Judd Caulfield Undecided About Turning Pro
- Schlossman also notes that Penguins prospect Judd Caulfield has not yet made a decision about turning pro or opting for his bonus year; players impacted by the pandemic have a fifth year of eligibility. The 22-year-old winger was a fifth-round pick by Pittsburgh back in 2019 (145th overall) and put up nearly identical numbers this season (10 goals, nine assists) compared to a year ago (11 goals and nine helpers). Caulfield has reached the double-digit point mark in each of his four college seasons but hasn’t recorded more than 20 in a single campaign either.
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Penguins Injury Notes: Petry, Rust, DeSmith
Rob Rossi of The Athletic is reporting that injured Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry is back skating. He has not practiced with the team but took to the ice after yesterdays practice in Colorado. The Penguins defense has been decimated by injuries in recent days as Petry, Jan Rutta, Dmitry Kulikov and Marcus Pettersson are all sidelined with various ailments. Things have become so dire for the Penguins that even potential call-ups Ty Smith and Xavier Ouellet are hurt as well.
The timing of these injuries could not be worse for Pittsburgh, they are in a dogfight with the Florida Panthers and the New York Islanders for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins have been forced to dive deep into their AHL lineup to find replacements for their injured rearguards and are now using the Taylor Fedun to fill out their roster. Fedun played Monday night against the Ottawa Senators and was fine in a sheltered role, but should the Penguins defense ever get healthy he would likely be the 12th defenseman.
Petry has not had a great first season in Pittsburgh, he has been in and out of the lineup with various injuries throughout the season. When he has played, he has largely been okay, but with a cap hit of $6.25MM the Penguins can’t afford for him to be just okay. The Michigan native has 26 points in 52 games and has been a valuable part of Marcus Pettersson’s development this season, but he has had trouble at times matching the foot speed of the young forwards on some of Pittsburgh’s Eastern Conference rivals.
In other Penguins injury news:
- Bryan Rust left yesterday’s Penguins practice in disgust after taking a Jason Zucker shot off his right hand. Rust returned a short time later and no update was provided on the incident. Pittsburgh will not practice today, which means we likely won’t have any updates until their game this evening with the Colorado Avalanche. Rob Rossi did tweet that Rust’s return to the ice for practice appeared to be a good sign. It has been a difficult season for the 30-year-old forward, he has 38 points in 69 games which is well off his near point a game pace from the three previous seasons. He has appeared visibly frustrated in recent weeks, the most obvious instance being in Monday’s game against Ottawa when his failure to clear the zone on a Senators powerplay led to the game winning goal.
- Rob Rossi of The Athletic is also reporting that Casey DeSmith did not participate in Penguins practice yesterday. While he was not injured, he was apparently forced back to the team’s hotel with an illness. Not much else is known, but it could create another interesting development for the Penguins as they have a back-to-back tonight in Colorado and then in Dallas tomorrow against the Stars. DeSmith stood on his head earlier this season with a 41 save win against the Avalanche and would have presumably started tonight or tomorrow’s game. Should he remain sick it could force the Penguins to use Jarry in both games, which is something they may be hesitant to do given Jarry’s play lately. The Surrey native has struggled in recent weeks having been pulled in four of his previous 11 starts, this has cratered his save percentage which now sits at just .907 for the season. Not ideal for a goaltender who is just over three months away from unrestricted free agency.
Jagger Joshua Sign AHL Contract With Penguins
The Ottawa Senators announced the team has to shuffle their goaltending tandem yet again. The team has recalled Kevin Mandolese from the Belleville Senators because Dylan Ferguson is out with an illness. Ferguson was just called up two days ago and made his Senators debut last night. He was brilliant, stopping 48 of 49 shots and leading the Senators to a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. With Cam Talbot out with an upper-body injury and Anton Forsberg on injured reserve, this leaves the Senators pretty thin in an important area.
