Penguins make a huge change to their lineup ahead of divisional clash.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a major change to their lineup, and it comes at a very welcome time with a divisional opponent just around the corner.

On Saturday, the Penguins officially announced that forward Ville Koivunen was being assigned to the American Hockey League where he will join the Wilkes/Barre-Scranton Penguins, a tough break for a 22 year old that played relatively well in the Penguins first two games of the regular season.

The sad news for Koivunen was however accompanied by some huge news for the Penguins, the return of veteran forward Bryan Rust who was activated off of injured reserve on Saturday.

The 33 year old veteran winger is widely recognized as one of the Penguins very best players and he is coming off of another great season in which he proved just that. Despite his team missing the playoffs last year, Rust put up 31 goals and 34 assists for a total of 65 points in just 71 games played.

His presence will also provide a huge boost to the Penguins top line which previously featured Koivunen, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell. With Koivunen coming off that line and being replaced by Rust, it obviously looks considerably more threatening.

That being said the Penguins were 2-0 with Koivunen in the lineup and it will be very interesting to see if that trend continues tonight against the Rangers with Koivunen now out of the lineup.