Pittsburgh Penguins: Takeaways from Day 1 of training camp

Day 1 of training camp for the Pittsburgh Penguins was a pretty busy day.

Phase 3 in the NHL’s return to play process has officially begun. This is the critically important phase for the Pittsburgh Penguins and the NHL. These next 2 weeks will determine if Phase 4 is feasible. In a perfect world, I feel that the NHL should being hosting these camps in the bubble cities of Toronto & Edmonton.

I noted last week that Patric Hornqvist and Juuso Riikola had not been on the ice yet. That is still the case.

Per Dejan Kovacevic of DK Pittsburgh Sports, these are the 9 Penguins who are being held out of the start of training camp. Alex D’Orio appears to be the depth goaltender that was held out.

This is a proactive approach from the Penguins. They are doing this due to “potential secondary exposure to an individual who had contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19.” The players will not participate until they receive test results and are given the green light in accordance with the NHL protocols.

Depth defenseman Zach Trotman is not on the roster and is not going to play if the qualifying round occurs. Dominik Simon and Nick Bjugstad are also sidelined with injuries after shoulder and back surgery respectively.

For the first time since March, here are the Penguins lines and defense pairs.

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The Penguins have chosen to start Jake Guentzel with Sidney Crosby. Conor Sheary is the third wheel on the first line. Jason Zucker, Evgeni Malkin, and Bryan Brust are together on the second line. In my opinion, that is not the best possible option for the Penguins’ top-six. Guentzel was more productive alongside Malkin this past season and I would start him there.

I am not one to doubt Mike Sullivan, but I would also like to see a larger sample size of Zucker and Crosby together. Anyways, the chemistry between the combination of Malkin and Rust was evident and hopefully will continue. I suspect Hornqvist would be on the third line if he were healthy and ready to go. It is no surprise that the Penguins’ defensively reliant fourth-line has remained intact.

There are no surprises regarding the Penguins’ defense pairs. Brian Dumoulin, Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson, and John Marino are the four best defenders on this team. If they all remain healthy, Pittsburgh should be able breakout of their defensive zone and find their forwards in stride with passes.

The third defense pairing is a different story. Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz were abysmal in their time together last season. That has remained true in 2019-20 as well. Per Natural Stat Trick, here is how the Penguins have controlled territory with this pair on the ice during 5 on 5 play.

• Shots Attempts For: 44.52%
• Shots For: 49.36%
• Scoring Chances For: 44.44%
• Expected Goals For: 41.58%
• Goals For: 27.27%

Not great. This defense pair has been well below average over the last two years. I do not understand why the Penguins have reverted back to it yet again. I would not even be experimenting with this. We know what they are and it is not pretty. Montreal was the second-best possession team in the NHL this past season. If this is the Penguins third pair, the Canadiens will have a field day with them.

As I wrote 4 months ago, making Juuso Riikola a regular on the blue line is the best way to maximize this roster and it would likely help improve Justin Schultz’s level of performance. Since arriving in Pittsburgh, Schultz has always been reliant on the quality of his defense partner.  Riikola is currently not partaking in training camp, but I would give him a look on the third pair alongside Schultz. I am not particularly optimistic that this will occur.

I will have more on the Penguins goaltender situation in the coming weeks. Both Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry are healthy. Casey DeSmith was on the ice after practice concluded. Emil Larmi spent most of the season with the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL. Larmi is the fourth goaltender on the depth chart and also got some work in after practice.

Here’s to hoping the players, coaches, and front-office executives stay healthy over these next two weeks. If all goes smoothly, the Penguins will head to Toronto on July 26th. Thanks for reading!