Penguins Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
The Penguins were movin’ and shakin’ on Thursday, sending five players to their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club and waiving six others.
The five players assigned to the Baby Pens include forwards Mathieu De St. Phalle and Aidan McDonough, defensemen Scooter Brickey and Chase Pietila and goalie Taylor Gauthier. Pietila is the lone player among the assignees on an NHL contract.
Hitting the waiver wire were forwards Danton Heinen, Joona Koppanen and Valtteri Puustinen, along with defensemen Sebastian Aho and Philip Kemp and goaltender Filip Larsson. If they aren’t claimed by 2 pm on Friday, they can be assigned to the Baby Pens.
With the possible exception of Heinen, a nine-year NHL vet with 96 big-league goals on his resume, no real surprises among the 11.
However, coach Dan Muse split the remaining players into two groups, and there were some definite surprises there. Forward Tristan Broz, who by all accounts enjoyed a strong preseason, and defenseman Owen Pickering practiced with what’s generally regarded as the minor-league group, along with Alexander Alexeyev, Robby Fabbri, Boko Imama, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Sam Poulin, plus McDonough and the six waived players.