| Pos | Role | Name |
| C | 1 | Sidney Crosby  ActiveThe NHL's lawsuit against the players has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer. Engelmayer is a relatively new federal judge, having joined the bench in July 2011, and a former federal prosecutor. He's also a longtime New York Yankees fan. Engelmayer is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Dec 17 |
| 2 | Evgeni Malkin ActiveEvgeni Malkin has been selected to serve as a starter on Team East for the KHL All-Star Game. Malkin ended up with more votes than any other player during the fan ballot. He has 13 goals and 41 points in 29 games with Magnitogorsk Metallurg this season. Dec 14 |
| 3 | Brandon Sutter ActiveIt took him a while to come to grips to being traded, but Penguins forward Brandon Sutter is more at peace with the move now. The 23-year-old called the initial shock of being traded, which occurred June 22, "tough" and "disappointing," but now he says he's "really pumped about it." "It’s no secret that they’ve got a pretty special group here," Sutter said. "I feel like I’m a part of that. I’ve played against this team enough. It’s nice to be on the other side now." Sutter is slated to be the Pens' third-line center. Jul 30 |
| 4 | Joe Vitale ActiveNHL players are well compensated, but the lockout has made some more conscious of how they're spending their money. The average pay in the NHL is $2.44 million and the minimum salary is $525,000. Players like Sidney Crosby don't have to worry too much about missed checks, but fourth-liners such as Joe Vitale, who is earning the league minimum, have to alter their habits. "You just obviously have to prioritize a little better, as far as getting the on-sale bread instead of the whole-grain," he said. "Little things like that. But that's the only change, financially." Nov 16 |
| 5 | Dustin Jeffrey ActiveDustin Jeffrey potted two goals and scored the winner in the shootout to give Medvescak Zagreb a 5-4 win over Klagenfurt on Tuesday. The Pittsburgh forward has put up eight goals and 10 assists in 13 games in Austria during the lockout. Nov 20 |
| 6 | Warren Peters ActiveThe Pittsburgh Penguins signed forward Warren Peters to a one-year, two-way contract. Peters might have a shot to at least occasionally crack the Penguins' lineup. Even though the talent disparity is considerable between the Penguins and Peters' former team, the Minnesota Wild, it's still noteworthy that he played 58 games at the NHL level last season. His deal is worth $600K at the NHL-level, so he'd likely love to get pieces of that by playing with the Penguins as much as possible. Don't expect him to make much of an impact, though. Jul 1 |
| LW | 1 | James Neal ActiveJames Neal registered four goals during the Operation Hat Trick charity game this past weekend to help Team New York earn a 10-6 victory over Team Philadelphia/New Jersey. He played alongside former Dallas teammate Brad Richards and Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson in the match. Neal said the game raised at least $500,000 for victims of Hurricane Sandy and that total should rise after the game-worn equipment and jerseys are auctioned through early December. The Penguins winger is expected to keep himself busy in the meantime by practicing with the OHL's Oshawa Generals and working out with Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos, under fitness guru Gary Roberts, this week. Nov 26 |
| 2 | Chris Kunitz ActiveChris Kunitz believes young players getting some extra time in the AHL as a result of the lockout is a good thing for their development. Kunitz was a part of the 2004-05 lockout, spending that season with the Ducks' AHL affiliate. "[Playing in the AHL] probably did help me," Kunitz said. "The quality of play was a little better because of the young guys who [otherwise] were going to play in the NHL. That team in Cincinnati, I think 20 guys ended up playing in the NHL. It was beneficial because you were just learning the game, and maybe you weren't thrown into it so quickly." For now, the 33-year-old is practicing on a line with Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis, while spending extra time with his family. Nov 23 |
| 3 | Tanner Glass ActiveTanner Glass has reportedly signed with HC Banska Bystrica to play in Slovakia during the lockout. The club plays out of the Slovak Extraliga. Glass signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent this past summer, but his Penguins debut has been put on hold because of the NHL lockout. He'll look to stay sharp by playing in Slovakia and will probably get plenty of ice time. Dec 4 |
| 4 | Matt Cooke ActiveMatt Cooke returned to the ice Monday at Southpointe after he was clipped by Sidney Crosby's stick last Friday. He had a large Band-Aid on his forehead and jokingly refuted claims that Crosby helped patch up the wound. "I should correct previous reports in the paper that he had anything to do with aiding or fixing the cut," Cooke said, smiling. "Because he did absolutely nothing except for laugh." Nov 6 |
| 5 | Eric Tangradi ActiveEric Tangradi recorded a hat trick in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's 3-1 win over Bridgeport on Friday night. Many thought Tangradi had a good chance to play on Sidney Crosby's wing this year. Of course, that's been put on hold for now. With nine goals, Tangradi hasn't done much else to create offense (no assists), but he's still hinting at what could make him dangerous if he does indeed end up playing with Crosby. Nov 16 |
| RW | 1 | Pascal Dupuis ActiveDespite having shown an interest in returning to Switzerland, Pascal Dupuis has no immediate plans to play overseas during the lockout. Dupuis has been taking advantage of the time away by spending time with his wife and four children. The veteran winger has been working hard to stay in game shape during the work stoppage and feels he'll be ready to go once the season eventually begins. "I work out even harder when I don't play," said Dupuis. "I'm one of those guys -- if you ask my wife, she'll tell you I'm crazy -- who is really strict when it comes down to food and exercising. For me, it doesn't change." Oct 21 |
