Andrei Kuzmenko was a full participant at Penguins practice on Monday and took regular reps with the second power play unit, a strong sign he is close to returning to the active roster. The Penguins had not made an official announcement about his return by Monday, but the move was enough to sharpen the roster picture before the next game-night decisions are made.
That matters now because the Penguins are already carrying too many forwards for comfort, and Kuzmenko’s return would likely push them back to 14 forwards. Dan Muse has made clear that when players come back in, someone has to come out from game to game, and he said he wants the competition to make his job harder rather than easier.
Monday’s practice offered the clearest look yet at how crowded the group has become. Elmer Soderblom and Hendrix Lapierre were out of the regular lines rotation, while Ville Koivunen was back in the mix. The practice group also included Egor Chinakhov, Tommy Novak, Evgeni Malkin, Ben Kindel, Connor Dewar, Blake Lizotte and Nick Robertson, a reminder that every forward spot is being watched closely.
The roster squeeze is not limited to the forwards. Trevor van Riemsdyk was placed on injured reserve Monday afternoon, which gives the Penguins the flexibility to carry seven defensemen for a longer period. It also leaves them with a little room to bring up a depth defender later, even after Kuzmenko is activated. That temporary cushion helps, but it does not erase the harder choice waiting on the other side of his return.
Since training camp, Muse has been dealing with a lineup that has forced constant tradeoffs, and the conservative victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday only reinforced how little room there is for error. Kuzmenko’s return does not solve that problem; it makes it sharper. The next move is straightforward, even if the team has not put a timestamp on it: once Kuzmenko is activated, one of the current forwards will have to sit.
