Penguins establish season-opening roster

The Penguins formally announced their season-opening roster Monday after the NHL’s 5 p.m. deadline to become compliant with the salary cap.

In reality, the Penguins finalized that task Sunday when reserve defensemen Mark Friedman and Ty Smith were assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

The Penguins’ roster has 22 players, one short of the league maximum for the regular season, and includes 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders.

Forwards: Josh Archibald, Teddy Blueger, Jeff Carter, Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Danton Heinen, Kasperi Kapanen, Evgeni Malkin, Brock McGinn, Ryan Poehling, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Jason Zucker

Defensemen: Brian Dumoulin, P.O Joseph, Kris Letang, Jeff Petry, Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel, Jan Rutta

Goaltenders: Casey DeSmith, Tristan Jarry

According to Cap Friendly, the Penguins will enter the season with a salary cap figure of $82,416,842. That total is $83,158 below the NHL’s salary cap ceiling of $82.5 million.

The decision to assign Smith to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was fairly easy for management simply because he is exempt from waivers for such a transaction.

But it was executed despite Smith largely serving on the third pairing with Rutta through much of the camp and preseason.

“Just because a decision like this was made, right now, it doesn’t mean it’s etched in stone,” Sullivan said. “Performance matters, just like it does with all of our players. What’s important from our standpoint is that he controls what is within his control. That is the conversation that I had with Ty. We expect Ty to continue and grow and develop his overall game, whether it’s (in Pittsburgh or with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton).”

Joseph happy to be here (for now)

AP

Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph played in three games this prseason and did not score a point.

One of the biggest questions marks heading into training camp was where would defensive prospect Joseph slot into the roster, especially since he is no longer exempt from waivers for any transactions involving Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Things could certainly change before Thursday’s season-opening contest against the Arizona Coyotes at PPG Paints Arena, but barring any further transaction, Joseph will open the season as a member of the NHL roster for the first time in his professional career.

“It’s a good feeling,” Joseph said. “It’s a fresh start. Emotionally, you have to go up but I have to also go down really fast and just stay focused on the goal of getting better every day and just to show (management) that they made a good decision by keeping me here.”

It certainly took nearly all of training camp for that decision to play out. Joseph did his best at trying to not dwell on the immediate future.

“I think I did a pretty good job at it, to not think about anything and just do my casual stuff at home,” Joseph said. “It was, for sure, a stressful time. … The last couple of days have been good and bad at the same time. I’m really happy with the result.”

Management certainly seems happy with what Joseph can offer as an NHLer.

“His game continues to grow and develop,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “When P.O is at his best, he’s a very solid two-way defenseman. He has the ability to get us out of our end. He uses his mobility, his stick skills, he has decent offensive instincts that he can help us in the offense. And he uses his mobility and his sticks skill to defend. That’s the defenseman that we see as being part of the group of defensemen that we have here.

During Monday’s practice at PPG Paints Arena, the left-handed Joseph skated on a third pairing with the right-hander Rutta while Ruhwedel, another right-hander, mixed in.

Blueger absent

AP

In 65 games last season, Penguins forward Teddy Blueger had 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists).

Blueger was absent from Monday’s practice and remains “day to day” due to an undisclosed injury that has hobbled him to some degree since Sept. 28. According to Sullivan, Blueger did not skate at all on Monday.

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