(Some) of the Penguins will be back on the ice today in practice
It feels like forever but the Penguins begin their slow lurch back into gear with a practice today at 2pm at their Cranberry facility. Obviously Mike Sullivan, David Quinn and Sidney Crosby still have their hands full in Boston for Thursday night’s final of the 4 Nations Face-off so it will be an incomplete grouping.
Ahead of today’s re-start, the Pens made a couple of roster moves to bring back Joel Blomqvist and Emil Bemstrom from the AHL and send Tristan Jarry back to the AHL. Jarry was on the NHL roster for the last week to satisfy minimum goalie requirements for the team as they looked to get Blomqvist some more work down in Wilkes.
The Penguins have recalled forward Emil Bemstrom and goaltender Joel Blomqvist from the @WBSPenguins (AHL).
Goaltender Tristan Jarry has been re-assigned to WBS. pic.twitter.com/jQhUVx7ptS
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 18, 2025
Other teams around the league have given 4 Nations players some well-earned time off, so it would seem unlikely Erik Karlsson or Rickard Rakell will be back at work today. Rakell missed yesterday’s game due to illness so he could use the time off in the coming days.
The Pens have some interesting areas to watch, it’s been said that Evgeni Malkin might be targeting a return from his January knee injury after the break. Let’s not forget that Bryan Rust was placed on the IR and missed the last game with what was believed to be a minor injury, so his status will be worth tracking as well.
We’ll also get a first shot at seeing defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok in the black and gold, following the team’s claim of the 23-year old from the waiver wire last week from Utah.
The NHL schedule comes back with a vengeance, the Penguins play back-to-back games this weekend on Saturday and Sunday for afternoon home games against Washington and then the NY Rangers. The fun continues with a Tuesday-Thursday home-and-home against the Flyers next week that adds up for four games in six days for Pittsburgh.
Games will move fast once the break is over, and the first step to the break being over takes place today when the rest of the team reports back from their week away from the rink and gets back to work under assistant coaches Mike Velucci and Ty Hennes until Sullivan returns to the team later in the week.