On Saturday night the Buffalo Sabres loaded up their lineup against the Penguins. Will the Penguins be returning the favor? The answer is a resounding, no. The Penguins will have the following lineup:
#LetsGoPens lines and D-pairs at morning skate:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) September 24, 2024
McGroarty-K. Hayes-Glass
Beauvillier-Lizotte-Acciari
Gruden-Poulin-A. Hayes
Imama-Koppanen-Johnstone
Graves-St. Ivany
Shea-Aho
Pickering-Kral
Howe-Brunicke
Not a lot to chew on here in my opinion. Rutger McGroarty continues to be given a platform to showcase he belongs. He is going to have to turn in a quality performance this evening. I thought Saturday he was underwhelming against NHLers, albeit with not many quality NHL players in the Penguins lineup. He will have two NHL players on his line tonight. They are not of the high-end variety. At this point I would say the likeliest outcome will be McGroarty starting in the AHL, which is fine. There’s no need to overreact to such a placement. He doesn’t need to start as an NHL top six winger for the trade to be deemed a success.
Owen Pickering and Sam Poulin are former first round picks trying to break through with. Poulin is likely close to the end of his chances in Pittsburgh to make a go of it at the NHL level. Pickering is much earlier in the process. He will be looking to make a mark as an option for a mid-season call up.
Anthony Beauvillier will make his Penguins debut this evening with Blake Lizotte and Noel Acciari. There’s a chance greater than zero this could be a future fourth line for the Penguins. I would prefer the Penguins try and move Acciari as I was unimpressed with his impacts last year and makes 2M per season. Unlike some of the other underwhelming depth players the Penguins didn’t receive draft compensation to take on his contract, they chose to pay him that. It’s an overpay and one to move on from.
As for the Sabres they will be unrecognizable from the other night. The NHL level talent is heading to Europe tonight as they will be starting their season overseas.
The Sabres’ NHL group is flying to Germany tonight, so it’s a prospect heavy roster heading to Pittsburgh. Konsta Helenius and Noah Ostlund among the headliners. Notable that Ryan Johnson is staying behind for this game. https://t.co/u4cBXCZ9XV
— Matthew Fairburn (@MatthewFairburn) September 24, 2024
This is probably one of the lower stakes preseason games on the docket.
Thanks for reading!