- The Wilkes-Barre Penguins announced the signing of Jagger Joshua. The contract is a two-year agreement but will not begin until next season, so Joshua is signed through the 2024-25 campaign with the Penguins. He will report to the team immediately, but finish off this season on an amateur tryout before his new contract officially begins. Joshua played for Michigan State University this season, scoring 13 goals and 24 points in 37 games.
Marcus Pettersson Put On LTIR By Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that defenseman Marcus Pettersson has been put on LTIR retroactive to March 18th. Pettersson left in the third period of Saturday’s 6-0 loss against the New York Rangers with what is being described as a lower body injury. Pettersson was shuttled back and forth from the bench to the dressing room a few times in that game but was eventually shutdown when it became out of reach.
The Penguin’s defense has been decimated by injuries in the past week. Right shot defensemen Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta are both already sidelined by ailments, and now Pettersson has joined them. The Penguins open the week against the Ottawa Senators this evening and will have to try and battle without half of their starting defense. They already brought up Mark Friedman on the weekend, and now have recalled Taylor Fedun who skated with the team this morning at practice.
Fedun is the captain of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and last played in the NHL during the 2019-20 season when he had 9 points for the Dallas Stars in 27 games. Fedun won’t offer the Penguins much offense, but he is a defensively sound and capable replacement for the Penguins short term. So far in the AHL this season, Fedun has 10 points in 53 games.
It’s a tough break for Pettersson and the Penguins as he has really flourished this season in an expanded role. He has spent large stretches on the Penguins top defensive unit next to Kris Letang and has played some terrific hockey. Coming into Saturday’s loss, Pettersson had 11 points in his previous 10 games and was just a single point away from matching his career high. This is a far cry from a year ago when the Penguins tried to move on from Pettersson but couldn’t find any takers for the Swedish defenseman.
The Penguins will try and overcome this hurdle beginning tonight at home to the Ottawa Senators. Pittsburgh currently sits seven points ahead of Ottawa for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with 13 games to play. The Penguins have been on a slide having lost three games in a row, including the blowout loss to the Rangers. The Penguins have been an uneven team throughout the year having gone on several lengthy winning and losing streaks. For now, they control their postseason fate, but with a surging Florida Panthers team sitting one point back, they could be prone to a letdown in what has been a disappointing season thus far.
Jeff Petry Will Sit Out Tonight
After recalling defenseman Mark Friedman earlier today, Rob Rossi from The Athletic reports Jeff Petry will be out tonight with an upper-body injury. As the Penguins look to pick up two crucial points against their division rival, New York Rangers, they will be without one of their better puck-moving defensemen.
In Pittsburgh’s last game against the Rangers on Thursday night, Petry received an elbow to the head from Rangers’ forward Tyler Motte. In playing just over a minute and a half of that game, Petry left the ice and did not return for the remainder of the game. According to Rossi, Penguins’ head coach Mike Sullivan did not give any updates as to how long Petry would be sitting out.
After being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens late last summer, Petry is currently second on the Penguins in scoring by defensemen, putting up 26 points in 52 games. After posting a statistically down year with possession numbers in his final season with the Canadiens, Petry has rebounded nicely, once again putting up strong Corsi For % with the Penguins this year. As the Penguins continue to fight for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, the injuries are starting to accrue, making their goal that much more difficult to reach in the final stretch.
Penguins Convert Alex Nylander To Regular Recall
- The Penguins recently reclassified Alexander Nylander’s recall from an emergency one to a regular one, notes Rob Rossi of The Athletic (Twitter link). In doing so, Nylander is allowed to remain up with the team even when it’s not an emergency situation but it also means they use one of their four allowable post-deadline recalls. They have two remaining now; the other was used on a paper transaction with Drew O’Connor.
Penguins Place Nick Bonino On LTIR, Recall Mark Friedman
Injuries have tested Pittsburgh’s already tricky salary cap situation in recent games and with the back end being banged up at the moment, reinforcements were needed. The Penguins created some short-term cap space to create room for a recall as they announced that center Nick Bonino has been placed on LTIR while recalling blueliner Mark Friedman from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Last weekend, the team revealed that Bonino suffered a lacerated kidney in just his third game with the team. While he had been released from the hospital, he was still ruled out as week-to-week. That now changes to 10 games and 24 days from the date of injury, the minimum requirements for a player to be placed on LTIR. Given the initial timeframe, it’s still possible that Bonino is able to return to the lineup before the end of the regular season.
