Nearly a month after being claimed off waivers by the Penguins, defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok will make his Penguins debut tonight here in Denver.

Kolyachonok was claimed at the start of the lengthy 4 Nations break -- he hasn't actually been sitting around scratched for a month. And since the break, Mike Sullivan has said that one of the reasons Kolyachonok wasn't getting into a game yet was that the Penguins just did not have many practices on the schedule. But with P.O Joseph sidelined with an upper-body injury and on injured reserve, there's an opening on the left side. And instead of getting Ryan Graves back into the lineup, it's finally time for Kolyachonok's debut.

Kolyachonok requested to not speak after the morning skate, asking if it would be OK for him to just focus on preparing for the game. So I chatted with his defense partner Vincent Desharnais about what Kolyachonok can bring tonight.

"First of all, I think he moves very well on the ice," Desharnais told me of Kolyachonok. "He's a very, very smooth skater, which I think can always help me to have a guy who skates well next to me. So far in the practices he has been very vocal, which is very important to me as well. And he wants to play. Every day, he's one of the first guys at the rink, one of the last guys to leave the rink as well. He's passionate about the game, and he wants to play. He wants to help the team win."

I've witnessed some of what Desharnais has described regarding Kolyachonok's work ethic. The scratches always stay out late for extra work, but Kolyachonok is regularly the first guy on the ice for practices, at times even getting out there before the goaltenders come on for their extra work before practice. And even through this time being a scratch, he seemed happy to be around the team and putting in that work.

Sullivan said that they've liked what they've seen from Kolyachonok in a practice environment, too.

"He appears to be a pretty good puck mover," Sullivan said. "I think he can help us there. He's got good size. I think he skates pretty well. I think he has a better understanding now of how we're trying to play from a tactical standpoint. We feel more comfortable with where he's at with respect to that. We think he's a young player that has potential here."

Desharnais is still pretty new to the Penguins himself, with only nine games under his belt since the trade from Vancouver. But he's going to do what he can to help Kolyachonok get acclimated as quickly as possible tonight.

"We just talked about it during pre-game skate," Desharnais said. "Just try to be vocal, try to help each other as much as we can. We've never played together, so I think communication is going to be a big key. Just try to be simple, try to make the best play possible, just try to take whatever they give us and make hard, simple plays."