| 2 | Tyler Kennedy ActiveTyler Kennedy was on Pittsburgh's top line at practice Wednesday morning. He skated alongside Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz due to James Neal's one-game suspension. Kennedy, who has two goals in three games against the Flyers in the series, had been playing on the Penguins' third line prior to the promotion. Apr 18 |
| 3 | Craig Adams ActiveCraig Adams sees three levels of issues the NHL and the union need to work out before a collective-bargaining agreement is reached. First, is league revenues. Next, is less important components like drug-testing, travel, scheduling and safety. And finally, contractual issues such as structure of entry-level deals, free agency, arbitration and maximum length of deals. "It's all tied in," the Penguins' NHLPA representative said. If you want to have growth in salaries and have guys be able to have leverage in contract negotiations and flexibility throughout their careers, then you need to have some of those things." Nov 2 |
| 4 | Benn Ferriero ActiveBenn Ferriero has inked a one-year, two-way deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ferriero will earn $700,000 if he plays in the NHL. He had seven goals and eight points in 35 games with the San Jose Sharks last season. Jul 13 |
| D | 1 | Kris Letang ActiveKris Letang is looking forward to playing in exhibition contests, which begin this week, between a number of other French Canadian NHL players in Quebec. The charity event is being run by former Pittsburgh teammate and current Philadelphia Flyers forward Max Talbot. "Practice with just your teammates gets boring after a while," Letang said. "It will be fun to go up there and play, even if the games aren't real. Plus, it's for charity, so it's a good thing." Sep 25 |
| 2 | Paul Martin  SidelinedAfter losing out on Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, it's unlikely that the Pittsburgh Penguins will trade Paul Martin over the summer. Their main motivation for trading Martin would have been to free themselves of his $5 million annual cap hit. However, after they failed to land a big-name free agent over the summer, they have plenty of cap space. Jul 6 |
| 3 | Matt Niskanen ActiveMatt Niskanen is going to start looking at his options to play in Europe. Reality is setting in for players now that there doesn't appear to be much hope in playing hockey anytime soon with both sides in a staring contest. "My big reason why I didn't want to go [to Europe] early was that I didn't want to go play 10 or 15 games, then have to come back and play a full schedule," Niskanen said. "I thought that would just be too much, especially with the crammed schedule that we would have had. Now that we're almost inevitably going to be playing fewer games, in the next two weeks to a month, I'll start investigating, looking at some options. That's definitely an interest. I want to play this year." Oct 26 |
| 4 | Brooks Orpik ActiveBrooks Orpik has been working out in Boston during the lockout. "That's one of the good things about the area," he said. "There's so many guys, whether they play for the Bruins or a handful of other guys from this area or guys [like me] who settled down here through college or relationships or whatnot. It really is a good group." Orpik said if he was in Pittsburgh then the thought of not playing would drive him "crazy" and physically he feels better now than he did during the last couple of summers when he had surgery. Nov 15 |
| 5 | Deryk Engelland ActiveDeryk Engelland has returned to Pittsburgh from Norway for Christmas. He was playing for Rosenborg of Norway's first division. The Pens' tough guy may return to Norway after the holidays if a new CBA has not been finalized. Dec 8 |
| 6 | Ben Lovejoy ActiveDefenseman Ben Lovejoy accepted the blame for the Pittsburgh Penguins' 8-5 playoff loss to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers Friday night. It was Lovejoy's giveaway early in the third period that allowed the Flyers to tie the score 17 seconds after Tyler Kennedy scored to give the Penguins the momentum.
Instead of passing the puck up the boards on the outside, Lovejoy tried to throw a cross-ice pass. Philly's Sean Couturier knocked it down and cruised in on a breakaway, beating goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game at 5-5. "I feel horrible," Lovejoy said. "That's a game that will stick with me for a long time. That's called the flood play. I tried to make the hard play. It hit [Couturier] in the shaft. It's my fault. I need to make a smarter play." Truth is, Lovejoy was hardly alone in his shoddy defensive work for Pittsburgh. Apr 14 |
| 7 | Dylan Reese ActiveDylan Reese has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Reese will earn $600,000 at the NHL level. He had a goal and seven points in 28 games with the New York Islanders in 2011-12. He's joining the city he was born in. Jul 2 |
| 8 | Simon Despres ActiveSimon Despres had a goal and an assist in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' 2-1 win over the Toronto Marlies. Despres has two goals and five points in 17 AHL games this season. He had four points in 18 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011-12. Nov 24 |
| G | 1 | Marc-Andre Fleury ActiveMarc-Andre Fleury hit the ice at Southpointe on Tuesday for his first appearance at the Penguins' informal workouts. He has spent the past few weeks playing in charity games throughout Quebec to stay relatively fresh, but he admits that they aren't the best method to prepare, especially, if you're a goaltender. "There was no hitting, pretty much no slap shots," he said. "It was more of an all-star type of game. [Games with scores such as] 10-9 and stuff like that, so it was kind of tough to play. There were a lot of two-on-zero breakaways, backdoor [plays], so it was kind of tough." He is still considering Europe as an option if the lockout continues, so he'll keep a close eye on negotiations this week. Fleury is also looking forward to building a friendly relationship with new backup Tomas Vokoun, who he's only talked with a couple of times over the summer. Nov 7 |
| 2 | Tomas Vokoun ActiveTomas Vokoun is back skating in South Florida after reportedly signing with Czech League team HC Karlovy Vary earlier this month. He told the Miami Herald on Monday that he changed his mind about playing overseas. Nov 12 |