2023 Training Camp thread

[dark_forces]

What player, expected to make the final roster, will prove to be the season's biggest disappointment?
I hope the answer's not Jarry! If it is, we're in trouble. It's too easy to say Carter.
I'll say Eller—he's not going to be what we need from our 3rd line center. He'll look slow/old, offensively inadequate, and people will wonder why he was signed for two years.

[Three Stars]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/32 ... e-jackets/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

18. One Penguin said he’d never seen Crosby as pissed off as he was at the end of last season. “It was such a struggle for us to find consistency,” the captain said, when asked about it. “I’ve been in a situation where we’ve been first all year and you just ride that into the playoffs. (When) we won in 2016, we were out of the playoffs and went on a great run, had momentum going in, just caught fire. This was a new situation for us. We were chasing it from early on, but we had put ourselves in a spot to get in. It wasn’t a miracle we needed. We needed to win our last two games. To go through all that, all the ups and downs, and to be in a position to get in and not be able to find a way — that’s something we had done in the past, and we didn’t do it this time.” Pittsburgh suffered a pair of stunning losses in their 81st and 82nd games, 5-2 at home to Chicago and 3-2 in Columbus.

[Puck-Lurker]

What player, expected to make the final roster, will prove to be the season's biggest disappointment?
I hope the answer's not Jarry! If it is, we're in trouble. It's too easy to say Carter.
I'll say Eller—he's not going to be what we need from our 3rd line center. He'll look slow/old, offensively inadequate, and people will wonder why he was signed for two years.

Reverse jinxing...

Erik Karlsson. He'll be good, but not great. Defense won't really click and he gets exposed defensively too much.

It's a fear I have, not a prediction I'm making.

[dark_forces]

What player, expected to make the final roster, will prove to be the season's biggest disappointment?
I hope the answer's not Jarry! If it is, we're in trouble. It's too easy to say Carter.
I'll say Eller—he's not going to be what we need from our 3rd line center. He'll look slow/old, offensively inadequate, and people will wonder why he was signed for two years.

Reverse jinxing...

Erik Karlsson. He'll be good, but not great. Defense won't really click and he gets exposed defensively too much.

It's a fear I have, not a prediction I'm making.

It's a fear, but a semi-realistic one. I still think he puts up 70+ pts—if healthy.

[Dynasty1970]

What player, expected to make the final roster, will prove to be the season's biggest disappointment?
I hope the answer's not Jarry! If it is, we're in trouble. It's too easy to say Carter.
I'll say Eller—he's not going to be what we need from our 3rd line center. He'll look slow/old, offensively inadequate, and people will wonder why he was signed for two years.

Reverse jinxing...

Erik Karlsson. He'll be good, but not great. Defense won't really click and he gets exposed defensively too much.

It's a fear I have, not a prediction I'm making.

It's a fear, but a semi-realistic one. I still think he puts up 70+ pts—if healthy.

Or......
Crosby shows up with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove and catches fire out of the gate shooting at a 16% clip. Malkin follows suite and is strong and dominate with his new Linemate O'Reilly and Raquel, Karlsson settles in nicely and Letang somehow ups his game to produce points at a very nice clip. Rust starts to regain his workhorse form, Jake gets some extra rest before returning. Wierder chit has happened......just look at the Bruins being a minute from advancing thru the first round.

[dark_forces]

What player, expected to make the final roster, will prove to be the season's biggest disappointment?
I hope the answer's not Jarry! If it is, we're in trouble. It's too easy to say Carter.
I'll say Eller—he's not going to be what we need from our 3rd line center. He'll look slow/old, offensively inadequate, and people will wonder why he was signed for two years.

Reverse jinxing...

Erik Karlsson. He'll be good, but not great. Defense won't really click and he gets exposed defensively too much.

It's a fear I have, not a prediction I'm making.

It's a fear, but a semi-realistic one. I still think he puts up 70+ pts—if healthy.

Or......
Crosby shows up with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove and catches fire out of the gate shooting at a 16% clip. Malkin follows suite and is strong and dominate with his new Linemate O'Reilly and Raquel, Karlsson settles in nicely and Letang somehow ups his game to produce points at a very nice clip. Rust starts to regain his workhorse form, Jake gets some extra rest before returning. Wierder chit has happened......just look at the Bruins being a minute from advancing thru the first round.

Great observation. Could we see a 22-23 Bruin-type season? Probably not, but I could see things starting off with a bang and maybe a 14-6-2 record out of the gate. We could see a mid-season slump, but in the end, the hot start will carry them to a 3rd place finish in the metro.

[pens_CT]

Guentzel skating around today before day one of training camp. Based on that I assume his rehab is on or maybe ahead of schedule?

[FLPensFan]

Guentzel skating around today before day one of training camp. Based on that I assume his rehab is on or maybe ahead of schedule?

