As the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins prepared for their first weeknight game of the season at The Ice Rink at Coal Street today, forward Nick Drazenovic wasn't on the ice. With Chris Kunitz's second straight absence from practice and Beau Bennett and James Neal not ready to return to the lineup, is it possible Drazenovic is on his way to Pittsburgh?
Drazenovic had his best performances of the season to date this past weekend, tallying four assists in two games and bringing his point total to nine points (1G, 8A) through his first ten games. I didn't see anything this weekend that would make sense as to why he wasn't on the ice the day before the AHL Penguins' next game, tomorrow night at home against Syracuse, though a personal day or maintenance day could be the explanation as well.
Also missing from practice today was defenseman Reid McNeill, who replaced Brendan Mikkelson on the blue line Saturday night in Hershey after Mikkelson took the warmup skate, was seen talking to WBS trainer Kyle Moore multiple times throughout the skate and was later a late scratch. Mikkelson practiced today and looks ready to return to the lineup tomorrow night.
Anton Zlobin practiced in full with the team today and is looking to make his pro debut after missing the entire preseason and season to date after having off-season shoulder surgery. Zlobin looked good in practice today, and his right handed shot is something the Penguins are lacking. Only three other players on the entire roster (Paul Thompson, Tom Kostopoulos and Adam Payerl) are right handed shots, so that's something to keep an eye on this week as well.
Here's the lines I jotted down at practice today:
Kuhnhackl - Gibbons - Conner
Payerl - Ebbett - Kostopoulos
Uher - Carman - Zolnierczyk
Leblond - Sill - Farnham/Thompson
Zlobin
Despres - Samuelsson
Harrington -Mikkelson
Dumoulin - D'Agostino
Deslauriers - Mannino
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