The Pittsburgh Penguins recalled forward Tristan Broz from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Monday.
In a corresponding transaction, forward Philip Tomasino was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton under normal conditions.
Additionally, rookie defensemen Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany were assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for conditioning purposes.
This marks the first time Broz, a rookie, has been recalled to the NHL roster.
A second-round draft pick (No. 58 overall) in 2021, the left-handed Broz is in the midst of his second full professional season.
Primarily skating as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top center, Broz has appeared in 18 AHL games this season and has scored 13 points (eight goals, five assists). During the NHL preseason, Broz played in four games and scored two goals.
Broz is in the second year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $925,000.
Tomasino cleared waivers Wednesday and has been a healthy scratch for the past two games. In total, he has been scratched for 12 of a possible 21 games this season. In the nine games Tomasino has dressed, he has primarily skated on the right wing of the third line and posted one assist while averaging 12:10 of ice time per contest.
He is signed to a one-year contract with a salary cap hit of $1.75 million. While he is assigned to the AHL roster, $1.15 million of his salary cap hit will come off the books for the NHL club per league rules.
Brunicke, 19, is eligible to return to his junior team, the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers. As such, he can not be assigned to an AHL team under normal circumstances. A conditioning assignment is an exception, however. Conditioning assignments cannot last longer than two weeks.
In nine games this season, the right-handed Brunicke has scored one goal while averaging 15:43 of ice time, primarily on the third pairing. He has been a healthy scratch for the past seven games.
Per league rules, junior-eligible players can play in up to nine NHL games before the first year of their entry-level contract is officially tolled.
St. Ivany remains designated to the season-opening injured non-roster list as a result of a suspected right foot injury he suffered during a preseason game Oct. 1.
A right-handed shot, St. Ivany appeared in four preseason contests and recorded one assist. According to Puckpedia, St. Ivany would require exposure to waivers for a traditional assignment to the AHL.
Notes:
• Penguins forward Bryan Rust was absent from practice due to an unspecified illness. It is not believed to be a serious ailment.
• The Penguins’ lines and pairs during practice were:
19 Connor Dewar – 87 Sidney Crosby – 81 Ben Kindel
13 Kevin Hayes – 71 Evgeni Malkin – 39 Anthony Mantha
22 Sam Poulin – 26 Tristan Broz – 18 Tommy Novak
15 Joona Koppanen – 46 Blake Lizotte – 43 Danton Heinen
28 Parker Wotherspoon – 65 Erik Karlsson
5 Ryan Shea – 58 Kris Letang
27 Ryan Graves – 24 Matt Dumba/75 Connor Clifton
• Rookie forward Ville Koivunen, currently designated to injured reserve for an undisclosed ailment, participated in practice in a full-contact capacity, albeit as a reserve.
• Goaltender Tristan Jarry, also on injured reserve due to an unspecified malady, appeared to split most of the workload in practice with rookie Arturs Silovs. That left rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov in a bit of a reserve role.
• Forwards Noel Acciari (undisclosed), Justin Brazeau (undisclosed) and Filip Hallander (blood clot) all worked out on the ice before practice. All three are designated to injured reserve.