Non-contact pre-skate with the other injured players (Butcher, Ansons, and Collins). Pickering is the only injured player who is still not skating. They keep saying they are hopeful Pickering gets on the ice before camp is over, but doesn't look good for him.

Good sign that Jake is at least skating already after ankle surgery.

[penny lane]

Bring on the Zamboni's!
It's good to be back.

[Three Stars]

Bring on the Zamboni's! :D
It's good to be back.

Would anyone like to jump to conclusions about the placement of certain players on certain teams?

They really do seem to be spreading the wealth among teams and trying for competition this year.

[KG]

Bring on the Zamboni's!
It's good to be back.

Would anyone like to jump to conclusions about the placement of certain players on certain teams?

They really do seem to be spreading the wealth among teams and trying for competition this year.

Graves/Letang with Sid
MP/EK65 with Geno

Wouldn't be surprised if that's how they start the season.

[Three Stars]

https://x.com/pensinsidescoop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michelle Crechiolo is reporting from camp on TwitteX.

[Three Stars]

So is old friend https://x.com/lgp_netwolf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Pitts]

Hinostroza seems like a really good add: https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/vinni ... -345491970" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His offense verses games played seems pretty legit for the bottom 6

From our good friend:

Eric Majeski
@LGP_netwolf
·
21m
Way-too-early-to-mean-anything first impressions...

Hinistroza doesn't look like someone skating with 87 & 17 for the first time.

[Toke]

What player, expected to make the final roster, will prove to be the season's biggest disappointment?
I hope the answer's not Jarry! If it is, we're in trouble. It's too easy to say Carter.
I'll say Eller—he's not going to be what we need from our 3rd line center. He'll look slow/old, offensively inadequate, and people will wonder why he was signed for two years.

Eller is my pick as well. Only Dubas signing I do not agree with.

[largegarlic]

Graves/Letang with Sid
MP/EK65 with Geno

Wouldn't be surprised if that's how they start the season.

That's a good call. I'd imagine that they are trying to get certain pairings that they think might be together reps with each other.

With the top 6 forwards, it looks like Crosby-Rust and Malkin-Smith, and poor Rakell is with the lesser centers. I'm sure he'll be in the top-6 to start the season but probably just wanted to even the teams a bit and see how Malkin and Smith work together.

[penny lane]

So is old friend https://x.com/lgp_netwolf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dark_forces]

Hinostroza seems like a really good add: https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/vinni ... -345491970" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His offense verses games played seems pretty legit for the bottom 6

From our good friend:

Eric Majeski
@LGP_netwolf
·
21m
Way-too-early-to-mean-anything first impressions...

Hinistroza doesn't look like someone skating with 87 & 17 for the first time.

I made a call a couple of weeks back that I think Hinostroza will make the team. He's played for Chiacgo, Arizona, and Buffalo and hasn't had a real crack with a legit team. From what little I've watched of him, I like what I saw.

[KG]

Hinostroza seems like a really good add: https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/vinni ... -345491970" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His offense verses games played seems pretty legit for the bottom 6

From our good friend:

Eric Majeski
@LGP_netwolf
·
21m
Way-too-early-to-mean-anything first impressions...

Hinistroza doesn't look like someone skating with 87 & 17 for the first time.

Thanks for including what the post says on Twitter/X for us non-Twitter/X users!

[Three Stars]

https://pittsburghhockeynow.com/pittsbu ... log-day-1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another useful live blog.

[KG]

https://pittsburghhockeynow.com/pittsbu ... log-day-1/

Another useful live blog.

Nice. Thanks for sharing!

Colin White with the first goal of training camp.

[FLPensFan]

Taylor spoke to Jeff Carter today. Gonna have a story on him tomorrow, but she said he and his wife just bought a house here over the summer.

Don't look for him to go waiving that NMC to go anywhere, I would assume.

[Three Stars]

Taylor spoke to Jeff Carter today. Gonna have a story on him tomorrow, but she said he and his wife just bought a house here over the summer.

Don't look for him to go waiving that NMC to go anywhere, I would assume.

I think he has value as the 6th of 6 bottom six forwards. Where it all falls apart is when he’s deployed as the 1st of 6 bottom six forwards. Now there’s competition like crazy.

[offsides]

Hinostroza seems like a really good add: https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/vinni ... -345491970" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His offense verses games played seems pretty legit for the bottom 6

From our good friend:

Eric Majeski
@LGP_netwolf
·
21m
Way-too-early-to-mean-anything first impressions...

Hinistroza doesn't look like someone skating with 87 & 17 for the first time.

Thanks for including what the post says on Twitter/X for us non-Twitter/X users!

Yep, thanks for including that post info!

[Sams_Dog]

https://pittsburghhockeynow.com/pittsbu ... log-day-1/

Another useful live blog.

I just have to say how crazy it is to be getting live updates on line combinations and plays from day one of training camp. As a long time fan from the mid 80s I remember we were lucky to get a small writeup in the sports section the next day about who participated in the scrimmage and that's it. How far the Penguins have come in this town.