Mark Friedman’s absence from the lineup will linger. The Pittsburgh Penguins placed the newly acquired defenseman on their injured reserve list Monday.

Friedman has missed the past two games because of an upper-body injury suffered during last Thursday’s game against his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers. That was Friedman’s second game with the Penguins after being acquired off waivers.

The transaction was retroactive to March 4, and NHL rules dictate a player on IR cannot play for seven days. That rules Friedman out for Tuesday’s game against the New York Rangers, at minimum.

The move with Friedman was one of a handful the Penguins announced late Monday. The others have little impact on their NHL team’s gameday lineup. Forward Josh Currie, defenseman Josh Maniscalco and goaltender Emil Larmi were assigned to the organization’s American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and forwards forwards Anthony Angello and Frederick Gaudreau and goaltender Maxime Lagace were re-assigned to the taxi squad.

The taxi squad is unique to this covid-affected season, and the Penguins have been shuttling players on and off it in an apparent effort to ensure all players get appropriate game/ice time and for salary cap management purposes.

Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.

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