Credit: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ preseason roster cuts are getting down to the nitty gritty. Sunday, the team assigned forward Bill Zonnon, defenseman Harrison Brunicke and goaltender Joel Blomqvist to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
In other personnel news, injured forward Blake Lizotte practiced with the team at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, and defenseman Ryan Graves is being evaluated for injuries to both knees.
The biggest name of the three who were cut is probably Brunicke, who is one of the organization’s top prospects and in a vacuum would seem to be ready for the NHL. He made the team out of camp a year ago but ended up playing mostly in juniors. This year, he would seem to be blocked by a glut of right-handed defensemen.
“He’s just got to keep building that pro game,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said of Brunicke. “I really saw a more mature game from him. And that’s not saying he was immature; it’s just learning pro hockey.”
Blomqvist got just half a game of work in the preseason games, and he probably was already penciled in to play in Wilkes-Barre with Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov manning the NHL roster. It was unlikely the Penguins were going to keep three goalies at the NHL level.
Zonnon, a first-round draft pick last year, has been a solid prospect but likely needs to develop his game in the AHL.
Notably, forwards Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen are still with the NHL club. That could at least in part be because of injuries to a handful of Penguins forwards. One of those injuries now involves another prospect, Tristan Broz. The Penguins announced that Broz has a lower-body injury.
Veteran winger Bryan Rust, who left Saturday’s preseason game, is being evaluated for an upper-body injury.
Neither Rust nor Broz practiced Sunday.
Lizotte said his prognosis improved after he initially was ruled out week to week.
“I’m trending in the right direction,” said Lizotte, who doesn’t have a timetable but isn’t ruling out being available for the season opener Wednesday at Philadelphia.
Meanwhile defenseman Ryan Graves is listed as out indefinitely. Muse revealed that Graves is being evaluated for injuries to both knees.
Tags:bill zonnon harrison brunicke Joel Blomqvist Pittsburgh Penguins Shelly Anderson
Categorized:Penguins News Pittsburgh Penguins