. We’re going to divide our Wilkes-Barre staff, and then I’m going to try to go to both games.”

Head Coach – Mike Vellucci

Assistant Coaches – J.D. Forrest and Kevin Porter

GAME 1:

GOALIES
1 – Casey DeSmith
31 – Filip Lindberg

DEFENSE
2 – Chad Ruhwedel
24 – Ty Smith
28 – Marcus Pettersson
48 – Jon Lizotte
52 – Mark Friedman
78 – Isaac Belliveau

FORWARDS
10 – Drew O’Connor
16 – Jason Zucker
22 – Sam Poulin
27 – Corey Andonovski
36 – Filip Hallander
42 – Kasperi Kapanen
45 – Jonathan Gruden
53 – Teddy Blueger
57 – Jamie Devane
67 – Rickard Rakell
75 – Kyle Olson
76 – Valtteri Puustinen

GAME 2:

Head Coach – Todd Reirden

Assistant Coaches – Ty Hennes and Sheldon Brookbank   -Shelly

GOALIES
33 – Taylor Gauthier
40 – Dustin Tokarski

DEFENSE
4 – Taylor Fedun
32 – Mitch Reinke
37 – Jack St. Ivany
55 – Chris Ortiz
61 – Xavier Ouellet
73 – P.O Joseph
74 – Ryan McCleary

FORWARDS
15 – Josh Archibald
18 – Drake Caggiula
19 – Alex Nylander
25 – Ryan Poehling
34 – Nathan Legare
39 – Sam Houde
43 – Danton Heinen
46 – Jordan Frasca
51 – Ty Glover
63 – Radim Zohorna
72 – Lukas Svejkovsky
80 – Raivis Ansons

Penguins Training Camp Notes:

*The puck followed Kasperi Kapanen. He made a couple of ill-advised rush attempts, which were headlong into four defenders. Those didn’t go so well. However, he also pulled the spin-o-rama on Jeff Petry for a good backhand chance on Casey DeSmith.

Petry could only laugh and acknowledge his teammate bested him on that sequence.

Kapanen should have made the simple plays, even in a scrimmage, but he also played with speed and some aggression. — Dan

*The jury is split on Ty Smith. A couple of colleagues that I trust were lukewarm. Others and I grade him very well. He’s got a good step in the offensive zone and doesn’t hesitate to take space or create it from the blue line. He’s fearless with the puck without being reckless

We’ll do more on Smith and his battle with P.O Joseph to determine who sticks around. The Penguins can’t keep everyone, and Smith, 22, is waivers exempt. — Dan

 

*Valtteri Puustinen does not look out of place on a line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel.

“He’s a guy that has really good offensive instincts and a guy that potentially could play an offensive role for us,” said Sullivan. “So we’re going to put him with offensive guys and see how he does.”

*I asked though I stumbled with a question about Puustinen to Crosby on Friday. Like a dufus, I asked Crosby what it’s like playing with Puustinen, then quickly amended my question to what Puustinen is like playing with him.

Crosby, ever the diplomat, cracked a smile and let me off the hook, “We play together,” he said.

Puustinen is one of two youngsters who look like the bread has almost risen to NHL standards. Filip Hallander is the other who looks sharp in camp and could soon be Pittsburgh Penguins — Dan

*There are a handful of prospects who are showing well. Sullivan called Sam Poulin “light years” ahead of last year. Jack St. Ivany, Raivis Ansons, Corey Andonovski, and Ty Glover are the others who have been noticeable and notable. Andonovski could be in line for a call-up this season. — Dan