Penguins Blog: What Last 2 Games Really Mean

CRANBERRY — No pressure. Young players, prospects, and the second-chancers have given the Pittsburgh Penguins management and coaches plenty to consider in the final days of training camp.

No longer can coach Dan Muse defer to the incomplete nature of camp and the early stages of the process.

The decision hours are at hand as many of the Penguins’ young players and those battling for spots will play Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres, who are icing an NHL-heavy roster.

The Penguins will do the same on Friday in the conclusion of their preseason against Buffalo at PPG Paints Arena.

And with the decisions will also come a greater sense of the franchise’s direction. Will the Penguins go hard toward a youth movement, or will they put the best 23 on the roster regardless of age?

Or, will general manager Kyle Dubas continue his slow boil rebuild, doing a little of both?

The game on Wednesday has those very large implications and personal ramifications for the players.

The entirety of the decision certainly does not hinge upon one game, but the game can provide plenty of support for either organizational path.

The Players

For many in the game on Wednesday, this is it, the last chance to show they belong. Last season, defenseman Harrison Brunicke stumbled in the final preseason game, and the Penguins returned him to juniors despite being oh-so close to making the final roster.

As he has done for much of camp, Muse tried to downplay the importance of Wednesday’s game, placing greater importance on the entirety of the process.

“I don’t think one game is more important than another. They’re all important,” he said.

With full respect to Muse, who has run an extraordinary camp that has enticed the best out of most, a coach can say the game doesn’t matter any more or less than the previous. Yet the reality is that playing well against minor league players and prospects is much different than playing well against an NHL lineup fine-tuning itself for the regular season.

A good game last week was nice. A good game tonight is essential.

And so prospects such as Brunicke, Ben Kindel, and even Tristan Broz, who has submitted an exemplary camp and preseason, need to show well against Buffalo’s NHL team.

That’s what Game 6 means–because there won’t be much space to insert them into the lineup in Game 7, Friday.

As Brunicke proved, a bad performance can indeed show that a player isn’t quite ready.

Kindel, 18, finds himself in that situation tonight. A good game might just earn him a spot in the lineup Friday with the NHL regulars. Anything less, and his odds of returning to the WHL increase exponentially.

Former Penguins top prospect Sam Poulin is on the roster on Wednesday, but skated with the non-game group earlier Wednesday morning, indicating that his candidacy is likely over and he will not make the team.

We are to that point in camp, when little things mean a lot.

Players to Watch

The entire roster is a player to watch on Wednesday. From Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who we have graded very well in camp, to Broz and even Owen Pickering, it’s a roster jam-packed with players who will qualify as rookies should they make the team.

However, veterans are fighting to keep their careers at the highest level, including Noel Acciari, who might see his first game action of the preseason after recovering from a core muscle injury.

Philip Tomasino had one standout game but a couple of average performances. He signed a one-year, $1.75 million deal over the summer after the Penguins acquired him from the Nashville Predators last November. His game still needs a lot of work–especially in the areas of consistency and adding more layers so that he’s an asset even when he’s not scoring.

He’s not a sure thing to make the roster, especially as the Penguins have other middle-six wingers able to take his place, including but not limited to Justin Brazeau, Anthony Mantha, and Danton Heinen.

Filip Hallander is another young veteran who hasn’t yet made a mark in the NHL. At 25 years old, he came back to North America after a few seasons in the Swedish Elite League with the hopes of jump-starting his path to the top league in the world.

Hallander’s performance thus far has been solid, but unspectacular. He’s been good, but not better than others. His best game was Monday in Detroit, and if he can build upon that, he would enter the conversation with a much stronger case.

The post Penguins Blog: What Last 2 Games Really Mean appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now.

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Penguins Blog: What Last 2 Games Really Mean

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