(UPDATED) Penguins Practice: Lines Emerge, McGroarty Gets Bumped Down

CRANBERRY, Twp — The Pittsburgh Penguins camp will take a day off Friday before back-to-back preseason games, Saturday in Detroit, and then Sunday in Sudbury, Ont., as part of the Kraft Hockeyville celebration. So, Thursday was coach Mike Sullivan’s last chance until early next week to put together some line combinations and conduct a few more drills.

The Penguins split their squads into the NHL group and the hopefuls. Towards the end of training camp, Group 1 is usually telling of who is in the lead regarding position and roster battles.

Of note, top prospect Rutger McGroarty was in Group 2, which practiced on Rink 2, while Sullivan ran practice for Group 1. Also on Rink 2 was prospect Vasily Ponomarev.

While Sullivan routinely cautions against reading too much into training camp and preseason lines, Group 1 consisted entirely of NHL players, and Group 2 entirely of hopefuls, Penguins prospects, and those who probably won’t be in Pittsburgh for next Tuesday’s practice.

The Penguins lines in Group 1:

Drew O’Connor-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Michael Bunting-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell

Anthony Beauvillier-Lars Eller-Jesse Puljujarvi

Kevin Hayes/Cody Glass-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Later in practice, Glass rotated with Puljujarvi on the third line.

The blue line group included the regulars, minus Erik Karlsson, who remains out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Sebastian Aho, John Ludvig, and Ryan Shea skated with the top group, which also included Kris Letang, Matt Grzelcyk, Marcus Pettersson, Ryan Graves, and Jack St. Ivany.

Predictably, the goalies were Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic.

During 5v5 drills later in practice, Graves and Shea skated together while St. Ivany was beside Pettersson. Ludvig and Aho skated together.

While nothing is definite, that would track with Shea being the seventh defenseman and plugged into the lineup during Karlsson’s absence.

Please note the first part of that sentence: Nothing is definite. Sullivan could be looking at players in various situations, and others may get a look next week.

But this also had the feel of a tentative final roster.

McGroarty played in the first two preseason games, though he admitted he “was running around” in the defensive zone. The 20-year-old winger was the Penguins’ splash addition in the offseason. Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas acquired McGroarty, who informed his drafting team (Winnipeg Jets) that he would remain with the University of Michigan and not sign with them, but at the cost of the Penguins’ top prospect–2023 first-round pick Brayden Yager.

The prospects will get at least one more chance to show their wares this weekend in preseason games, though the team has not yet announced the rosters. It’s quite unlikely any players will play in back-to-back games.

The other notable inferences from the top group were Glass and Hayes, who shared a spot on the fourth line, then Glass shared a spot on the third line, indicating he is on pace to become the 13th forward. The other eye-catching development over the last two days has been Puljujarvi’s inclusion in the top group.

Read More: Penguins Postgame: Analyzing the Prospects, Puljujarvi Impresses Sullivan

Puljujarvi drew earnest praise from Sullivan after the first preseason game in which Puljujarvi scored a hat trick and was quick to stand up for teammates whom the NHL-regular heavy Buffalo Sabres lineup was roughing up.

Penguins Roster Plans

Per Sullivan, the Penguins will take most of the roster to Detroit for the Saturday game, then the players who will be in the lineup Sunday will make the trip to Sudbury for the Kraft Hockeyville game.

“We’re going to bring everybody, for the most part, to Detroit. Some will move on (to Sudbury). So there’s a lot of guys around, and we’re still trying to give guys an opportunity to make this team,” Sullivan said. “So, we’ll get those guys that we think (can make the team) a continued opportunity to play in these games — we’ll give them opportunities to play.”