CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. —The push and pull of a crowded lineup showed brightly again Monday at the Pittsburgh Penguins practice. Since the beginning of training camp, coach Dan Muse has been confronted with several impossible choices, and Monday was simply the latest contest of the future, the present, and judgment calls.
The Penguins have not made an official announcement yet, but it seems Andrei Kuzmenko is close to returning from his non-roster status. Coach Dan Muse confirmed Kuzmenko was a full participant at practice, and he took regular reps with the second power play unit.
Out of the regular lines rotation were Elmer Soderblom and Hendrix Lapierre . However, Ville Koivunen was back in the regular rotation.
In fact, when the Penguins activate Kuzmenko, they will again have 14 forwards, but they will be insulated from sacrificing one to the trade winds or the waiver wire because it appears the team will be able to carry seven defensemen for a longer spell, as defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk was placed on injured reserve Monday afternoon.
With TVR on IR, if the Penguins activate Kuzmenko, they will still have one extra spot to recall a depth defender.
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin
Andrei Kuzmenko-Ben Kindel-Ville Koivunen
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Nick Robertson
Declan Carlile-Erik Karlsson
Sam Girard-Kaedan Korczak
Spencer Stastney-Kris Letang
Goalies: Arturs Silovs, Sergei Murashov
The Penguins remain overstocked. While Kuzmenko is designated as non-roster, only one of the three forwards—Koivunen, Soderblom, Lapierre—will be scratched. However, when Kuzmenko returns, two of the forwards will be served an unappetizing plate of press box nachos.
In fact, Muse seemed to sidestep any talk of a rotation, instead explaining the process. Undoubtedly, the Penguins lineup is an unfinished project, but his tone did indicate the desire to get toward a stable roster, rather than a platoon situation.
"When guys come back in, decisions have to be made. I mean, someone has to come out from game to game. For the guys that have come in and out a little bit, it's also something where it's 'take it.' I want those guys to make my job even harder," said Muse. "And I think there's always going to be conversations after every game, after a win, after a loss, in terms of what the lineup's going to be; if you're sticking with lines, if you're sticking with pairs, if you're making changes."
Muse's casual, explanatory tone belied the bluntness of the response. If players don't want to be scratched, then they have to be better than players in the lineup.
"And if you're in the conversation, my message to those guys is always to work to remove yourself from the conversation," said Muse. "So within the minutes that are played, you do it. Then there are also some games, and this has come up this year where they've done all the right things, (but) we have other guys that are coming back, and so we have to make some really hard decisions there. But I would prefer hard decisions."
Of course, such an assertion will naturally cause great debate externally, but perhaps internally as well, as the team searches for successful combinations. After all, Soderblom's performances have not been notable on the stat sheets, but his puck possession and sturdy defensive zone work were notable in the Penguins' conservative victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
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