Seth Rorabaugh stories, Page 49
Training camp preview: Ryan Graves needs improvement as one of the Penguins’ top left-handed defensemen
With the Pittsburgh Penguins scheduled to open training camp Wednesday, here is a position-by-position look at their roster. Today, a glance at their left-side defensemen. Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas has a talent for saying a lot without saying much. He tends to keep his true intentions hidden...
Penguins goaltending prospect Taylor Gauthier has the right approach
Taylor Gauthier doesn’t necessarily want to be right (even if he always is). He just wants to be better. And considering how strong of a 2023-24 season he had while primarily playing for the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL, Gauthier has a pretty high bar to clear in that pursuit....
Training camp preview: Health remains a concern for the Penguins’ right wingers
With the Pittsburgh Penguins scheduled to open training camp Wednesday, here is a position-by-position look at their roster. Today, a glance at their right wingers. There wasn’t much that could stop Bryan Rust last season. Except for Bryan Rust. The mostly reliable and versatile right winger rebounded from a lackluster...
The Penguins have numbers at center, and a lot of them are old
With the Pittsburgh Penguins scheduled to report to training camp next week, here is a position-by-position look at their roster. Today, a glance at their centers. Sidney Crosby isn’t what he once was. But he’s still better than most 37-year-olds have ever been in the NHL. Last season, at a...
Penguins prospect Vasily Ponomarev is eager to compete at center or wing
Vasily Ponomarev enjoyed a new experience this offseason. Professional go-karting. The Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect got into the motorized sport — typically presented simply as “karting” — this summer in his native Russia and even raced in some professional events. “I was a big fan of (simulated racing), and I...
Penguins to open training camp next week
The Pittsburgh Penguins will open their training camp on Wednesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. A formal announcement of the camp was made by the team on Thursday. All non-game day practices are free and open to the public. The schedule: Wednesday, Sept. 18 9-9:45 a.m.– Team...
Training camp preview: Michael Bunting gives the Penguins a base at left wing
With the Pittsburgh Penguins scheduled to report to training camp next week, here is a position-by-position look at their roster. Today, a glance at their left wingers. The Penguins didn’t win the Jake Guentzel trade in March. Any team that parts ways with a reliable 40-goal threat isn’t celebrating a...
New Penguins forward Blake Lizotte sticks with what got him to the NHLVideo
Blake Lizotte doesn’t stand out. At 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, how could he? But against the context of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ roster, he sticks out. Or should. A blend of hustle, tenacity and contact, Lizotte is the type of player the Penguins don’t have a surplus of and that’s what...
Central Catholic grad Michael Grady felt ‘joy and happiness and relief’ in winning Olympic goldVideo
Michael Grady did not get to participate in the opulent opening ceremonies of the Olympics on July 26. As a rower, his presence would have been fitting for the “parade” of nations that took place on mechanized watercraft surging through the rain and the Seine river of Paris. But the...
New Penguins forward Anthony Beauvillier is ‘glad to be on the good side’
Anthony Beauvillier had an obvious rooting interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins a long time ago. A native of Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, he gravitated to that small town’s most celebrated native, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. In fact, the first NHL game Beauvillier attended was a playoff game between the Penguins and Montreal Canadiens...
Former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defenseman Dmitri Samorukov signs in Russia
Former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defenseman Dmitri Samorukov has signed a three-year contract with HC CSKA Moscow of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). That team announced the transaction via a release on Thursday. Samorukov initially joined Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by signing a one-year American Hockey League (AHL) contract on July 31, 2023. Following the...
Penguins’ preseason game to be held in Sudbury, Ont.
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ preseason game against the Ottawa Senators scheduled for Sept. 29 as part of the Kraft Hockeyville promotion will be held in Sudbury, Ont. The location of the game was announced Wednesday by the city of Elliot Lake, Ont., which won the contest to host the game. Sudbury...
Penguins to participate in Buffalo Prospects Challenge
The Pittsburgh Penguins will once again participate in the Prospects Challenge hosted by the Buffalo Sabres in September at the LECOM Harborcenter. This event is a series of scrimmages between prospects from six NHL teams. In addition to the Penguins and Sabres, the Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey...
