Vinnie Hinostroza and Andreas Johnsson Trying to Seize Chances to Make Impressions

Mike Sullivan has always liked building his forward combinations around tandems, as those pairings form solid lines with certain identities, and the Penguins can move complementary parts around them depending on how the team is going.

With Jake Guentzel out to start the season after undergoing offseason ankle surgery, the current top-six tandems are Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust, and Evgeni Malkin and Reilly Smith. And so far, two players who have gotten time alongside those guys in training camp are Vinnie Hinostroza and Andreas Johnsson.

“We're putting certain guys with different people so that they can play to their strengths,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan has followed Hinostroza’s career since he played college hockey at Notre Dame alongside Rust, and has always admired his offensive creativity, playmaking ability, and the way he hunts down pucks.

“He's a next-effort player, as we say to the guys all the time in trying to define how we're trying to play the game,” the Penguins head coach said. “I think Sid is a guy that likes playing with those types of players, that can stay on pucks and force turnovers, and just play on top of defensemen and play on top of teams, where they can control the game and control territory.”

That’s a big reason why Hinostroza has skated on that top line, with Crosby saying Vinnie is a guy who’s played in the league and knows his role, while Rusty called him a quick, shifty skater who works hard and can make plays when he gets the opportunity.

“Obviously, coming into a camp and playing with these two guys that have been here and had so much success, it's a little bit intimidating at first,” Hinostroza said. “But obviously, you just want to try to create space for them and not think too much. Just use my speed, create space and try to make plays. So, it's been great. Everything I could soak in from these guys and learn from these guys, I've been doing.”

While Hinostroza goes back with Rust, Johnsson goes back with Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas, as they were both in Toronto. During his time as assistant general manager of the Leafs, Dubas oversaw the Toronto Marlies, the club’s American Hockey League affiliate. Johnsson played a huge role in helping them win the Calder Cup in 2018, getting named AHL Playoff MVP.

Dubas then took over as Leafs GM in 2018-19, which was Johnsson’s first full season in the NHL, as he appeared in 73 games for the Maple Leafs.

“I have a good relationship with him, and I think he’s a great GM,” Johnsson said. “So, when he called (about signing with Pittsburgh), there was no second thoughts. It was an easy decision to make.”

Johnsson, 28, spent a total of four seasons in the NHL – two with Toronto and two with New Jersey – before splitting last year between San Jose and their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. He feels like there is potential for him here in Pittsburgh, with Sullivan calling him a talented guy who sees it well offensively. And while of course, he wants to take a roster spot, Johnsson said he came here with no promises.

“I just know that this team will be good and I felt that I can contribute with something, and just want to go to work here,” he said. “Right now, it's day by day, and try to work my butt off. So, we'll see where it ends up. We have a lot of guys and there's a lot of good players here, so it will not be easy, for sure.”

Hinostroza has a similar mindset, as he also spent last season going back and forth between Buffalo and their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, after being in the NHL full-time the previous five years.

Both players are set to make their second preseason appearances tonight in Detroit, after Johnsson played in the first half of Pittsburgh’s split squad with Columbus, and Hinostroza played in the second. We’ll see what happens in terms of their top-six deployment moving forward, as Sullivan has called this one of the most competitive training camps from a sheer numbers standpoint that he’s had in his Penguins tenure. And there's really only one spot open, as Rickard Rakell will likely play on one of those two lines. But in the meantime, Hinostroza and Johnsson are going to keep seizing every chance they get to make an impression.

“You train all summer for this, you work so hard for this, you work for opportunities," Hinostroza said. "And over the course of my pro career, I've kind of just learned to take it day by day and control you can control. If you start thinking too far ahead, that's kind of where you catch yourself in trouble. The biggest thing is just day-to-day and making the most of every day.”