DESPRES, HOFFMAN EXPECTED TO PLAY TONIGHT

Simon Despres and Mike Hoffman are expected to play for their respective National Hockey League clubs tonight in pre-season action.

Despres and the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Chicago Blackhawks tonight at 8:00 pm at the brand new CONSOL Energy Centre.

Here is the full Penguins lineup per Empty Netters:

Forwards - Mark Letestu, Brett Sterling (above), Chris Kunitz, Dustin Jeffrey, Mike Rupp, Mike Comrie, Maxime Talbot, Craig Adams, Nick Johnson, Eric Tangradi, Arron Asham and Evgeni Malkin

Defensemen - Alex Goligoski, Zbynek Michalek, Deryk Engelland, Ben Lovejoy, Paul Martin, Steve Wagner and Simon Despres

Goaltenders - Brent Johnson and John Curry.

Despres has been solid training camp with the Pens and could get a taste of the NHL before being sent back to the Saint John Sea Dogs.

“From what I saw in the third preseason game, Simon Despres doesn’t so much shoot the puck as he does slingshot the thing at the net,” writes Stoosh of The Pensblog. “What a shot that kid has developed. He needs to be careful so he doesn’t kill some goalie when he goes back to juniors.”

“The Pens can give him a nine-game tryout once the season starts before sending him back,” he added. “While he’s actually made a pretty strong case to stick with the big club, the problem here is that because of his age, he can only play this year in either the NHL or the QMJHL (he can’t go to Wilkes-Barre until his junior season is over). If he stays here for the whole season, he’s going to be getting third-pairing minutes or sitting in the press box. He’s slated to be one of the top defensemen in the Q this year, and has a legitimate chance to play for Canada’s World Junior squad this year.”

Meanwhile, Mike Hoffman will play in a building not so CONSOL Energy Centre like.

About 1,000 fans are expected to invade the J.L. Grightmire Arena in Dundas, Ontario for Kraft Hockeyville this evening. The Senators will take on the Buffalo Sabres.

Although Hockeyville is sponsored by CBC, the game can been seen across the country on TSN beginning at 8:00 pm.

Here are the Sens offensive lines per OttawaSenators.com:

Jarkko Ruutu-Chris Kelly-Chris Neil
Peter Regin-Zack Smith-Jesse Winchester
Mike Hoffman-Corey Locke-Bobby Butler
Roman Wick-Cody Bass-Ryan Keller