Penguins announce development camp

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced their development camp roster, set to begin tomorrow, today. It has a mix of players currently under contract with the Penguins or Wilkes-Barre Penguins, players drafted by the Penguins and unattached free agents. The camp isn't expected to give much information about who we should sign but if a player performs well he can get a spot in the system and then go from there. A couple of years ago the Penguins had Andrej Sustr in camp and he now plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Penguins announced the roster with 4 goaltenders, 18 forwards and 13 defencemen. Included are four of the players selected in the 2016 draft, Gustavsson, Connor Hall, Niclas Almari and Joseph Masonius. Masonius attended last year, not attending are Bjorkqvist and Jones.

Penguins prospects not attending for various reasons are Daniel Sprong, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Dominik Simon and Josh Archibald. Sprong is injured and the others were involved in a lengthy season, they need some rest and will be back for pre-season camp.

There are four unattached free agents on defence attending. Neal Goff from the NCHC who had 5 points and 24 PIM's in 36 games for Western Michigan. Robert Michel and Matt Petgrave are attending from Maine (HE) and New Brunswick (AUS) respectively. The last unattached defenceman is Dylan Zink, a 23 year old who played last season for Umass-Lowell and had 24 points in 39 games.

On forward there are a handful more, without going into detail the most intriguing are probably Reid Gardiner an overager from Prince Albert who had 92 points in 71 games last season and Cameron Hebig who had 69 points in 59 for Saskatoon. There are a handful others and I may go into more detail on another date. The only other notable is Austin Lemieux, Mario's son. He plays in the USHL but is likely there just as a warm body.

It is best not to look too much into camp but we might see one or two signed as there are spaces in Wilkes-Barre and Wheeling.