Penguins Have A Practice With Lines Looking Ready, Cut Eight Players Including Avery Hayes

The Penguins made another round of roster cuts on Friday, including one of the first notable ones for players on the edge of making the team. Avery Hayes was among eight players trimmed from the NHL roster. 2026 draft picks Markus and Liam Ruck will return to their WHL junior team and five more are headed to AHL Wilkes-Barre. Goalie Colin Delia has been released from his tryout.

Hayes appeared in two preseason games, scoring a goal. The Penguins have a spate of injuries up front, plus the absence of Andrei Kuzmenko who headed back to Russia to join his family following his father’s passing. It wasn’t enough to open the door for Hayes.

As of now, by my count (possibly dangerous) the Penguins have 37 players still in camp.

Forwards (20): Justin Brazeau*, Tristan Broz, Egor Chinakhov, Sidney Crosby, Connor Dewar, David Gustafsson, Filip Hallander, Ben Kindel*, Ville Koivunen, Andrei Kuzmenko**, Hendrix Lapierre, Blake Lizotte*, Evgeni Malkin, Rutger McGroarty, Tommy Novak, Rickard Rakell, Nick Robertson, Bryan Rust, Elmer Soderblom, Bill Zonnon

Defenseman (13): Harrison Brunicke, Declan Carlile, Sam Girard, Ryan Graves, Caleb Jones, Erik Kalrsson, Kaeden Korczak, Kris Letang, Jake Livanavage, Owen Pickering, Chase Pietila, Ilya Solovyov, Trevor van Riemsdyk

Goalies (4): Joel Blomqvist, Cam Johnson**, Sergei Murashov, Artus Silovs

‘* Injured, possibility to open season on injured reserve
‘** Currently away from team for personal reasons

They’ll need to drop down to a maximum of 23 players by the start of the league season on Monday.

The Pens had a practice on Friday with some lines that might be close to showtime for the start of the season.

Brazeau remained out being evaluated for his lower body injury on Friday. None of Joel Blomqvist, Rutger McGroarty, Tristan Broz, Ryan Graves, Caleb Jones, Owen Pickering, Jake Livavanage and Chase Pietila took part in practice, per Pens Inside Scoop, which suggests unfavorable upcoming news about all of their statuses with the NHL team in the immediate future.

Given the center injuries to Lizotte and Kindel, extra centers were a part of the practice – Zonnon and Gustafsson being notable participants. As of now, it looks like Dewar might shift temporarily to center until injured players return but it looks as if the team is taking a longer look at more centers if they want to go in a different direction from Dewar and/or Lapierre. It remains to be seen if either Zonnon or Gustafsson will break camp with the NHL team but their chances have certainly increased given the rash of injuries to centers that the Pens are dealing with right now.

It’s a big move up the board for Koivunen, where the absence of Kuzmenko has opened up an opportunity for someone to play on Rust’s line. Koivunen may have been on the outside looking in about 48-72 hours ago, but the situation can and did change.

Defensively, everything remains about the same since the start of camp, outside of Brunicke departing from playing with Pickering and getting a further look with the NHL group. Solovyov, who can play both sides of the ice, probably still figures in to be the reserve defenseman on the NHL roster but that battle could be worth watching.