Penguins Snubs for 4 Nations Face-Off? Practice Report

In what might be considered a couple of snubs, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Rickard Rakell and defenseman Marcus Pettersson were not named as part of the Team Sweden roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off when it was announced on Wednesday.

The NHL will shut down for the tournament, which will feature the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.

Six players for each team were previously announced, including two Penguins, center Sidney Crosby for Canada and defenseman Erik Karlsson for Sweden. Full rosters for Team Sweden and Team Finland were unveiled Wednesday afternoon. The balance of the rosters for Canada and Team USA will be released later Wednesday.

Rakell, 31, had an up-and-down season a year ago, logging 15 goals, 37 points in 70 games. He has rebounded in a big way this season, leading the team with 10 goals and second in points with 24.

“I think he’s playing extremely hard on both sides of the puck,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Wednesday of Rakell before the roster was announced. “He’s playing an inspiring game right now because he’s doing the thankless jobs, the little things that add up to winning that don’t always end up on the scoresheet. … There’s a lot of detail around his game right now, and when you combine that will his talent level, I think that’s why he’s been as effective as he has.”

Pettersson, 28, had a bit of an off start to the season, but he has seemed to settle back into his role as a strong defensive presence whose ability to get things going in transition and pitch in some on offense have continually grown over his career. He has two goals — halfway to the career best four he had last season — and 11 points in 27 games this season.

Former Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta and former Penguins forward Mikael Granlund were chosen for Finland.

Penguins Workload Management

The Penguins had smaller numbers at practice Wednesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, but it was not an optional workout. It was orchestrated.

“We had a group of players that had a formal active recovery off the ice, and we had a group of players that went on the ice,” Sullivan said. “A lot of it was just based on workload, cumulative workload over the course of games. And then workload in the short term. Some guys we felt needed more touches on the ice, and some guys we felt it was a good opportunity to get the in active recovery off the ice leading up to a back-to-back stretch coming up.”

No members of the top two lines or the top two defensive pairings skated. The nine skaters who participated were Ryan Shea, Kevin Hayes, Jesse Puljujarvi, Cody Glass, Ryan Graves, Owen Pickering, Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto. Goaltenders Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic also skated.

The Penguins have another practice scheduled for Thursday before they play Friday against the Rangers in New York and Saturday at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs.