According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Pittsburgh Penguins have placed forward Matthew Nieto on waivers. Should he clear waivers over the next 24 hours, the Penguins can safely reassign him to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
It’s the second time in his career that Nieto has been placed on waivers and his first as a Penguin. His last time on the waiver wire came back in 2017 when Nieto was claimed off waivers from the San Jose Sharks by the Colorado Avalanche.
The news is unsurprising given Nieto has been an oft-scratched member of Pittsburgh’s forward core for much of February. Since being activated from the team’s injured reserve in mid-November, Nieto has played in 31 of the Penguins’ 42 games despite being healthy for all of them.
Similarly to last year, Nieto hasn’t been all that productive when healthy, either. Nieto signed a two-year, $1.8MM contract with Pittsburgh in the 2023-24 offseason and has scored two goals and seven points in 53 games since.
Although he’s been confined to a bottom-six role for much of his tenure in Pittsburgh the team was likely hoping for more offensive production. He’s been a productive bottom-six scorer for much of his career with several multi-goal and 20-point campaigns but things haven’t worked out positively in western Pennsylvania. The 12-year NHL veteran may find a home in another team’s bottom-six but odds are he’ll be packing his bags for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by tomorrow.
Can’t imagine being waived by a team with 1 first line and 3 3rd lines
If WBS wasn’t having decent success as a team with all the younger players I’d say call up as many as possible after the last three games; unfortunately, that might be counterproductive to their confidence levels. Feel for Crosby though cause to 109’s point the depth is awful. Not sure they even have 3 3rds, let alone 3 actual NHL d pairings (no need to beat the dead horse that is our goaltending)
A dead horse would show more effort and mobility than quite a few guys currently in the squad.