Yes. The answer is, by and large, “yes.” It’s too early to break down Penguins’ potential line combinations.
However, after two days of training camp, that doesn’t mean there isn’t some kind of method to the madness.
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Up to this point, the same guys on each of the three teams have largely stuck together. This is pretty common – even in the early days of training camp when there are 69 rostered players for camp – and a lot of it tends to get shifted around once rosters are shrunk, guys are cut, and teams begin to combine.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to read into. And here’s why.
It’s no secret that head coach Mike Sullivan likes his “pairings” in training camp. Typically, he pairs one winger with each of his centers, and – for the most part – those pairings seem to stick throughout most of camp and into the regular season.
At this year’s camp, it’s been no different. Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust are a pair, as are Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell, Lars Eller and (interestingly) Michael Bunting, and Blake Lizotte and Kevin Hayes.
But here’s where “not reading into things” might get a bit saucy. The way the three teams are split, what tends to happen is that the remaining forwards in the group – especially the ones deemed more NHL-ready and are distinguished as such during separate team practices – tend to be groups of guys who may be in the mix to fill the open wing slot alongside the pairings.
Related: Penguins Training Camp: Notes from Day 2
Think about it this way: When you look at Team 1, it’s no accident that the remaining forwards within the “NHL-ready” group are Drew O’Connor, Anthony Beauvillier, Rutger McGroarty, and Sam Poulin. Although nothing is a given, all of these players are guys who have either already played with Crosby in the past or who, presumably, match some kind of skillset that the coaches see as a potential fit with Crosby and Rust.
O’Connor and Beauvillier are, likely, the candidates most primed – and most logical – to hold down that left wing on the first line when the season opens on Oct. 9. They’re both speed wingers with 20-goal upside. But Poulin and McGroarty are, again, presumably, two guys who could be potential matches youth-wise and skillset-wise.
The same goes for Team 2. It is mildly interesting that Bunting was paired with Eller on Team 3, and this may be an example of a pairing that doesn’t stick once rosters are cut down.
But the remaining “NHL” guys in the Team 2…