Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Vinnie Hinostroza

Penguins Activate Bryan Rust; Reassign Vinnie Hinostroza, Ryan Shea

at CDT | by 4 Comments

As alluded to in multiple reports this morning, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced they have officially activated forward Bryan Rust off of long-term injured reserve, and he will return to the lineup tonight as the team takes on the Washington Capitals. In a corresponding roster move, the team also announced that forward Vinnie Hinostroza and defenseman Ryan Shea had both been sent down to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Rust, who has been on the team’s long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury since December 6th, will serve as yet another significant reinforcement back into the Penguins lineup. Only a few weeks ago, Pittsburgh saw the return of fellow forward Rickard Rakell, after he missed he missed a month of action on LTIR.

Even after missing the team’s last 10 contests, Rust still impressively sits sixth on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 20 points in 22 games. With Rust back in the lineup, the Penguins will be able to carry a full top-six, a luxury they have largely been without for much of the 2023-24 season.

Although their position in the standings looked dire a few weeks ago, the Penguins have found themselves back in the playoff conversation, moving to one point back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference correlating with the return of a lot of their injured players. Over their last 10 games, Pittsburgh holds a 7-2-1 record, picking up a solid win over the Carolina Hurricanes, and two wins over the New York Islanders over that stretch.

For the reassignments, it will now mark the sixth time Hinostroza has been sent down this season, although a handful of those demotions were merely paper transactions for the Penguins to manage their salary cap outlook. Being brought in as a flexible and veteran forward option for the team this past summer, Hinostroza has one goal and three points with Pittsburgh so far this season.

Shea, on the other hand, has played in a majority of the Penguins’ games up to this point in the season, suiting up in 22 contests, averaging just under 12 and a half minutes per game. Viewed as a bit of a reclamation project for the organization, Shea’s defensive play has been solid during his limited usage with Pittsburgh. Failing to produce a point on the year, his 50.2% CorsiFor% and his 92.6% on-ice save percentage in all situations both serve as relatively above-average marks for a defenseman in his position.

It is more than likely that both Shea and Hinostroza will find themselves back up in the NHL at some point this season, they will now help a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team in a similar position to their NHL affiliate. Through 31 games, the baby Penguins hold a 16-12-3-0 record, sitting in fifth place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division.

Metropolitan Notes: Severson, Roslovic, Daws, Hinostroza

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson will likely make his return from an oblique injury before Christmas, Columbus team reporter Jeff Svoboda relayed Wednesday. Severson, who remains on injured reserve, has missed just over a month since sustaining the injury in a November 19 contest against the Flyers, putting him well ahead of his predicted six-week return timeframe.

The 29-year-old blueliner is in his first season in Columbus after the Blue Jackets acquired his signing rights from the Devils just days before free agency opened last summer, promptly signing him to an eight-year, $50MM deal. Through his first 19 games, he’d given Columbus the level of play we’ve been accustomed to seeing from him over the past few seasons, notching eight points and a +1 rating while logging nearly 21 minutes per game. He remains in first place among Blue Jackets defenders with a 52% Corsi share at even strength, nearly four percentage points higher than second-place Zach Werenski’s 48.1% mark. While playoffs again are out of the question for a Blue Jackets squad that’s six games below the .500 mark, Severson has been off to a strong start and looks to be an important piece of the team’s defense for the next few seasons.

Svoboda also reported that center Jack Roslovic, who is sidelined with a leg injury, won’t return until after Christmas. Roslovic, 26, is also on injured reserve and has missed 18 games with an ankle fracture.

While the Blue Jackets are at a full 23-player active roster, Severson could be activated during the current roster freeze without a corresponding transaction since it would not affect their cap hit. The Blue Jackets could wait to send down a player to be roster-compliant until December 28, when the freeze lifts.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division today:

  • The Devils assigned goalie Nico Daws to the AHL’s Utica Comets Wednesday morning, a team release states. The team promoted Daws from the minors on Sunday with Vítek Vaněček out with an undisclosed injury, but he did not see any playing time, and Vaněček returned to action last night. Daws, 22, missed the first two months of the season after undergoing offseason hip surgery and has been stellar in his return to play with the Comets, posting a .937 SV% and 2.04 GAA in two contests.
  • After clearing waivers a few days back, the Penguins waited to assign winger Vinnie Hinostroza to the minors until yesterday. It was a short-lived move, as Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports reports Hinostroza is back on the NHL roster today. The 29-year-old has a goal and two assists in 13 games with the Penguins this season, his first in Pittsburgh.

