The Pittsburgh Penguins finalized their 2024-25 opening-night roster Monday, comprising 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders.
Of the 22 players, 17 skated with the Penguins last year.
Franchise pillars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin lead the club’s corps of forwards, joined by returning players Noel Acciari, Michael Bunting, Drew O’Connor, Lars Eller, Jesse Puljujarvi, Valtteri Puustinen and Rickard Rakell.
New to the group of forwards are offseason acquisitions Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass and Kevin Hayes.
Rutger McGroarty, whom general manager Kyle Dubas acquired in August from the Winnipeg Jets for Brayden Yager in a swap of top prospects, successfully earned a spot on the roster.
Notably, forwards Bryan Rust (undisclosed ailment) and Blake Lizotte (concussion) will begin the season on injured reserve.
Vasily Ponomarev, a prospect who joined the Penguins late last season in the return package for Jake Guentzel, was added to the injured non-roster list.
Defensively, Kris Letang headlines a group that includes Marcus Pettersson, Ryan Graves and first-year player Matt Grzelcyk.
Erik Karlsson, who missed the majority of the preseason with an unspecified injury that prevented him from partaking in any games, recovered sufficiently to begin the season without an injury designation.
Jack St. Ivany and Ryan Shea won position battles on the blue line, rounding out the club’s group of defensemen to start the year.
At goalie, Tristan Jarry leads the way, backed up by rookie Joel Blomqvist.
Blomqvist, 22, was an All-Star last year for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, going 25-12-6 with a 2.16 goals-against average and .921 save percentage.
Alex Nedeljkovic, who split starting duties with Jarry last season, will begin the season on injured reserve following an injury suffered during the preseason.
Notes: Forward Matt Nieto, who continues to rehab following reconstructive MCL surgery, will start the year on long-term injured reserve. … Forward Boko Imama and defenseman Sebastian Aho cleared waivers Monday and were assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
