The Blackhawks placed forward Rem Pitlick on waivers Wednesday for the purpose of assignment to AHL Rockford, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports.
Chicago acquired Pitlick from the Penguins on Jan. 6 in exchange for a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick. Since the trade, the 26-year-old has played in nine games, failing to record a point and posting a -7 rating while averaging 15:35 per game.
Pitlick is in the second season of a two-year, $2.2MM contract signed with the Canadiens in July 2022. After splitting the 2022-23 campaign between Montreal and AHL Laval, Pitlick was included in the three-way deal between the Canadiens, Penguins and Sharks that saw 2023 Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson head to Pittsburgh.
Despite recording 21 goals and 52 points in 112 games over the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns, Pitlick did not crack the Penguins’ roster out of training camp and was waived in September before being assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. After posting eight goals and 16 assists in 32 minor-league contests, the Blackhawks acquired Pitlick to add some forward depth in the wake of a rash of injuries around the New Year.
The team is slowly getting healthier, though, and names like Connor Bedard and Anthony Beauvillier are nearing returns. As such, Pitlick has been a healthy scratch in four of Chicago’s last five games after failing to make an impact on the scoresheet. In his lone recent appearance, a Feb. 9 game against the Rangers, he played fourth-line minutes and recorded a -1 rating without getting a shot on goal.
With a $1.1MM cap hit and a disappointing call-up, the likelihood of Pitlick being claimed on the waiver wire is nearly nonexistent. The University of Minnesota product will be a UFA this summer.
Too bad the Hawks didn’t just pull a Pitlick for Pitlick trade with the Rangers, just to further confuse all the roster peeps.