Vinnie Hinostroza Clears Waivers

at CDT | by 6 Comments

Saturday: Hinostroza has cleared waivers, Friedman reports.

Friday: The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed Vinnie Hinostroza on waivers today, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The move would pave the way for Hinostroza to be re-assigned to the Penguins’ AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. Hinostroza is a pending unrestricted free agent with a $775k cap hit.

It appears that the recent news of Noel Acciari and Rickard Rakell nearing returns from injured reserve has shaken Hinostroza’s grip on a roster spot. Hinostroza’s play so far this season has done him no favors either, though. The 29-year-old was given the chance to make an impact by head coach Mike Sullivan, even getting looks in scoring-line roles. He only delivered one goal and three points this season, which is a far cry in terms of scoring pace from his career-high of 16 goals and 39 points.

A genuinely skilled forward, Hinostroza has struggled to be consistently effective in the NHL, a league with relentless physicality and unmatched pace. A former AHL All-Star, Hinostroza has become more of a depth forward who can fill a scoring role in a pinch rather than someone who can be truly relied upon to carry any sort of offensive burden over an extended period. The Penguins hoped he might provide some flair to their revamped bottom six, but he seems to have not been a lasting fit.

With the waiver placement today, Hinostroza appears ticketed for an AHL assignment. He actually began the year in the AHL, and scored four points in five games. Should he end up clearing and sent to Wilkes-Barre Scranton, the AHL’s Penguins would be receiving a significant offensive reinforcement.

Penguins Loan John Ludvig And Alex Nedeljkovic To AHL

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that they’ve loaned defenseman John Ludvig and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to their AHL affiliate the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The loan is for a conditioning stint so both players can get back up to game speed before they rejoin the NHL Penguins. Matt Vensel of Post-Gazette Sports is reporting that both players will be eligible to join the team on Sunday to play NHL games.

Ludvig and Nedeljkovic are both currently on long-term injured reserve and have already joined the Penguins in full practices before their AHL assignment. The Ludvig news is not surprising given that Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has stated before that Ludvig would have a conditioning assignment, but Nedeljkovic was a bit of a surprise. The Penguins may have opted to allow him more time given that third-string goaltender Magnus Hellberg has filled in admirably for Nedeljkovic. Hellberg has a .922 save percentage in three appearances with a 1-0-0 record.

Ludvig suffered a concussion in his NHL debut on October 24th against the Dallas Stars and hasn’t dressed in a game since. The 23-year-old was a waiver claim before the start of the season and is one of the few Penguins defensemen who offer a bit of sandpaper. The Penguins currently have seven defensemen on their NHL roster and have used Ludvig’s LTIR to call up Vinnie Hinostroza who has been very good on the team’s rejuvenated fourth line. 

The Penguins’ third defensive pairing has been a revolving door all season with Ryan Shea and Chad Ruhwedel currently occupying the final pair. Pierre-Olivier Joseph started the year on the left side, but hasn’t been able to hold down a spot and has struggled when he has been re-inserted into the lineup. The Penguins also have Ty Smith in the minors as well as Will Butcher who is injured. Ludvig will give the Penguins further roster options but could also complicate their current roster construction when he is recalled.

Penguins Recall Vinnie Hinostroza, Assign Joel Blomqvist To AHL

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Penguins are set to welcome back Tristan Jarry between the pipes tonight against Buffalo, meaning that they’re now able to return Joel Blomqvist to the AHL.  Per a team announcement (Twitter link), they’ve done just that, sending the young netminder down to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Taking his place on the roster will be forward Vinnie Hinostroza.

Blomqvist was recalled on Thursday and served as the backup to Magnus Hellberg on Thursday night in Los Angeles.  The 21-year-old is in his first full season in North America and has yet to see any action at the top level.  Blomqvist is off to a nice start with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, posting a 1.91 GAA and a .920 SV% in his first seven appearances; his GAA is the fifth-best among qualifying netminders at the minor league level.  He’ll go back to being their undisputed starter with Hellberg, who started the season in the minors, still up with Pittsburgh.

As for Hinostroza, this is already his fifth promotion to the NHL this season as he has frequently been shuffled to and from the minors.  The 29-year-old has suited up twice for the Penguins so far, picking up a goal and an assist despite averaging just 9:10 per contest.  He has been similarly productive in the minors, collecting two goals and two helpers in five contests.  Signed to a one-year contract last summer, Hinostroza is likely to continue to be one of the first forwards recalled when Pittsburgh has the roster and cap space to do so.

