Training camp preview: Michael Bunting gives the Penguins a base at left wing

With the Pittsburgh Penguins scheduled to report to training camp next week, here is a position-by-position look at their roster. Today, a glance at their left wingers.

The Penguins didn’t win the Jake Guentzel trade in March.

Any team that parts ways with a reliable 40-goal threat isn’t celebrating a victory.

But they didn’t lose the transaction either.

Michael Bunting ensured that.

As the primary return in the deal, Bunting found a fit on the left wing of the second line and played a key role in the Penguins’ late-season surge by posting 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in 21 games with the team.

Beyond his base statistics, his feisty nature meshed well with center Evgeni Malkin and sparked Malkin’s dormant offensive game during the final stages of 2023-24.

On the first line, Drew O’Connor served as Guentzel’s immediate replacement and did just about everything within his emerging abilities to offer a steady offensive threat next to franchise center Sidney Crosby. In the final 17 games of the regular season, O’Connor posted 10 points (seven goals, three assists).

Perhaps the most immediate threat to O’Connor for minutes on the first line will be prospect Rutger McGroarty.

The 14th overall selection in the 2022 NHL Draft by the Winnipeg Jets, McGroarty reached an impasse with that club regarding his development arc and arrived in Pittsburgh via a major trade last month, immediately signing an entry-level contract. He enters his first NHL training camp as arguably the Penguins’ most intriguing prospect since defenseman Olli Maatta in 2013.

If McGroarty isn’t immediately ready for the NHL, he could serve an apprenticeship with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Anthony Beauvillier could get a look in a top-six role as well. A free-agent signing in July, Beauvillier can play either wing and is looking to regain the form that made him a 20-goal threat with the New York Islanders a handful of years ago.

Sam Poulin, the Penguins’ first-round pick (No. 21 overall) in 2019, typically has been deployed as a center during his professional career — primarily with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton — but given the organization’s ample depth in the middle, he likely will have to make some hay at left wing — a position he has skated at regularly as well — if he hopes to make the NHL roster out of training camp.

Another would-be center who may have to adapt to the port side is Blake Lizotte, also a free agent signing in July. Typically a bottom-six pivot who can provide energy through his tenacity, Lizotte has some experience as a left winger.

A big question is the status of veteran Matt Nieto. Primarily deployed on the fourth line, Nieto’s 2023-24 season came to a premature end in late November because of a right knee injury. While rehabilitating, Nieto’s left knee was hobbled as well and required another procedure in May. He is four months into a rehabilitation of six to seven months and presumably will open the season on long-term injured reserve.

Longtime prospect Jonathan Gruden is an option as well. Capable of playing all three forward positions, Gruden was recalled to the NHL roster on seven occasions last season.

Incumbent right wingers Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust can flip to the left wing as well, but they are “break glass in case of emergency” options for that deployment.

Note: The Penguins announced they will opening training camp Wednesday in Cranberry.