Penguins News: Schedule Released, Training Camp Opens
With the NHL CBA ratified by both players and owners, official transactions and team exercises were finally able to get underway Sunday. The Penguins opened their training camp with an open Southpointe practice that drew a full house and a larger than expected training camp roster.
The Pens’ training camp schedule and roster can be seen here.
Maybe surprisingly, the training camp roster includes 26 players, six of whom were regulars with the Penguins’ AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre Scranton during the lockout. Prospects Jayson Megna, Beau Bennett and Simon Despres were perhaps the biggest surprises on the invite list. Eric Tangradi, Brian Strait and Robert Bortuzzo are also on the roster.
Ray Shero and Dan Bylsma have made hints at carrying eight defensemen in the shortened season, and Tangradi is due for regular NHL time this season. Whether that’s on a line with Evgeni Malkin and James Neal remains to be seen. As for Megna, Bennett and Despres, it’ll take five days of Hail Mary performances to steal a roster spot from a veteran in a week-long camp, especially as it precedes a 48-game season in which there will be little time to experiment.
The Penguins schedule was also released this week upon approval of the CBA. As announced, Pittsburgh will play 18 games against Atlantic Division opponents and three-apiece against the remaining ten Eastern Conference clubs. Surprisingly, the Penguins will only face the Flyers four times out of a possible five, instead facing the New York clubs five times apiece and the Devils four times as well.
Pittsburgh will need a hot start. The team plays four of its first five and seven of its first ten games on the road, including the season-opener at Philadelphia this Saturday.
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Another note. We have yet to find a full copy of the CBA online. But it’s probably not even finished yet. Until then, bigtime summary of terms from the NHLPA website. We’ll tear it down and find things to complain about in the coming weeks, but if you’re into Excel-style reading and even more legal jargon, this will help waste your Monday.
Audio city, from Jason Seidling and the Pens.
Ray Shero
http://downloads.penguins.nhl.
Dan Bylsma
http://downloads.penguins.nhl.
Sidney Crosby
http://downloads.penguins.nhl.
James Neal
http://downloads.penguins.nhl.
Tomas Vokoun
http://downloads.penguins.nhl.
Pascal Dupuis
http://downloads.penguins.nhl.
Matt Cooke
http://downloads.penguins.nhl.
Joe Vitale
http://downloads.penguins.nhl.
About the Author
James Conley is the owner of Slew Footers. A Pitt grad and freelance writer, James also contributes to the Yahoo! Contributor Network, Baseball News Source and SB Nation's Pensburgh.
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