1. Guentzel returns to practice; Crosby and Aston-Reese skate with the team for a second time
Good news on the injury front keeps coming, as Jake Guentzel skated with his teammates for the first time since confirming positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 3.
He joined Sidney Crosby (wrist) and Zach Aston-Reese (COVID-19 protocol), who participated in practice for the second time in a row after taking part in Saturday's morning skate.
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan ruled all three players out for Tuesday's matchup with the Lightning, "then from there, we'll see how Zach and Jake progress coming off the COVID protocol stuff," he said.
Crosby is almost five weeks into the recovery timeline of a minimum of six weeks he was given after undergoing a successful left wrist procedure on Sep. 8. The Penguins captain traveled with the team so he can continue to practice, with Sullivan saying it is "unlikely" that Crosby will play on this trip.
2. Whittling down the roster
The Penguins re-assigned forward Radim Zohorna to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this morning, which means Pittsburgh had 16 healthy forwards at their skate.
Sending players like Zohorna and P.O Joseph down to the American Hockey League are some of the difficult decisions the Penguins have to make at this time of year as they finalize their opening-night roster, which must be turned in today.
"These guys are playing hard, they're competing hard," Sullivan said. "A guy like Z this morning, we really like his game. We think he's going to help us moving forward. P.O. Joseph on the defense side, he's knocking on the door, and he's been there for a little bit.
"We're real excited about these guys and the progress they've made and their potential moving forward to help us. That's the nature of our business. We have to make sure we're compliant. We're no different from any team in that regard. These are always difficult decisions."
Sullivan added that Penguins general manager Ron Hextall is discussing contract options with Brian Boyle's agent. The veteran center attended training camp on a professional tryout contract, and Sullivan said they obviously really liked what they saw from him.
3. Workflow
Crosby and Guentzel did not participate in line rushes, while Aston-Reese rotated in here and there. Anthony Angello took reps on defense with Mark Friedman.
Heinen-Carter-Rust
Zucker-Rodrigues-Kapanen
McGinn-Blueger- Simon
O'Connor-Boyle-Lafferty
Dumoulin- Letang
Matheson-Marino
Pettersson-Ruhwedel
PP1) Letang, Rust, Kapanen, Carter, Zucker
PP2) Matheson, Marino, Rodrigues, Simon, Heinen
