Penguins acquire forward Maxim Cajkovic from Wild
The Pittsburgh Penguins exchanged minor league players with the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, acquiring forward Maxim Cajkovic while dealing defenseman Will Butcher to the Wild.
Cajkovic, 23, has spent the majority of the 2023-24 season at the ECHL level with the Iowa Heartlanders, posting 18 points (12 goals, six assists) in 20 games. He has also appeared in five American Hockey League contests with the Iowa Wild and recorded three points (one goal, two assists).
A native of Bratislava, Slovakia, Cajkovic is in the final year of a three-year entry-level contract that carries a salary cap hit of $850,833.
Selected in the third round (No. 89 overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the right-handed Cajkovic (5-foot-11, 185 pounds) has never played at the NHL level.
The Wild acquired Cajkovic via a trade with the Lightning in July.
A free agent signing by the Penguins in July, Butcher, 29, suffered an undisclosed injury during the offseason and was sidelined throughout all of training camp and the preseason then opened the regular season designated to the “injured, non-roster” list. After recovering, he cleared waivers Nov. 29 and was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
In 14 AHL games, Butcher, a native of Sun Prairie, Wisc., has seven points (three goals, four assists). He had been a regular healthy scratch in recent weeks due to the AHL’s rules on the number of players deemed as “veterans” who are eligible to be in a team’s lineup.
A left-handed shot, Butcher (5-10, 195 pounds), is signed to a one-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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