Penguins recall 3 from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to taxi squad

The Penguins recalled forwards Kasper Bjorkqvist and Michael Chaput and defenseman P.O Joseph from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) and assigned them to their taxi squad on Sunday.

Bjorkqvist made his NHL debut earlier this season and has appeared in six NHL games and scored one goal while averaging 8 minutes, 22 seconds of ice time. With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he has played in 24 games and scored five points (four goals, one assist).

Chaput has yet to play in an NHL game this season. Signed to a one-year, two-way contract this past offseason, Chaput has played in 22 AHL games and scored nine points (two goals, seven assists) this season. He last played NHL contests with the Arizona Coyotes last season when he played in 13 games and did not score a point while averaging 9:24 of ice time per contest.

Joseph has played in four NHL games this season and has not scored a point while clocking an average of 18:14 per contest. Appearing in 29 AHL games this season, Joseph leads all Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defensemen in scoring with 18 points (four goals, 14 assists).

After using taxi squads throughout the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 regular season, the NHL reinstituted them on a temporary basis in December to help teams deal with a rise of players testing positive for covid-19. The league is scheduled to eliminate them by the end of the week in advance of the All-Star Game event.