The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins held an optional skate today, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any news to report on. In fact, it couldn't have been a much busier day for the WBS Pens organization.
The big news coming from head coach John Hynes today is that forward Nick Drazenovic is out indefinitely after missing the last several games with an injury. Also, Dominik Uher is expected to miss two more weeks with an upper body injury after he left last Wednesday night's game after taking a puck to the face.
With four forwards already on recall to Pittsburgh (Jayson Megna, Chris Conner, Andrew Ebbett and Zach Sill), the timing of the news on Drazenovic and Uher couldn't be any worse. To counter that, the Pens were active today, bringing in two more forwards from the ECHL in addition to a new defenseman.
First, they announced the signing of Mike Carman to a standard AHL contract. Carman was previously playing on a 25-game professional tryout (PTO). In 13 games this season, Carman has tallied two goals and three assists, including a game-tying third period goal against his former team Saturday night in Hershey.
The Penguins also called up two players from Wheeling (ECHL) in forward Anton Zlobin and defenseman Harrison Ruopp.
Zlobin had been sent to Wheeling by WBS earlier this month after the Russian forward was ready to return to the ice after having offseason surgery. In nine games with Wheeling, Zlobin tallied four goals and five assists.
Ruopp was another guy the Pens sent to Wheeling to get in some game action after recovering from an injury. The rookie defenseman has been a physical presence while in the ECHL and looks to compete in the AHL for the first time in his pro career. In nine games with the Nailers this season, Ruopp registered two assists and 21 penalty minutes.
Ruopp takes the spot of Dustin Stevenson in the AHL as the WBS Pens re-assigned Stevenson to Wheeling after he had appeared in four games with the AHL Penguins in November.
The Penguins also signed forward C.J. Severyn to a PTO today. The Pittsburgh area native had been leading the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) in scoring with 17 points (6G-11A) in 19 games.
Severyn was at WBS training camp so he's not unfamiliar to the system the Pens play, and with forwards Zlobin, Carter Rowney, Denver Manderson and Cody Sylvester already called up from Wheeling, the Pens decided to spare the Nailers any more depletion from their forward core.
The Penguins are scheduled to practice tomorrow and Wednesday before flying out to Newfoundland , Canada for a pair of games against the St. John's IceCaps this weekend. I'll be at practice tomorrow morning from the Toyota Sportsplex and will have an update on the new guys on the team and more sometime tomorrow afternoon.
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