The Pittsburgh Penguins are making a few roster moves before their game against the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. Pittsburgh announced they’ve placed forward Philip Tomasino on injured reserve while later adding they’ve activated defenseman Kris Letang in a corresponding move.
Considering the Penguins had a full 23-man roster before tonight’s game, this transaction was expected. Wes Crosby of NHL.com reported earlier that the Penguins expect Tomasino to miss the next week or two with a lower-body injury while Letang became a game-time decision.
Tomasino’s injury dampens the young forward’s hopes for the 2024-25 season. The former 24th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft was traded from the Nashville Predators to the Penguins for a 2027 fourth-round pick earlier in the season appearing to turn a corner with the second organization of his career.
He scored three goals and four points in his first five games as a Penguin averaging 15 minutes of ice time per game, nearly two minutes more than his season-high with the Predators. Unfortunately, Tomasino’s production has cooled off dramatically with one goal and three points in the next 11 contests. Thanks to Pittsburgh’s 10-5-2 record in their last 17 games, Tomasino should rejoin a team on the hunt for a spot in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs which is more than what could be said of his former teammates in Nashville.
At the cost of some forward depth up front, the Penguins will get an addition to their defensive core in the form of Letang. Unfortunately, it won’t be quite the addition as it would have been in years past.
Letang is squarely in the middle of the worst statistical output of his lengthy NHL career. Assuming he plays in Pittsburgh’s remaining 42 games and continues his current offensive production, he’ll finish with 35 points in 76 games this season which would be the lowest since his tertiary campaign in the 2008-09 season.
Things don’t get any better on the defensive side of the puck. Letang is averaging a career-low 47.8% CorsiFor% and 87.5% on-ice save percentage while at even strength. Additionally, Letang is averaging an expected +/- in the negatives for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
Still, the Penguins are contractually committed to Letang for three years beyond this one and he still represents one of their better defensive options. He’s expected to play alongside rookie defenseman Owen Pickering on the team’s top-pairing tonight.