On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins officially opened training camp for the 2024-25 season. And through three days, there has been a lot of action.
There has already been an injury, as forward Kevin Hayes went down in Friday's practice with an upper-body injury and will miss the start of the regular season. There is a new coaching staff that is starting to make its mark on the team and the direction. And there are some young players already poised to make decisios tough for GM and POHO Kyle Dubas and company.
Here are five observations from the first three days of training camp.
Dan Muse and his staff are vocal... very vocal
Sidney Crosby: "It was pretty loud out there. There was a lot of stick banging, that sort of thing."
Kris Letang: "You could feel it. The energy is through the roof."
Bryan Rust: "The energy out there was great. It was contagious. [The coaches] were all very vocal, they were all banging their sticks, they were all trying to motivate guys, trying to get guys going."
Evgeni Malkin: “This [Friday] is the second day. Really hard. But I like it. I feel fine."
If there was one consistent theme throughout the first three days of camp - and something that seems as though it's going to stick - it's that new head coach Dan Muse and the rest of his staff are loud. Very, very loud.
Muse barely had a voice left for all three media availabilities at the end of each day. Assistant coach Mike Stothers was yelling left and right and banging sticks up against the glass not-so-lightly, halfway frightening the fans in attendance on the other side. Muse even joked Saturday that we all may have to play a guessing game at the beginning of every practice to predict how many sticks Stothers will break that day.
But the "loudness" and vocality of practice isn't for naught. There is a noticeable intensity and energy that has, honestly, been a bit lacking over the last several years of camp. The pace is constantly pushed. Guys are tired. The coaching staff is making them work and work very hard.
'The Energy Is Through The Roof': Competition The Focus In Dan Muse's First NHL Training CampBy the time day one of Pittsburgh Penguins' training camp concluded, new head coach Dan Muse had nearly lost his voice.
And it's contributing to a big energy that's palpable both when witnessing practice and when entering the locker room.
"That's what you want," Crosby said. "You want the enthusiasm and passion. I thought the pace of practice was really good, and a lot of competition within that, so that's what you expect from training camp."
Ville Koivunen has been the standout
It's hard to argue who has been the standout through three days at training camp.
Ville Koivunen has consistently been skating on a line with Crosby and Justin Brazeau, and he looks good. Really good. His skating looks much-improved from the end of last season, as his first step is giving him an extra boost to stay one step ahead of defenders. He's cutting through people like a knife, scoring goals left and right, and displaying seamless and effortless chemitry with Crosby.
The injury to Rutger McGroarty is an unfortunate one, as he was more than likely going to be Koivunen's main competition as far as the young guys at camp. But, with the way Koivunen is performing up to this point, I'm not sure him being in the picture would have mattered much.
He very much seems primed to secure a spot on this roster. Quite frankly, if he can show up this way in the exhibition games, too, I'd be surprised if he's left off this roster at the end of camp. He's been impressive.
Penguins' Training Camp: Observations From Day ThreeGroup C kicked off Saturday's training camp session, and there wasn't as much systems work compared to Friday's session. Instead, we got to see a fair amount of line rushes and a lot of odd-man rush opportunities.
Filip Hallander could replace Kevin Hayes
With the injury to Hayes, the Penguins aren't just down a veteran. They're also down a center.
There is a little bit of center depth on the roster as-is. Tommy Novak has good two-way prowess. Blake Lizotte has been a solid fourth-line center for the Penguins. Noel Acciari is capable of manning the middle, and even Rickard Rakell was forced to play center at one point last season.
But don't count out Filip Hallander.
Hallander, 25, is on his second stint in the Penguins' organization after being named SHL Forward of the Year in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) last season with 26 goals and 53 points in 51 games. He has a reputation for his solid two-way play, and he has potential as a third-line center at the NHL level.
He's consistently centered a line with Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell as his wingers, and he has been able to keep up with both of them in practice. He will not be in the lineup against the Montreal Canadiens in the first pre-season matchup of the season Monday, which could bode well for him in terms of, perhaps, getting to skate with some of the bigger guys in the following games.
Keep an eye on him. Aside from Koivunen, he probably has the most inside track to make the roster as a younger player - especially after crossing an ocean this summer to sign back with the Penguins.
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Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
Sergei Murashov is the real deal
Honestly, it's hard to evaluate goaltending outside of exhibition games in training camp.
But, one thing is for certain: Sergei Murashov has, far and away, been the best goaltender at this year's camp so far.
I have said before that I am, by no means, a goaltending expert. But I have eyes. And Murashov's talent is clear as day. He doesn't panic. He's ridiculously athletic and moves post-to-post quicker than I've seen any Penguins' goaltender in recent memory - maybe since the legend who signed a PTO to retire a Penguin. He makes simple saves look like clockwork and difficult saves look effortless.
And when he does have to make a gargantuan effort due to a rogue rebound or fast-unfolding play in front of him? He rarely loses those battles, too.
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Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry have been solid, too, and they likely have the inside track at the NHL roster despite Dubas's declaration at the beginning of camp that the two goaltending spots were up for grabs. Joel Blomqvist has looked fine enough, and he will be the other goaltender - along with Murashov - against Montreal.
Realistically, Murashov needs a full season under his belt at the AHL level, where he dominated in a stint last season. But I am curious to see how he looks in exhibition games. If he looks anywhere close to how he does in practice, he might make the Penguins rethink a few things if Dubas's words are to be taken at face value.
The deployment of Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke says a lot
Reading too much into lines, pairings, and deployment on the first three days of training camp is often a futile exercise. There are three teams with clear NHL veterans and roster locks spread across them, and a lot changes as the rosters get cut and the teams get reduced.
That said, it's not a nothing burger that Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke have remained a pairing throughout camp - and it's not a coincidence who they've been sharing their five-on-five reps with.
Pickering and Brunicke - both of whom have looked pretty solid in camp so far, Pickering especially - have consistently seen ice time with Crosby, Koivunen, and Brazeau, which may not seem like much on the surface.
Except that known offensive play-driving, future Hall-of-Fame defenseman Erik Karlsson is in the same group and is always tasked with defending against them, and vice versa.
Within each group, there is - to some extent - a "these guys probably won't make the roster" group on one end of the ice and a "these guys will either make it or come close to making it" group on the other end. It speaks volumes that Pickering and Brunicke are given the minutes with Crosby - not even against him - and that Brunicke, in particular, has often been tasked with shutting down Karlsson one-on-one.
There's a high likelihood that both players will stick through the end of camp until final cuts, even if their chances of cracking the roster may be slim due to the defensive logjam, especially on Brunicke's right side. And it's possible that the Penguins keep Brunicke around as long as possible to see if the AHL/CHL rule change allowing one 19-year-old CHL player to play in the AHL gets a last-minute green light for the 2025-26 season, as he is likely to be assigned to the AHL in that case.
Regardless, the Penguins clearly see potential in this pairing. And they absolutely should. Both look like they belong, and both will have the chance to prove that in game action starting Monday in Montreal.
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