With each passing day, the Pittsburgh Penguins' roster is coming more and more into focus.
And on Thursday, it got a little bit closer to the finish line.
Following practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Pa., the Penguins announced a series of roster moves. Forward Bryan Rust and defenseman Jack St. Ivany were both placed on injured reserve, there were five players cut from the training camp roster, and six players were sent to the waiver wire.
The five players re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's (WBS) AHL training camp are:
- D Scooter Brickey
- F Mathieu De St. Phalle
- G Taylor Gauthier
- F Aidan McDonough
- D Chase Pietila
The six players sent to the NHL's waiver wire are:
- D Sebastian Aho
- F Danton Heinen
- D Philip Kemp
- F Joona Koppanen
- G Filip Larsson
- F Valtteri Puustinen
The biggest surprise among the group is veteran forward Danton Heinen, who was re-acquired by the Penguins as part of the deal that sent defenseman Marcus Pettersson to the Vancouver Canuncks in January. The journeyman forward is on his second stint with the Penguins' organization, and in those two stints combined, he has registered 29 goals and 66 points in 169 games.
Also among the waiver group is Larsson, who was in competition with Tristan Jarry, Arturs Silovs, Sergei Murashov, and Joel Blomqvist - up until Blomqvist's lower-body injury - for one of the two NHL goaltending posts. Larsson had an impressive start to his AHL season last year with WBS, but a late injury and inconsistency following that injury put him in a tough spot with Murashov and Blomqvist.
Larsson, 27, went 12-9-3 with a 2.84 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage in 26 AHL games last season.
With camp numbers dwindling, the Penguins' roster is now down to 39 players. They are:
Forwards (22)
- Noel Acciari
- Justin Brazeau
- Tristan Broz
- Sidney Crosby
- Connor Dewar
- Robby Fabbri
- Filip Hallander
- Rafael Harvey-Pinard
- Avery Hayes
- Danton Heinen*
- Boko Imama
- Ben Kindel
- Ville Koivunen
- Joona Koppanen*
- Blake Lizotte
- Evgeni Malkin
- Anthony Mantha
- Tommy Novak
- Sam Poulin
- Valtteri Puustinen*
- Rickard Rakell
- Philip Tomasino
Defensemen (13)
- Sebastian Aho*
- Alexander Alexeyev
- Harrison Brunicke
- Connor Clifton
- Matt Dumba
- Ryan Graves
- Caleb Jones
- Erik Karlsson
- Phil Kemp*
- Kris Letang
- Owen Pickering
- Ryan Shea
- Parker Wotherspoon
Goaltenders (4)
- Tristan Jarry
- Filip Larsson*
- Sergei Murashov
- Arturs Silovs
Injured Reserve (8)
- G Joel Blomqvist
- F Kevin Hayes
- F Tanner Howe
- D Jack St. Ivany
- D Peyton Kettles
- F Rutger McGroarty
- F Bryan Rust
- F Bill Zonnon
The Penguins will play one final pre-season game when the Buffalo Sabres come to town on Friday before making final roster decisions.
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