We’ve got some player news to look at. It is no secret the Penguins have a ton of defenseman on NHL contracts. Other teams know the majority of them cannot skip the waivers process. This includes Pierre-Olivier Joseph. The Penguins know this as well and are apparently trying to get ahead of it
With Zohorna claimed, #pens will be at risk of losing a defenseman, too. Sources say PIT offered Pierre-Olivier Joseph to all 31 teams.#Canucks are also active in trying to move Micheal Ferland's contract.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) October 3, 2022
More in today's Ice Breakers 🧊🏒 segment:https://t.co/ytliaG1cVU
Clearly the Penguins don’t think as highly of the player as some of the fans do. They wouldn’t be aggressively shopping him if they had plans of rostering him and playing him at this point. They just don’t want to lose him for nothing. The other teams know this, though. They will wait things out and place a claim if they want.
Joseph is in his age 23 season. The logical next step in his career would be to make the jump to the NHL. It appears he has enough roadblocks in the way in Pittsburgh to where they think he is expendable enough to shop. His low cap hit would have been a nice thing to have on the active roster assuming he was capable of NHL minutes. The Penguins have assessed he isn’t, yet.
In other news the Penguins have lost a player via waivers.
The #Flames have claimed forward Radim Zohorna off waivers.@GoodLifeFitness pic.twitter.com/Fs6s5hMFcY
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) October 3, 2022
While you would rather not lose players for nothing via waivers I can’t pretend this is going to make a dent in the Penguins season. Radim Zohorna was an interesting free agent signing. It was definitely worth throwing a dart at him. He never quite gained enough traction. He will be 27 in April so it isn’t like he is a prospect. He is exiting the 24-26 year old prime for NHL players. Perhaps he finds a role in Calgary, but the chances of him being a diamond in the rough are low given his age and production to this point.
The Penguins beat the Red Wings last night 3-2. The big story for me is no significant injuries.
Former Penguin Phil Kessel celebrated is 35th birthday recently with a hot dog cake
Phil Kessel getting a hot dog cake for his birthday is everything pic.twitter.com/qRd2gPR91j
— Hockey Players With Animals (And Other Chaos) (@animalsofhockey) October 3, 2022
Thanks for reading!