Penguins 2023 Training Camp: Roster, Schedule announced

The long but incredibly busy summer for the Pittsburgh Penguins is almost over. Training camp officially begins tomorrow, even though most players have been in town and skating for weeks. The team reports for off-ice events tomorrow and gets back out there for practices on Thursday to being a pre-season leading up to the regular season opener on October 10th against Chicago.

From the team:

The players will take the ice for the first day of camp at 9:00 AM on Thursday, September 21 with Teams 1 and 2 practicing, followed by a scrimmage at 10:00 AM. Team 3 will hit the ice for the first time at 12:40 PM.

Following three days of practice, the Penguins begin their preseason slate with two split-squad games against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, September 24. The first game will take place at 1:00 PM at PPG Paints Arena, followed by a second game at 7:00 PM at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

Below is a look at the Penguins’ complete training camp schedule (all practices are at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex unless otherwise noted):

Thursday, September 21

9:00-9:45 AM – Team 1 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
9:00-9:45 AM – Team 2 Practice (Covestro Rink – Rink 2)
10:00-10:45 AM – Team 1 vs. Team 2 Scrimmage (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
10:45-11:05 AM – Team 1 and 2 Conditioning (FedEx Rink 1 & Covestro Rink 2)
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM – Team 3 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
12:40-1:30 PM – Team 3 Practice and Conditioning (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)

Friday, September 22

9:00-9:45 AM – Team 2 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
9:00-9:45 AM – Team 3 Practice (Covestro Rink – Rink 2)
10:00-11:00 AM – Team 2 vs. Team 3 Scrimmage (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM – Team 1 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
12:40-1:30 PM – Team 1 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)

Saturday, September 23

9:00-9:45 AM – Team 3 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
9:00-9:45 AM – Team 1 Practice (Covestro Rink – Rink 2)
10:00-10:45 AM – Team 3 vs. Team 1 Scrimmage (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
10:45-11:05 AM – Team 3 and 1 Conditioning (FedEx Rink 1 & Covestro Rink 2)
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM – Team 2 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
12:40-1:30 PM – Team 2 Practice and Conditioning (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)

Sunday, September 24

1:00 PM – GAME VS. COLUMBUS (PPG Paints Arena)
7:00 PM – GAME AT COLUMBUS (Nationwide Arena)

Monday, September 25

DAY OFF

Tuesday, September 26

10:30 AM – Morning Skate (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
7:00 PM – GAME AT DETROIT (Little Caesars Arena)

Wednesday, September 27

10:10-11:30 AM – Team 1 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
12:40-2:00 PM – Team 2 Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)

Thursday, September 28

10:30 AM – Morning Skate (PPG Paints Arena)
7:00 PM – GAME VS. BUFFALO

Friday, September 29

11:00 AM – Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)

Saturday, September 30

DAY OFF

Sunday, October 1

11:00 AM – Practice (Halifax)

Monday, October 2

10:30 AM – Morning Skate (Halifax)
7:00 PM – GAME VS. OTTAWA (Scotiabank Arena)

Tuesday, October 3

12:00 PM – Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)

Wednesday, October 4

10:30 AM – Morning Skate (PPG Paints Arena)
7:00 PM – GAME VS. DETROIT

Thursday, October 5

12:00 PM – Practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)

Friday, October 6

10:30 AM – Morning Skate (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
7:00 PM – GAME AT BUFFALO

Saturday, October 7

DAY OFF

As always, the NHL pre-season moves at a lightning fast pace through the process of getting up to speed and ready for the real season. The team is only fully back on Thursday, and get two days of practice before already have split-squad games both home AND away with Columbus on Sunday. It’s about the same every year but is routinely jarring to see it approach all over again.

And, as usual, the mass of players in camp will be divided into three training camp teams. That too won’t last very long, only for the first three days. After that there are a few gamedays and then - boom - as soon as next week there will be a ton of cuts to leave two consolidated practice groups. That only lasts for all of one singular practice before the group morphs down into one (large) team by next Friday.

It’s a fairly standard pre-season, with the exception of a trip to the captain’s hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia for a special exhibition game. That date will be circled on many’s calendars for the chance to potentially see some NHL players in a non-NHL venue, which always is a thrill.

Here are the 58 players who have been invited to camp. The NHL roster limit is 23, leaving most to be trimmed away and with some quickness.

Forwards (33): Peter Abbandonato*, Noel Acciara, Corey Andonovski, Jeff Carter, Sidney Crosby, Lars Eller, Matt Filipe, Jonathan Gruden, Dilon Hamaliuk, Avery Hayes, Vinnie Hinostroza, Sam Houde, Andreas Johnsson, Marc Johnstone, Jagger Joshua, Joona Koppanen, Evgeni Malkin, Matt Nieto, Alex Nylander, Drew O’Connor, Rem Pitlick, Sam Poulin, Valtteri Puustinen, Rickard Rakell, Austin Rueschhoff, Byran Rust, Reilly Smith, Matthew Soto, Evan Vierling, Austin Wagner*, Colin White*, Brayden Yager, Radim Zohorna

Defensemen (18): Andre Anania, Isaac Belliveau, Taylor Fedun, Mark Friedman, Ryan Graves, Libor Hajek*, P.O Joseph, Erik Karlsson, Justin Lee, Kris Letang, Xavier Ouellet, Marcus Pettersson, Mark Pysyk*, Chad Ruhwedel, Dmitri Samorukov, Ryan Shea, Ty Smith, Jack St. Ivany

Goaltenders (7): Joel Blomqvist, Taylor Gauthier, Magnus Hellberg, Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic, Michael Simpson, Garret Sparks

Injured (5): Raivis Ansons, Will Butcher, Nolan Collins, Jake Guentzel, Owen Pickering

A * indicates a professional tryout

No surprises in the roster, any hopes and dreams that Carter would develop an allergy to frozen water or find another excuse to soft retire is officially dead. That’s no shock, Carter has been with the team skating for a while now and looks intent to make good on his promise from last April to finish out his contract this season as a player.

Word on Pickering was that he may soon be able to join the NHL camp, after missing the Prospects Challenge with an injury, but he’s still listed and appears to start camp off the ice. As will Jake Guentzel, recovering from summer ankle surgery. The team made hopeful comments he may only miss a few games, but a big topic will be just when he returns and if he is going to end up on long-term injured reserve or not (which would mean being ineligible for the first 10 regular season games).