Penguins place defenseman Mark Friedman on waivers
The Penguins inched a little bit closer to finalizing their season-opening roster on Saturday afternoon when they placed defenseman Mark Friedman on waivers.
Such a transaction could potentially allow the Penguins to assign the 26-year-old Friedman to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, provided no team claims Friedman before 2 p.m. on Sunday.
A right-handed shot who can also play on the left side of the blue line, Friedman appeared in 26 NHL games last season and scored five points (one goal, four assists) while averaging 13:17 of ice time per contest. As one of the more rambunctious entities on the Penguins’ roster, Friedman also recorded 23 penalty minutes.
The Penguins claimed Friedman off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers in February of 2021. This past March, Friedman signed a two-year contract extension that carries a salary cap hit of $775,000. He is entering the first year of that deal.
Elsewhere in the NHL, the Calgary Flames placed forward Radim Zohorna on waivers five days after they claimed him through waivers from the Penguins. In two preseason games with the Flames, Zohorna has one assist. He has also appeared in three games for the Penguins this preseason with no points.
The Penguins could potentially reclaim the left-handed Zohorna and assign him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, provided no other team makes a claim.
In 17 games with the Penguins last season, the 26-year-old had six points (two goals, four assists) while averaging 10:20 of ice time.
Zohorna is entering the final year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $750,000.
After assigning forward Sam Poulin and goaltender Filip Lindberg to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday morning, the Penguins’ training camp roster now has 24 players, one more than the regular season limit of 23. According to Cap Friendly, the Penguins are currently $1,555,175 above the NHL’s salary cap ceiling of $82.5 million.
NHL teams must have their season-opening rosters set and be compliant with the cap by Monday, 5 p.m.
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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