The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that forward Alex Nylander has been returned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. With Wilkes-Barre Scranton set to play the Laval Rocket today, this reassignment gives the AHL Penguins one of their top scorers back.
Nylander, 25, has this season made himself into an extremely effective AHL scorer. After spending some of the earlier years of his career as an up-and-down player without truly dominant AHL numbers, Nylander’s AHL value has grown as his NHL promise has faded. This year, he has scored 25 goals and 50 points in the AHL, and earned seven NHL games in Pittsburgh.
Nylander has scored two points in that seven-game span, including an important goal yesterday against the Detroit Red Wings, a game the Penguins badly needed to win. Nylander played the bulk of his NHL games this season in a six-game span in March, beginning with a March 7th overtime victory over Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Penguins have gone 4-3 with Nylander on their roster, and he’s helped them at an important time in their season. With AHL Pittsburgh out of the AHL playoffs with three games remaining, this reassignment gives Nylander the chance to put the finishing touches on his successful individual AHL campaign before likely returning to support the Penguins as a reserve player should they reach the Stanley Cup playoffs.