Pens announce 26 player rookie team for September tournament

It's almost September, which means it's almost time for hockey. Excited? The next time players pull on the Penguin logo, it'll be for a rookie tournament in London, Ontario in a few weeks. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced the 26 members invited to the team:

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach John Hynes and assistant coach Alain Nasreddine will oversee the tournament. During the ’12-13 season, Hynes and Nasreddine directed a WBS team that allowed the fewest goals (178) in the American Hockey League (AHL) during the regular season before advancing to the Eastern Conference finals during the postseason.

Below is a full rookie tournament roster and game schedule:

Thursday, September 5, 2013
2:00 p.m. Game vs. Ottawa
Saturday, September 7, 2013
7:00 p.m. Game vs. Toronto
Sunday, September 8, 2013
2:00 p.m. Game vs. Chicago

And here's the roster:

• Goalies (3): Matt Murray, Eric Hartzell, Tristan Jarry
• Defensemen (9): Nick D'Agostino, Brian Dumoulin, Scott Harrington, Olli Maatta, Redi McNeill, Derrick Pouliot, Harrison Ruopp, Philip Samuelsson, Clark Seymour
• Forwards (14): Cameron Brace*, Jean-Sebastien Dea*, Bobby Farnham, Tom Kuhnhackl, Matia Marcantuoni, Jayson Megna, Richard Nejezchleb*, Adam Payerl, Liam O'Brien*, Connor Rankin*, Carter Rowney*, Scott Simmonds*, Cody Sylvester*, Dominik Uher

* indicates player on ATO and not a full Penguin prospect

Defense is really stacked, goaltending has some potential but the list of forwards leaves a lot to be desired with not many (if any)guys who project to sure-fire NHL futures. But, development is an on-going process, so we'll see if anyone rises to the occasion at this tournament.