AHL Penguins Open Training Camp Saturday

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were back on the ice at Toyota Sportsplex as the team opened training camp Saturday morning with a near 2-hour skate for the 25 players on the initial camp roster.

An interesting wrinkle to the first day of camp was that new WBS Penguins head coach Kirk MacDonald was not in Wilkes-Barre as his team began training camp Saturday.

With MacDonald still in Pittsburgh with the NHL Penguins, it was assistant coaches Sheldon Brookbank and Nick Luukko running AHL Penguins training camp practice on their opening day of on-ice work.

"I think with him still being up in Pittsburgh right now, it's been good for myself and Sheldon to work together and get to know each other better and run the practices together," Luukko said of running the drills with Brookbank at practice. "So it's been a lot of fun so far."

MacDonald remains in Pittsburgh, getting further evaluation with the many players still in NHL camp. He'll presumably be arriving to Wilkes-Barre after the NHL Penguins have their next round of cuts - with one source telling InsideAHLHockey.com that the expectation is that MacDonald will be joining Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's AHL training camp after tonight's NHL preseason game in Detroit and will be at AHL camp on Monday.

"I thought it was a good first day. I thought the pace was high," Luukko said after the opening day of practice. "You can tell the guys who've been up in Pittsburgh for a little bit, compared to the guys who haven't been in camp yet. But I thought the guys did a good job competing, battling. I thought we had a good mix of up and down and small area games and stuff of that nature. So all in all, I thought it was good first one."

With Pittsburgh playing NHL preseason games on the road in back-to-back nights Saturday in Detroit and Sunday in Elliot Lake, Ontario for the 2024 Kraft Hockeyville neutral site site game, it's possible a round of cuts will be coming after the weekend with 27 forwards, 14 defensemen and six goaltenders still on the Penguins' NHL camp roster entering Saturday.

Before the 10:30 a.m. skate, tryout goalies Jaxon Castor and Luke Richardson got some early work on the ice with WBS Penguins goaltending coach Kain Tisi along with a third goaltender who isn't officially on the AHL roster just yet.

Goaltender Taylor Gauthier took part in the pre-practice skate with the goaltenders this morning, leaving the ice before main practice got underway - signing autographs with fans in attendance at the Toyota Sportsplex.

While not on the official AHL roster yet, Gauthier has at least resumed skating in what appears to be progress after sustaining an injury during rookie camp earlier this month.

One player on the ice for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was taking part in his first skate with the team in nearly 10 months as forward Sam Houde was a full participant at the opening day of AHL camp Saturday.

Houde had his promising start to the 2023-24 season cut short in the beginning of December. After recording 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his first 12 appearances, an open-ice collision in a Dec 2 game against Springfield ended Houde's season - an injury that required surgery to repair his lower body injury.

Subsequently, with his season already confirmed to have been ended, Houde later underwent surgery for an upper body ailment last season too - not being cleared for contact and able to resume skating until late-June/early-July.

"I'm really excited to be back. I had a great summer, worked on my rehab and I feel great right now," Houde said after Saturday's practice. "I'm happy to be here and ready to go for the season."

Houde was able to skate with the other injured players in Pittsburgh that weren't participating with the main practice groups, telling InsideAHLHockey.com that it was all part of the plan to have him at NHL camp in that capacity and getting him ready to be a full participant to begin AHL training camp this weekend.

Initial Penguins Training Camp Roster

Goaltenders: Jaxon Castor (tryout) and Luke Richardson (tryout)

Defensemen: Isaac Belliveau, Scooter Brickey, Justin Lee, Mats Lindgren, Zachary Massicotte (tryout), Chris Ortiz (tryout) and Philip Waugh

Forwards: Raivis Ansons, Jack Beck, Atley Calvert, Mathieu De St Phalle, Filip Forsmark (tryout), Sam Houde, Keegan Howdeshell (tryout), Kyle Jackson, David Jankowski (tryout), Gabe Klassen, Matt Koopman (tryout), Bennett MacArthur, Jordan Martel (tryout), Logan Pietila, Matt Quercia (tryout) and Jared Wescott (tryout)