9 Penguin players named to Olympic training camp rosters

Olympic preliminary lists were announced in the past 24 hours and the Pittsburgh Penguins are very well represented. Here’s the list of Penguins that are in consideration for roster spots for their respective countries

• Sidney Crosby (Canada)
• Chris Kunitz (Canada)
• Kris Letang (Canada)
• James Neal (Canada)
• Beau Bennett (USA)
• Paul Martin (USA)
• Brooks Orpik (USA)
• Jussi Jokinen (Finland)
• Evgeni Malkin (Russia(

On the coaching/management side, Ray Shero is an assistant GM for USA, Dan Bylsma is the coach for USA and he’s bringing Tony Granato with him as an assistant.

Some other young players with Pittsburgh ties- Brandon Saad (Chicago Blackhawks) and goalie John Gibson (Anaheim Ducks) were also invited to Team USA camp, a nice accomplishment for them and a further step-forward for the influence on hockey that the Western PA region continues to gain.

Players not named to these training camps can still make the Olympic squad, but that seems highly unlikely. So unless Marc-Andre Fleury doesn’t allow a single goal the first half of the season, his fall from grace is about complete. And heck, even if he did maybe he still wouldn’t shake the demons.

The Olympics in Sochi, Russia start in just under 200 days. The NHL is taking a nice, long break in their schedule in February to accommodate it, which means a nice rest for players who aren’t participating, but also the crunch of fitting an 82 game season into fewer days, resulting in more back-to-back games.