The Pittsburgh Penguins announced today that forward Matt Nieto underwent successful laparoscopic surgery on his right knee, and is expected to be out of commission on a six to eight-week timeline.
Nieto, 31, has not played since November 30th. Initially, the timeline for his injury was not fully clear, but the Penguins’ eventual placement of Nieto on injured reserve was seen by some as an indication that he’d be out for a more substantial duration of time.
When healthy, Nieto is a key defensive specialist in the Penguins’ forward lineup. Signed as part of the team’s offseason overhaul of its bottom six, Nieto averages nearly two and a half minutes per game on the penalty kill. That ranks him among the most heavily utilized forwards in Pittsburgh when the opponent is on the man advantage.
His work there has helped Pittsburgh’s short-handed units rank 10th in the NHL in kill rate, which to this point is an improvement over last season’s 16th-place finish. Now they’ll need to rely on other players in Nieto’s absence, though they’ve had the past month to get acquainted with how to manage that and have been decently successful, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.
Not a big loss