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Matt Lorito

Pittsburgh Penguins Confirm Hires For Scouting, Analytics Departments

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced the hiring of Mark Osiecki and Matthew Lorito as professional scouts and Robbie Sandland and Brandon DeFazio as amateur scouts. The team also confirmed the previously reported appointment of Cam Charron as a hockey research and development analyst.

Osiecki is a seasoned coach with almost three decades of experience at various levels. Hailing from St. Paul, Minnesota, Osiecki’s coaching journey spans the AHL, USHL and NCAA. He’d spent the past seven seasons as an associate coach at the University of Wisconsin. He’s also had stints coaching at Ohio State University, the University of North Dakota, and the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. In 2015, he was the head coach for the United States at the World Juniors, but a star-studded team led by Jack Eichel, Dylan Larkin and Auston Matthews lost in the quarterfinal round. Per the Penguins, he will focus on scouting professional organizations in the mid-western United States.

For Lorito, this is his first front-office role after retiring from pro hockey earlier this summer. He’d spent the 2022-23 campaign in Germany with the DEL’s Grizzlys Wolfsburg, recording five points in 18 games. He does have two NHL appearances to his name, both coming with the Detroit Red Wings in the 2016-17 season. Suiting up mostly in the AHL over his nine-year pro career, Lorito also made stops in the KHL and SHL during the 2021-22 season.

Sandland had spent the last four seasons in high-ranking executive roles for the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, serving as their director of player personnel before earning a promotion to an assistant GM role before last season. He’d helped steer the Blazers to a division title and a Conference Finals appearance, and Pittsburgh will now rely on him to help identify promising amateur players in the Pacific Northwestern United States and Western Canada, a region with which he has obvious familiarity.

DeFazio also comes to the Penguins after concluding his pro career last season, a 13-year stint that spanned the NHL, AHL, ECHL, KHL, Liiga, and DEL. The Penguins were his first stop as an undrafted free agent after four years at Clarkson University, playing his first full pro season in the minors with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2011-12. He would make his NHL debut for the Vancouver Canucks in 2014-15, playing two games before playing out the rest of his career in the minors and overseas. His focus will be on scouting amateur players in Ontario.

Morning Notes: Manson, Daws, Lorito

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New Anaheim Ducks general manager has some big decisions to come in the next few weeks, as the team holds several players who would be top rental options at the trade deadline should they be put on the market. One of those names is Josh Manson, who has seemingly been linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs since the moment he entered the league. Well, if the Maple Leafs ever did want to pry Manson out of Anaheim, there’s another roadblock in the way. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet notes on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast that Toronto is one of the teams on Manson’s no-trade list.

The 30-year-old can block trades to 12 teams as part of his modified no-trade clause, which gives him at least a little bit of power over where he’ll end up if the Ducks do decide to move him in the coming weeks. Rickard Rakell and Hampus Lindholm are the other big names for the Ducks, who sit third in the Pacific Division but have played a league-high 48 games already.

  • The New Jersey Devils have recalled Nico Daws to the NHL roster today despite the All-Star break already being underway, sending Akira Schmid back to Utica in his place. While the Comets have a back-to-back starting tonight against the Laval Rocket and could be using it as a way to keep Schmid sharp, it will be interesting to see if Daws gets another look with the Devils down the stretch. The 21-year-old goaltender played twice in October, but with MacKenzie Blackwood’s season still up in the air perhaps he’ll get another shot to try and show what he can do at the NHL level. Daws, a third-round pick in 2020, has a .917 save percentage in 17 games for Utica this season.
  • Matt Lorito has signed a new one-year AHL contract with the Hartford Wolf Pack, returning to the AHL after spending this season in the KHL and SHL. The 31-year-old forward is an experienced hand in the minor leagues and won a Calder Cup in 2017 with the Grand Rapids Griffins. In his last AHL appearance, he had 11 points in 27 games for the San Diego Gulls.

