If Patric Hornqvist can shoot a hockey puck with his surgically repaired hand, he chose a really weird time to choose not to on Saturday morning at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
Hornqvist, who had surgery on his right hand in the summer, skated for about an hour before Day 2 of training camp and used primarily his left hand to shoot and accept passes.
Either the injury, announced by general manager Jim Rutherford on Friday, is worse than expected or Hornqvist was being especially cautious, but Hornqvist would only shoot by using his knee to propel the stick and rarely kept two hands on his stick when accepting a pass.
Rutherford said he expects Hornqvist to be ready for the season-opener, but it will absolutely be worth monitoring Hornqvist's progress the rest of the way.
Should also note that Hornqvist was skating – with no visible limitations – as recently as Sept. 7.
The daily, intrasquad scrimmage produced several takeaways:
• Greg McKegg, a depth center acquired on July 1, can really skate. While the Penguins continue to shop for a third-line guy, McKegg has presented an interesting option.
If you use McKegg in the middle on the fourth line, Carter Rowney could play wing, a position where he's excelled. We just have to see if Greg McKegg’s hands and smarts match McKegg's legs – sorry, had to do it once.
• On the other side of the spectrum, Jay McClement has done little in two days to force the Penguins' hand when it comes to picking up his PTO. It's early, sure, but among the standout performances we've seen thus far, McClement is not one.
• Bryan Rust, Scott Wilson and Josh Archibald all looked terrific. Rust scored a pair of goals, Archibald went top shelf with a nasty shot, and Wilson had a couple of really good opportunities.
• A day after colliding with Ryan Reaves, Tom Sestito was not listed in any of the practice groups. We didn't receive an update on him, but, to be fair, nobody asked, either.
• Derrick Pouliot's body language is ... well, not great. It's one day. Maybe it was a bad one. We all have them. But if you're looking for someone to jump off the ice and nail down NHL work, Pouliot hasn't exactly done that through two days.
• Defenseman Zach Lauzon is impressive for a young kid. Very smart with his stick. Active with it, too. The Penguins like Lauzon, their top pick in this summer’s draft, a lot. You can see why.
• Colleague Sam Werner often wears a Red Sox hat around the rink, and today Sullivan – also a big Red Sox fan – complimented him on it.
"Nice hat," Sullivan said before starting his daily media briefing. "Meant to tell you that yesterday."
We all gave Sam some good-natured grief about wanting to get in the coach's good graces with his baseball fandom and, hey ... it’s really not a bad idea.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: September 16, 2017, 7:36 p.m.