Evening Notes: Canucks, Sharks, Carter

at CDT | by 2 Comments

TSN Insider Darren Dreger is reporting that the Vancouver Canucks are looking for a right-shot defenseman. The surprising Canucks have started the season 9-2-1 and are currently among the league’s elite a month into the regular season. Vancouver was projected to be a bubble team this year but have outperformed expectations to this point. The Canucks have considerable depth in their forward group, particularly on the wing and are hoping to be able to use an excess winger to acquire a defenseman.

Unfortunately for the Canucks, most of the teams they are talking trade with have little to no interest in acquiring a player and are looking for futures. This further complicates a potential move for Vancouver as they have precious little cap space to facilitate such a transaction. According to CapFriendly, the Canucks have $162,500 in cap space, meaning that they wouldn’t even be able to add a player on a league minimum contract.

In other notes:

  • TSN Insider Chris Johnston is reporting that he doesn’t believe the San Jose Sharks will make a big trade or a coaching change in the coming weeks as they weather one of the worst starts to a season in NHL history. The Sharks were expected to finish the season near the bottom of the NHL standings, but no one predicted they would start the season this poorly. Johnston adds that Sharks general manager Mike Grier met with the team yesterday and stated that any improvements would need to come from within the group, although Grier didn’t rule out making changes if the Sharks don’t show any improvement in the coming weeks.
  • NHL.com is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jeff Carter will be a healthy scratch for the second game in a row tonight when the Penguins take on the Anaheim Ducks. It is just the second time in his 19-year NHL career that the veteran will be scratched after he has struggled to start the season. Carter has no points in nine games and was part of a struggling fourth line that failed to provide a single point in the first nine games of the season. Head coach Mike Sullivan scratched Carter for the last game and opted to dress Vinnie Hinostroza against the San Jose Sharks in a game the Penguins won 10-2. Hinostroza had a goal and an assist, and fellow fourth-liners Matt Nieto and Noel Acciari produced their first points of the season as well.

East Notes: Heinen, Mayfield, Hinostroza, Zohorna

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Free agent forward Danton Heinen is still on a professional tryout with the Bruins almost a month into the season, but it appears that’s about to change. The 28-year-old took full line rushes with the Bruins at practice this morning, indicating a contract signing could come ahead of Monday’s game against the Panthers.

The 6-foot-1, 188-pound winger is expected to make his return to Beantown in a fourth-line role with John Beecher and Oskar Steen if he does sign, with Patrick Brown sitting out. The Bruins currently have nearly $1.5MM in cap space to play with – forward Milan Lucic is on long-term injured reserve due to a lower-body injury, giving GM Don Sweeney some flexibility he’s yet to have this season. Heinen, a fourth-round pick of the Bruins in 2014, amassed 103 points in 220 contests with the team before they traded him to the Ducks during the 2019-20 season.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference this morning:

  • Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield returned to practice today for the first time since sustaining a foot injury early this month, according to Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. However, he’s not yet ready to return to game action and will miss an eighth straight game against the Red Wings tonight, instead likely aiming for a return against the Capitals on Thursday. The 6-foot-5 defender, already 30 years old, is beginning a seven-year extension earning him $3.5MM per season. The Islanders are off to a decent 4-2-1 start but have struggled to control play, and their 48.3% expected goals share (per MoneyPuck) ranks 22nd in the league. They’ve yet again received spectacular netminding from Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov.
  • The Penguins have once again recalled Vinnie Hinostroza and Radim Zohorna from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and they participated in practice this morning, per Penguins play-by-play announcer Josh Getzoff. The two were papered down after the Penguins’ last game, helping the team bank cap space on off days while netminder Alex Nedeljkovic remains on LTIR. Zohorna has two points through four contests this season, while Hinostroza has yet to make his Penguins debut.

Minor Transactions: 10/28/23

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

It’s a relatively light Saturday across the NHL with nine games on the schedule.  We’ll keep track of any minor roster news here plus any NHL-related transactions across the hockey world.

  • Per CapFriendly (Twitter links), the Penguins have recalled both Radim Zohorna and Vinnie Hinostroza from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The pair were papered down on Friday in a move to drop Pittsburgh out of LTIR for the day, allowing them to bank a bit of cap space.  They’ve been doing these shuffles daily lately which should continue for as long as Alex Nedeljkovic is on LTIR.
  • The Bruins’ cap shuffling continues. After bringing up Jesper Boqvist from his paper recall earlier in the day, the team then announced that they’d assigned the forward back to AHL Providence.  The 24-year-old is in his first season with Boston after being non-tendered by New Jersey back in June.  He has played once for the Bruins so far while suiting up in five games at the AHL level, notching two assists.
  • Former NHL blueliner Brandon Manning has inked a one-year contract with IF Bjorkloven in the Swedish Allsvenskan, per a team release. The 33-year-old has played in 255 NHL games over parts of eight seasons, the most recent of which was back in 2019-20 with Edmonton.  Since then, Manning took a year off before spending the past two years in Germany.