Minor Transactions: 01/30/21

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The NHL season is well on its way and the start of the AHL season is right around the corner, not to mention an ongoing ECHL and NCAA season, several leagues in Europe already entering the stretch run, and North American junior leagues starting to work toward a return. Yet, there are still players out there looking for a place to play this season, many of whom are familiar to NHL fans. Keep up with those moves right here over the course of the day:

  • Veteran forward Matt Lorito has found a new AHL home for the coming campaign. Lorito, who has spent the past four years under NHL contracts, has instead inked a one-year minor league deal with the San Diego Gulls, the team announced. Lorito recorded 23 points in 50 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers last season, but finished the year with the Toronto Marlies after the Islanders traded him to the Maple Leafs for defenseman Jordan Schmaltz. A veteran of two NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings, Lorito has been a highly productive scorer in the AHL with 215 points in 283 games over six seasons.
  • Victor Hadfield, the grandson of New York Rangers legend Vic Hadfield, will get his first taste of the pro game on a tryout with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, per the team’s training camp roster. The Barrie Colt, who was selected No. 1 overall in the inaugural OHL U-18 Priority Selection Draft, got off to a slow start to his major junior career, but started to show signs of potential last season with 26 points in 46 games. The Moose want to see for themselves in camp if Hadfield might be a later bloomer who is ready to keep growing in the pros. Hadfield’s grandfather, whose number is retired by the Rangers, played in over 1,000 NHL games for New York and Pittsburgh in the 60’s and 70’s, including a 106-point 1971-72 campaign.
  • After spending last season with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, defenseman Anton Karlsson has been back home in Sweden playing for the SHL’s HV71. However, on the eve of a new AHL season, Karlsson and HV71 have agreed to mutually terminate his current contract, the team announced. Coincidence? Keep an eye out for more on Karlsson, who carved out a nice role for himself with Cleveland last year despite battling for ice time with a number of NHL talents on the blue line. At 27, Karlsson may still have NHL ambitions.
  • The AHL’s San Diego Gulls have received some reinforcements from their ECHL affiliate, the Tulsa Oilers. The ECHL transactions register indicates that the Anaheim Ducks, parent club to both, have reassigned forwards Bryce Kindopp and Maxim Golod and goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek to San Diego.

Matt Lorito Placed On Waivers

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Friday: Lorito has cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the minor leagues.

Thursday: The New York Islanders have placed forward Matt Lorito on waivers today according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, likely meaning he is ready to return to action after starting the year on season-opening injured reserve.

Lorito, 28, was signed to a two-year contract in the offseason by the Islanders, expecting the veteran forward to lend his talents to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for most of the season. That’s where Lorito has done his damage in previous years, putting up excellent seasons for the Albany Devils and Grand Rapids Griffins in the past. The undersized winger was an undrafted free agent signed out of college, and has just two games under his belt in the NHL.

His contract and relative inexperience will almost surely get Lorito through waivers, meaning he can play in the minor leagues for the Islanders and be an injury call-up if necessary. That’s big for the Sound Tigers, who sit in second place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division and are looking to challenge for the Calder Cup.

Islanders Sign Mike Sislo And Matt Lorito

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On top of locking up winger Tom Kuhnhackl today, the Islanders also made several additions to their minor league team.  In addition to confirming previously-reported agreements for goalie Christopher Gibson and defenseman Seth Helgeson, they also announced that they have signed winger Mike Sislo to a one-year deal plus winger Matt Lorito on a two-year contract.

Sislo receives a two-way pact and is coming off another strong season at the AHL level.  The 30-year-old spent last season with Arizona’s AHL affiliate and tied for the team lead in goals with 23 while adding 24 assists in 68 games.  He last saw NHL action in 2015-16 and projects to be a key AHL contributor more than a regular for the Isles next season.

Lorito’s deal is structured a little differently.  He also will play on a two-way contract in 2018-19 but it converts to a one-way pact in 2019-20.  The 27-year-old has very limited NHL experience under his belt (two games with Detroit in 2016-17) but has been a consistent producer in the AHL for the last three seasons.  Last season, he picked up 23 goals and 26 assists in 59 games with the Red Wings’ minor league affiliate in Grand Rapids.

The signings bring the Islanders up to 37 committed contracts for next season out of the limit of 50 with five restricted free agents still to re-sign, headlined by center Brock Nelson.

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