With the placement, Pittsburgh adds $1.025MM to its LTIR pool; while Bonino’s true cap hit is double that amount, Montreal held back an additional $1.025MM as part of a three-team trade at the deadline earlier this month.
That move allows Pittsburgh to be able to afford Friedman’s $775K cap hit on their active roster. The 27-year-old has played in 11 games with the Penguins this season in a depth role plus another 24 in the minors where he has a goal and five assists in 24 contests.
Notably, the Penguins are still only able to afford just this one recall as the leftover difference between Bonino’s cap hit and Friedman’s plus the $375K they had in their pool before this move (per CapFriendly), is just $625K which is below the $750K league minimum. Accordingly, if more recalls will be needed, they’re going to have to get quite creative to make it happen.
Sidney Crosby Clinches 18th Point-Per-Game Season
Pittsburgh Penguins franchise center Sidney Crosby has moved into sole possession of second place on an impressive list — the number of point-per-game seasons in an NHL career. By reaching 82 points on the year last night, he clinched his 18th straight point-per-game season, moving past Gordie Howe, who had 17. With a point-per-game season next year, he’ll tie Wayne Gretzky for the all-time record with 19.
Those scoring pace statistics are the best way to quantify Crosby’s greatness, given the sheer amount of games he missed due to injury in the early 2010s. While those injuries may limit his place on the main all-time statistics lists, his scoring consistency and ability to adapt his game as the team changes around him should never be overlooked. Crosby’s 83 points in 68 games this season lead the Penguins.
Kris Letang, Jeff Petry Miss Practice
- The Pittsburgh Penguins were without their top two right-shot defensemen at practice today, and head coach Mike Sullivan issued updates on both players. Kris Letang had a maintenance day, and Jeff Petry is still being evaluated, leaving last night’s game against the New York Rangers after taking an elbow to the face from winger Tyler Motte. The two veterans are Pittsburgh’s highest-scoring defensemen this season, despite both missing significant time with multiple injuries.
Penguins Injury Notes: Petry, Bonino, Poehling
For the second straight game, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost the services of defenseman Jeff Petry. The 35-year-old played just three shifts in the first period before he exited the game after taking an elbow from Tyler Motte. Petry also exited Tuesday nights 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens with an apparent injury. Petry’s injury luck in the last two games has forced the Penguins defense to play shorthanded in back-to-back games, leaning heavily on Kris Letang who himself has dealt with a series of health issues this season.
If Petry is out for any length of time it would be likely that recent healthy scratch Chad Ruhwedel would draw back into the Penguins lineup. The Penguins do have Mark Friedman and Ty Smith stashed in the minors but would need to move Nick Bonino onto LTIR to call up either player. Ty Smith was quite good in limited NHL action earlier this season, however the young defenseman is still week-to-week with a facial fracture.
In other Penguins injury news:
- Seth Rorabaugh is reporting that Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan told tonight’s MSG broadcast that Pittsburgh expects center Nick Bonino to be back by the playoffs. Bonino was re-acquired on trade deadline day by the Penguins to center their fourth line but was only able to dress in a handful of games after spending most of the season with the San Jose Sharks. Jeff Carter has taken Bonino’s spot on the fourth line in recent games but has struggled mightily going -4 in just 8:28 of ice time on Tuesday against Montreal.
- Ryan Poehling did return to action tonight after missing over a month with a lingering upper body injury. The young forward saw duty on the fourth line next to Jeff Carter and Josh Archibald. Poehling’s return could create an interesting situation on the Penguins fourth line should Jeff Carter continue to struggle. Poehling was centering the unit earlier in the season prior to the injury and showed good chemistry with Drew O’Connor and Danton Heinen.