Former Penguins forward prospect Dillon Hamaliuk signs in SlovakiaVideo
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect Dillon Hamaliuk has signed with HC Nove Zamky of the Slovak Extraliga. That team announced the transaction via Instagram on Friday. The Penguins acquired Hamaliuk from the San Jose Sharks via a trade in August as a spare part of the blockbuster deal that also...
Penguins sign 2023 1st-round pick Brayden Yager to entry-level contractVideo
The Pittsburgh Penguins signed forward prospect Brayden Yager to a three-year entry-level contract Thursday. According to Puckpedia, the contract will carry a salary cap hit of $950,000. A first-round round pick (No. 14 overall) in 2023, the 19-year-old Yager spent the 2023-24 season at the junior level with the Moose...
Former Penguins forward Josh Currie signs in Germany
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Josh Currie has signed with Kölner Haie of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). That team, based in Cologne, announced the transaction via a release on Thursday. A native of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Currie’s Penguins career was limited to one game (and no points) with the...
Former Penguins staffers Nick Pryor, Alexi Pianosi join Avalanche
Former Pittsburgh Penguins director of amateur scouting Nick Pryor as well as strength and conditioning coach Alexi Pianosi have joined the Colorado Avalanche in identical positions. The Avalanche announced their hirings via a release on Wednesday. Pryor had been employed by the Penguins since July of 2021 and had overseen...
Former Penguins forward Dominik Simon signs with HC Plzen in CzechiaVideo
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Dominik Simon has signed with HC Plzen of the Extraliga ledního hokeje (ELH) in Czechia. That team announced the transaction via a release on Wednesday. The 29-year-old Simon, a native of Czechia, previously played for HC Plzen during the 2014-15 season. Last season, the left-handed Simon...
New Penguins forward Kevin Hayes wants to show ‘I can still play and produce’Video
Kevin Hayes gets it. Being discarded by two teams in two years doesn’t look good. And it doesn’t feel good. In June of 2023, the Philadelphia Flyers were so eager to jettison the left-handed forward, they agreed to keep half of his remaining salary cap hit ($3,571,429) in a trade...
Penguins president Kyle Dubas named to Canada’s management group for Olympics
Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas has been named to the management group for Hockey Canada’s entries into the 2026 Winter Olympics as well as the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off event. Hockey Canada announced the appointments of Dubas as well as Tampa Bay Lightning vice president...
Penguins prospect Zam Plante’s competitiveness is rooted in family
It’s a fair debate. And it has plenty of valid candidates with strong arguments. Who is the best athlete in the Plante family? The most prominent name in the discussion is Derek. He spent eight years in the NHL as a forward who was an occasional 20-goal threat and even...
Penguins prospect Isaac Belliveau benefited from an elevated role with the NailersVideo
The Wheeling Nailers looked different at the start of the 2023-24 season. There were five players with NHL contracts on the roster when the Pittsburgh Penguins’ ECHL affiliate opened play Oct. 21. And, in total, seven players with NHL deals played for the Nailers last season. Under new president of...
Penguins prospect Daniel Laatsch faces a big senior year at WisconsinVideo
Daniel Laatsch’s dreams were typical for any kid from Altoona. He wanted to play for Wisconsin. Uh … what? To be clear, Laatsch is a native of Altoona, Wisconsin, a suburb of Eau Claire, and not the largest city of nearby Blair County. So, his loyalties are easy to understand....
New Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk ‘motivated to prove myself again’
Well before he joined the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this month as an unrestricted free agent, Matt Grzelcyk enjoyed some bright moments through connections with the team. First, the left-handed defenseman was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the third round (No. 85 overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft that was...
Penguins prospect Mac Swanson thinks he has a mighty strong chance at reaching the NHLVideo
Growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect Mac Swanson didn’t have many homegrown NHLers to idolize. But he probably had the best one to look up to. His dad. Brian Swanson toiled for 14 years in the professional ranks as a forward, including parts of four campaigns in...
