Penguins Roster Set for Game 1

The Pittsburgh Penguins play regular season hockey tonight. 

After a long offseason that saw many changes throughout the lineup, the final roster is set. Last night, the team revealed their final roster, with 10 of the 22 players on the team set to start their first season in the Steel City. 

With the acquisition of defenseman John Ludwig from the Florida Panthers yesterday, the team currently has 12 forwards and eight defensemen on the roster. The belief is that Ryan Shea and Ludwig will be the two players not in the lineup tonight. 

Here is the Penguins roster for opening night: 

Forwards

#10 Drew O’Connor

#17 Bryan Rust 

#19 Reilly Smith

#20 Lars Eller

#43 Jansen Harkins 

#55 Noel Acciari 

#59 Jake Guentzel

#67 Rickard Rakell

#71 Evgeni Malkin

#77 Jeff Carter

#83 Matt Nieto

#87 Sidney Crosby

Defensemen

#2 Chad Ruhwedel 

#5 Ryan Shea

#7 John Ludwig

#27 Ryan Graves

#28 Marcus Pettersson

#58 Kris Letang

#65 Erik Karlsson

#73 Pierre-Olivier Joseph

Goalies

#35 Tristan Jarry

#39 Alex Nedeljkovic 

It is good news that Jake Guentzel will be returning to the lineup tonight, as the Penguins would have had to start the season with seven defensemen and 11 forwards tonight if he could not go. 

The Pens sent down forwards Vinnie Hinostroza, Colin White, and Radim Zohorna, along with defenseman Mark Friedman, and goalies like Magnus Hellberg and Garret Sparks all to the Baby Pens, while defenseman Owen Pickering was sent back to the WHL. 

The puck drops for the Pens tonight at 8 PM Eastern time, and yours truly will be in the building. Make sure to follow @ITRNIKSHER for live updates throughout the night.