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The Penguins have a game today. First time we can make that claim since mid-May. The Red Wings will be paying a visit tonight and even though the end result doesn't mean anything, the evaluation process can really kick into full gear for some of the Penguins bubble players. It is one thing to impress the coaches in practice, but to do it against a real opponent in a real game setting, that still holds more weight.
Here's the Penguins lineup for tonight, some familiar faces as well as some new ones.
Forwards
13 Nick Spaling F
16 Brandon Sutter F
17 Blake Comeau F
19 Beau Bennett F
34 Bobby Farnham F
39 Josh Archibald F
43 Scott Wilson F
48 Anton Zlobin F
49 Oskar Sundqvist F
50 Jean-Sebastien Dea F
59 Jayson Megna F
72 Patric Hornqvist F
Defensemen
4 Rob Scuderi D
7 Paul Martin D
33 Reid McNeill D
41 Robert Bortuzzo D
44 Taylor Chorney D
47 Simon Despres D
Goaltenders
29 Marc-Andre Fleury G
60 Matt Murray G
Coach Johnston did not have any line rushes today so that will remain a mystery until the puck drops this evening.
Some thoughts:
We will get our first look at Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling in a Penguins uniform. It is likely that both of those players will be on a line with Evgeni Malkin to start the year. The hope here is that Nick Spaling can be Evgeni Malkin's version of Pascal Dupuis. A guy who on his own merit isn't really a top six option, but can blend in while playing with an all world talent. That is the hope, will it be the reality?
Simon Despres and Robert Bortuzzo will be trying to prove that they are the men for the job as it pertains to the Penguins bottom defense pairing. Both players are capable of that job assignment and both players are not eligible to pass through waivers anymore, a plus for them and their chances of making the big club.
Rob Scuderi has to play better than he did last year, ankle injury or not. Tonight is the first step towards that goal.
Jean-Sebastien Dea, Anton Zlobin, and Josh Archibald have a lot on the line. They will not have a large sample size to prove themselves against NHL talent, tonight is going to be one of their few opportunities. A great outing by any of the three may buy them more time at training camp. A poor outing and they may find themselves down in WB/S by tomorrow.
Let's just say Beau Bennett was not a fan of Dan Bylsma (quotes courtesy of
Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette ).
Look for skilled players like Bennett and Despres to play better under Johnston. It is still up in the air how Johnston's system will impact lesser skilled players like Scuderi and Spaling.
Keep an eye on Jayson Megna, for my money he will be the guy who "takes Craig Adams job". Megna has great speed and is certainly no less talented than Adams with the puck. A fourth line of Comeau-Goc-Megna is light years ahead of the nonsense that was Glass-Vitale-Adams last year.
Coach Johnston said that Sidney Crosby skated this morning, Evgeni Malkin did not. Chris Kunitz did not skate either. Why do I get the feeling that we are going to get a bombshell dropped on us regarding Malkin's actual health status? Hopefully that is not the case but its weird that he has not been participating in any capacity.
Here is the Red Wings lineup tonight courtesy of
Ansar Khan of Michigan Live . The folks in Pittsburgh will be getting a treat with Datsyuk playing. There is enough NHL talent in Detroit's lineup for Coach Johnston to get some good evaluating in. The Penguins are the home team and if he wants to really test some of his players he can choose to match them up against Datsyuk and/or Kronwall.
The names you don't recognize on Detroit's defense are their top four defense prospects.
Darren Helm-Pavel Datsyuk-Tomas Tatar
Tomas Jurco-Riley Sheahan-Daniel Cleary
Drew Miller-Joakim Andersson-Martin Frk
Jeff Hoggan-Andreas Athanasiou-Colin Campbell
Niklas Kronwall-Jonathan Ericsson
Xavier Ouellet-Alexey Marchenko
Mattias Backman-Ryan Sproul
Jimmy Howard (first two periods)
Petr Mrazek (third period)
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