The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that Simon Despres has been returned to St. Johns of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Despres, the team’s first-round pick in 2009, made a long push for making his regular season NHL debut at the age of 19.
↵Excluding injured Jordan Staal (who’s expected to be placed on injured reserve), the Pens are now down to the maximum of 23 players.
↵Of all the bubble players, forwards Mark Letestu and Eric Tangradi and defensemen Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland have seemingly made the team out of camp.
↵Engelland practiced today on the third defensive pairing with veteran Alex Goligoski and seems to have the inside track to be the last player in the lineup. Both Tangradi and Letestu skated on regular lines and are expected to play tomorrow night when the Pens open their season at home against the Philadelphia Flyers.