The Pittsburgh Penguins announced a series of roster moves earlier this morning. Heading back down to the American Hockey League is Joel Blomqvist, the defenseless rookie who has not experienced much help from the team in front of him.
But, coming up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton are Matt Nieto, arriving from his conditioning stint in the AHL, and Vasili Ponomarev, who is poised to make his Penguins debut in the coming days.
Ponomarev was part of the package the Penguins received at the trade deadline last season from the Carolina Hurricanes for Jake Guentzel. He was one of three prospects (and five total assets) Kyle Dubas got.
Ponomarev was widely-considered the most NHL-ready prospect that the Penguins got in the deal. Of Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius, and himself, Ponomarev was the only player to have previous NHL experience. Ponomarev got into 2 games with the Hurricanes last season, scoring a goal (an empty netter, but that still counts!) in his limited action.
Subscribe to continue reading
Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.
Fifth Avenue Sports 