This page may be updated throughout the day.

Penguins Recall Vinnie Hinostroza, Radim Zohorna; Reassign Corey Andonovski

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Penguins have recalled forward Vinnie Hinostroza from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, per a team announcement. In a corresponding transaction, Pittsburgh also reversed the Corey Andonovski and Radim Zohorna flip they made yesterday (as expected), bringing Zohorna back up to the NHL and returning Andonovski to the minors. The Penguins had recalled Andonovski temporarily to help optimize their salary capture when placing netminder Alex Nedeljkovic on LTIR yesterday.

Hinostroza is a new addition, however, earning his first recall since clearing waivers before the season started. The 29-year-old has been an effective volume point-producer in limited action over the past few seasons, but his grasp on an NHL job has slipped after suiting up in just 26 games with the Sabres last season. He’s off to a hot start in the minors, notching two goals and two assists through five games, tying for the team lead with four points.

By placing Nedeljkovic on LTIR, the Penguins now have the cap space for a 21st skater on the roster – which will be Hinostroza. He’s in his first season with the Penguins after signing a one-year, one-way deal worth $775K over the summer. A sixth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2012, Hinostroza has gone on to appear in 360 NHL games with Chicago, Buffalo, Arizona, and Florida, recording 53 goals and 95 assists for 148 points – a very respectable 0.41 points-per-game pace. The Notre Dame product’s possession numbers have been quite average throughout his career, too, making it a bit puzzling that he hasn’t received longer looks in teams’ lineups. He is prone to inconsistency, but he does have a pair of double-digit goal seasons under his belt. He’s a premier option to have stashed in the minors for a call-up.

Zohorna, 27, will stay in the NHL after notching a goal through his first two contests this season. He’s replaced Jansen Harkins on the Penguins’ third line after Harkins was waived a few days back, lining up with Lars Eller and Drew O’Connor.

Latest On Pittsburgh Penguins Roster

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins finally found a goal scorer in their bottom six forwards as Radim Zohorna lit the lamp in the final minutes of the Penguins’ 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues last night. Zohorna was playing in his first game of the season after being sent down to the AHL after a strong training camp and formed a unit with fellow winger Drew O’Connor and center Lars Eller.

After the game, Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan was visibly frustrated with his team’s play, and while he didn’t talk about roster decisions going forward, General Manager Kyle Dubas has been. Dubas spoke with NHL On TNT just a few nights ago and said he wanted the bottom six forwards to be tougher to play against and added that he didn’t feel the group was there yet. Dubas’ comments sparked speculation that the Penguins could be looking to make a move in the bottom six and they did by waiving Jansen Harkins and re-calling Zohorna before last night’s game. The Penguins also health-scratched defenseman P.O. Joseph in favor of Ryan Shea who made his NHL debut on the Penguins’ third pairing.

Kyle Dubas stocked up on fringe NHL talent in the offseason and has stashed many of those options in the AHL specifically for a moment like this. The Penguins AHL affiliate has so many veterans in fact that Alex Nylander and Andreas Johnsson had to be veteran scratches for last night’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins game. On top of Nylander, Johnsson, and Harkins, the Penguins also have Vinnie Hinostroza, Rem Pitlick, and Colin White as former NHLers who could be called up to shuffle the furniture in the Penguins bottom six.

Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote in his 10 Postgame Observations piece that Sullivan typically doesn’t make major changes after a loss, but given the team’s recent record and his comments, he implies that it could happen. The Penguins third line of O’Connor, Eller and Zohorna was very good last night, however, the fourth line of Matthew Nieto, Jeff Carter and Noel Acciari has offered very little to the team and appears to be constantly chasing the play. That group is at the bottom of the Penguins lineup in almost every analytical statistic and has a combined zero points in five games together. Sullivan has been apprehensive about scratching Carter in the past and became defensive with the media last season on multiple occasions when the topic was asked about.

It might be just five games into the season but given that the Penguins are 2-3 against five teams that didn’t make the playoffs last season, there could be big changes brewing in Pittsburgh as Dubas and company try to find an identity for the bottom six forwards. A competent bottom-six has been something the Penguins have lacked since they lost Brandon Tanev (and Jared McCann via trade) in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft and it was one of the big reasons they missed the playoffs in 2023.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top