The Pittsburgh Penguins are deep into training camp, and the early look has already turned into a showcase for the younger players trying to force their way onto the roster.
Pittsburgh has four exhibition games before the season opens in early October, and the group has already split its attention between evaluation and competition. The Penguins beat Buffalo last night and were in Detroit tonight, with several former Wilkes-Barre-Scranton players on the ice in both settings.
That’s the part of camp that matters most right now: who can make a real impression while the staff is sorting out the roster. Some of the players who skated on last year’s Baby Pens team are trying to earn a spot in Pittsburgh, and coach Dan Muse said he likes what he has seen from that younger group so far.
"It's, you know, that's a big part of training camp is seeing guys, you know, again, a lot of different situations between the practices that they've gone through and now the exhibition games and the scrimmages. And so, there's an evaluation that's going on in terms of us, you know, figuring out our roster here, but there's also an evaluation that's going on to see, you know, it's a long season.
And, you know, you saw it last year. You see it across the league.
You see it every team. There's going to be movement.
And so you know when that happens there's an impression that can be made in training camp as a starting point for players to show this is what I can do for them to raise their hand and say, this is how I can impact the game.
And that's what we're looking for. And it's not, you know, going in there and trying to be somebody else like that never works like they have to.
They have to show what they do, what they bring and how they can help this team, help this organization win hockey games. "
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will start their training camp Friday.
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