Who to watch in the last week of preseason

Believe it or not, it’s about the homestretch of training camp already

Welcome to October! And just like that, the Penguins’ regular season is going to start a week from tomorrow. Here are the biggest inflection points we’re watching for players and individual statuses in the last week of training camp.

Rutger McGroarty

All eyes were on the newly acquired top prospect, and he hasn’t disappointed. McGroarty was impactful and noticeable in last night’s 5-1 win over Detroit where he picked up an assist and was a whisker away from scoring two goals of his own.

McGroarty also showed well in a preseason game last week by this metric. The big question is, what’s next?

The good news is there is really no wrong answer for a promising player. McGroarty is 20, has impressed this preseason but there would be nothing wrong with starting him in the AHL and giving him some time to percolate and gain valuable experience in Wilkes. This isn’t a matter of the coaching staff not giving a young player an opportunity, it’s about what is best for a brand, spanking new player’s long-term growth and development. There’s not too many players out there that don’t require (and benefit) from a stint in the minors.

Given his talents, there’s enough reason to believe McGroarty will be in the NHL before long, and very good when he gets there. But there’s also no reason to rush the natural order of the process.

Or, who knows, maybe his impressive play helps him to work his way into the opening night NHL lineup and get a crack at playing games in the top league right off the bat. Can’t go wrong at this point, though one way or the other at this rate McGroarty should be working his way towards the NHL much sooner than later.

McGroarty has been named to the lineup tonight after last night’s success, seeing how he handles and pulls through in this crunch will be his next hurdle and challenge to undertake, as the Pens give him a long look in camp.

Jesse Puljujarvi

One of the reasons the Pens don’t have to rush a prospect like McGroarty is because Puljujarvi is having a tremendous preseason. Maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise, production in the exhibition games has long been a calling card.

(We can make it 12-4-16 in 17 games after last night’s performance)

But just as there shouldn’t be an over-reaction or large negative emphasis on McGroarty starting in he minors (if it comes to that), expectations should be tempered in the positive direction about Puljujarvi. Forget where he was drafted, release the pipedream of him unlocking his potential and scoring 40-50 points. Simply making the NHL club and continuing what’s been a nice simple game of adding speed, forechecking and solid play will do just fine.

The question for Puljujarvi will be staying power, it’s great to excel in the preseason but maintaining a high level of play and retaining his spot in the lineup and roster will be a challenge.

With that out of the way, it was easy to figure one of the fringe forwards in the organization would step up and grab for the brass ring, and to this point Puljujarvi has definitely been the surprise standout player in camp. He’s gone from question mark to turning in good performances virtually every time he’s gotten the opportunity.

All that’s left is to get to the finish line of the preseason and see where that fits him in. He was an unlikely pick to crack the top-12 a few weeks ago in many circles, but with each passing game it’s becoming more difficult to hold him off it.

Erik Karlsson

It’s injury and the rehab process to watch out for, in this case. Karlsson was skating on his own early in camp. Mike Sullivan even called the situation precautionary. Karlsson has clearly had some sort of setback/reset along the way and been held off the ice for over a week now as he goes through the “process” of getting back.

The Pens have officially termed Karlsson day-to-day all along, but days are ticking by quickly now without tangible steps of recovery being shown. No one expects him to miss a ton of real time once the games matter, but the defensive depth chart is so thin without him that any missed time creates real concern about team strength.

Drew O’Connor’s positioning on the team

O’Connor will be in the lineup, but where in it he plays will be interesting to see. O’Connor has been tremendous this preseason, at time serving as a mentor for McGroarty, wearing an A on his jersey as an alternative captain in a preseason game, a brief look back with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust line and significant time down the lineup with a variety of forwards on the grinding lines.

O’Connor and Lars Eller have been magnificent together, and if that duo holds as a building block for the lineup, it gives a great foundation for a solid third line. However, this plan would require Anthony Beauvillier holding up his end of the bargain as the third wheel on the Crosby-Rust line, and therein lies a red light of an eventual issue.

It figures that O’Connor will be playing on the Crosby line at some point. He’s simply showing too much, and the Penguins are too thin, to relegate O’Connor to a lower line permanently. But will that be opening night? Game No. 5? 10? How balanced and spread the team can be will depend on it.

Joel Blomqvist

A late-developing issue, Blomqvist’s importance for the 2024-25 season took a sudden increase depending on the severity of the lower body injury that Alex Nedeljkovic suffered last night.

Blomqvist was up for the challenge, stopping 22 out of 23 shots while facing a quality Detroit lineup stacked with NHL talent.

This is the first season in a while that Pittsburgh hasn’t had a veteran AAAA type of third string goalie for the organization with prior NHL experience (as Magnus Hellberg was last season, much like Dustin Tokarski, Louis Domingue and Maxime Lagace were in previous years).

It’s also a good time to remind that the Penguins have played at least three different NHL goalies in each of the last four seasons, and eight of the last nine. It might not always be a lot of games, but the No. 3 goalie is assured of spending time on the NHL bench as a backup, and occasionally playing a game here and there when in a pinch.

Depending on Nedeljkovic’s yet unreleased timeline, the Pens might be in that pinch already. Luckily, Blomqvist looks ready if needed, and the organization has no shortage of depth for the minor leagues.