Striker Colton Sceviour, a Pittsburgh Penguins striker, had a unique day. The Penguins activated Sceviour using the NHL COVID protocol and then dispensed with forwarding. According to GM Ron Hextall, the team also transferred striker Josh Currie, goalkeeper Emil Larmi and defender Josh Maniscalco from the taxi team to AHL’s WBS Penguins.
And defender Mark Friedman was placed on retroactive IR on March 4, the date when Philadelphia Flyers striker Nolan Patrick was penalized for approaching the Penguins defender shortly after scoring his first NHL goal.
The team also demoted Anthony Angello, who played hard in a few minutes on Sunday, to the taxi rank. Goalkeeper Maxime Legace and striker Frederick Gaudreau received promotions from the WBS Penguins for the taxi squad to complete the transaction day.
Sportsnet first reported that Sceviour, 31, was under exemption. The Penguins acquired the striker with Mike Matheson for Patric Hornqvist in October. Sceviour is in the final year of a three-year contract with an upper limit of $ 1.2 million.
The maximum savings for Penguins will be $ 1.050 million if Sceviour is approved. This season, he has only two goals and no assistance in 16 games. Sceviour was recently a healthy scratch before he landed on the NHL COVID list at the end of last week.
The Penguins currently have 13 attackers with Sceviour. The team also carries seven defenders and two goalkeepers, which means that there are already two open spots in the squad.
The team has been shuffling taxi squad players back and forth from Wilkes-Barre / Scranton to keep the game going. It is not known whether the Penguins plan to keep Sceviour in the active squad, demote him to the taxi squad or cut ties.
Hextall recently demoted newcomer Drew O’Connor to WBS Penguins. O’Connor played nine NHL games before losing his place on the roster.
Evan Rodrigues returned from the IR on Saturday and played both games this weekend. Rodrigues gave life to the stagnant fourth row of the Pittsburgh Penguins and was praised by Penguins coach Mike Sullivan.
