Monday's Catch Up & Lunch Links 10/6

The Penguins concluded their preseason in Hershey on Sunday. They open the 2014-15 season at home against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

With both the NHL and AHL Preseason schedules over, the 2014-15 regular season is just about ready to begin - minus some last minute roster moves before tomorrow's NHL deadline to be under the salary cap and 23-man roster max.

In the AHL, they wait for the final reinforcements from their NHL affiliate and have decisions to make as well. Whether its releasing a guy from a tryout, re-assigning someone to the ECHL or possibly signing some more AHL deals - the AHL rosters are starting to take shape across the league as well.

I'll be previewing all six AHL divisions over at Hockey's Future as their 2014-15 season begins on Friday night, and will be sure to link them both here and on Twitter for those who want a quick glance at what every other AHL team has been doing over the summer.

Now, to things you might've missed:

• Derrick Pouliot skated at AHL Penguins training camp last week, though he still remains on the NHL roster as he continues to work his way back from an off-season shoulder surgery.

• The Penguins waived goaltender Jeff Zatkoff and re-assigned Brian Dumoulin and Bobby Farhnham to the AHL. Zatkoff cleared and was also re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. With that, the AHL Penguins released goaltender Nolan Schaefer from his tryout. I'd expect you'll see less bodies on the AHL roster before the team's next practice on Tuesday. 

• I'm going to have a lot of coverage on the newest team in the AHL - the Lehigh Valley Phantoms - not only here at Highland Park Hockey, but also for The Home News - a weekly paper in the Lehigh Valley. Here's some recaps from their two home preseason games:
• Hershey Downs Lehigh Valley in Phantoms' Preseason Opener
• Phantoms Close Out Preseason With 2-1 Loss to Albany 

• The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins ended their preseason schedule with a bang last night, dropping a 6-1 game to the Hershey Bears in a game that featured 220 penalty minutes. Penguins fans shouldn't read into the score too much as there were more than a half dozen of the regulars (i.e. Kostopoulos, Drazenovic, Megna, Sheary. Samuelsson, Dumoulin, Ruopp, Goers) not in the lineup.