Penguins Make Heavy Roster Cuts, Including Former First-Rounder

The Pittsburgh Penguins continued to cut their roster down Friday, cutting seven total players and sending four to AHL-Scranton/Wilkes Barre

The Pens had some business to attend to prior to the NHL’s roster deadline Monday, informing forwards Emil Bemstrom, Jonathan Gruden, Joona Koppanen and Sam Poulin, and defensemen Nathan Clurman, Filip Kral and John Ludvig they were being placed on waivers. Pittsburgh also sent forwards Corey Andonovski, Tristan Broz and Ville Koivunen, and defenseman Owen Pickering to the AHL.

Poulin was perhaps the most surprising cut, as the former first-round pick appeared ready to take over a bottom-six role in 2024. Pittsburgh appeared ready to factor him into plans after his mental health and a variety of injuries slowed him down, but he’s now available for other teams to claim.

The Penguins’ current roster has 31 total players, with eight to be moved over the weekend:

Forwards (18)
Noel Acciari, Anthony Beauviller, Michael Bunting, Sidney Crosby, Lars Eller, Cody Glass, Kevin Hayes, Boko Imama, Blake Lizotte, Evgeni Malkin, Rutger McGroarty, Matt Nieto, Drew O’Connor, Vasily Ponomarev, Jesse Puljujarvi, Valtteri Puustinen, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust

Defense (9)
Sebastian Aho, Harrison Brunicke, Ryan Graves, Matt Grzelcyk, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson, Ryan Shea, Jack St. Ivany

Goalies (4)
Joel Blomqvist, Tristan Jarry, Filip Larsson, Alex Nedeljkovic

Bemstrom, Gruden, Koppanen, Poulin, Clurman, Kral and Ludvig are all subject to waivers, with their fate set to be revealed at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday.

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