April 13: Friedman has cleared waivers and can be assigned to the minor leagues before tonight’s game.
April 12: As the team is getting healthier with their season on the line, the Pittsburgh Penguins have placed defenseman Mark Friedman on waivers today, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
While it’s rare for a player to hit waivers after the trade deadline, let alone this late in the season, the move comes out of salary cap necessity for Pittsburgh. Defenseman Marcus Pettersson has progressed in his recovery from a lower-body injury and will be a game-time decision tomorrow night, per head coach Mike Sullivan, meaning the team needs to clear some cap room to activate Pettersson from long-term injured reserve.
Friedman and his $775,000 salary are the odd factors out here, and assuming the near-given scenario that he clears waivers, will be assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton tomorrow. The 27-year-old has split the season evenly between the two teams, playing a total of 47 pro games and recording nine points.
After dropping their last home game of the regular season to the Chicago Blackhawks last night, 5-2, the Penguins must rely on the 68-point Montreal Canadiens to defeat the New York Islanders in regulation tonight to keep their playoff hopes alive. Pittsburgh would then need a regulation win against Columbus on Thursday to continue their 16-year postseason streak.
Friedman, strictly a depth defender, had suited up in 12 straight games for Pittsburgh before he was a healthy scratch against Chicago.
Not sure the season *is* on the line – more like *was*
Why not wait until tomorrow to see if tomorrow’s game means anything.
I thought Friedman played pretty well when called upon this season.
Tomorrow’s game already means nothing; Pittsburgh was eliminated with the Isles’ win tonight.
Although it would be interesting to hear from the Pens fans who were hotly protesting back in training camp against any semblance of the blowup and rebuild Pittsburgh so badly and obviously needed: it was unthinkable to “waste” Sid’s final seasons, naturally. So … the oldest roster in the league dropped big bucks on keeping their aging players onboard until their dotage. To the point that the team has only TWO regular player under the age of 30 under contract for next season, and one’ll be 29.
And even with Geno being healthy for the first time in ages, they still failed. The clock struck midnight on Carter, and he’s under contract for another year, with a NMC. Granlund bombed, he’s only had one good year in the last five, and he’s under contract for two more years. Letang’s insane to keep playing, and the Pens have a lot to answer for not to insist he doesn’t. The organization has exactly one asset to deal who isn’t under a no-movement/no-trade clause, and however much Rust can still play, I wouldn’t touch a guy who’s under contract for five more years at $5 mm AAV and looks to be already in decline.
They should have started on the rebuild a year ago. Instead they doubled down. Now the fall will be twice as painful, twice as long, and they’ve nothing to show for the gamble. Smooth.
That Pens-loving fella seemingly stopped posting circa the trade deadline, once it was clear the cavalry was no longer coming.
Can’t blame him for not wanting to eat his words, I suppose. But it was all so *predictable*. And nothing could’ve changed it. Crosby doesn’t have much time left, but that’s the case with every great player: for every Beliveau, Bourque and Recchi who retire right after a Cup win, there’s a horde of Hall of Famers who don’t get to go out on top.