The Pittsburgh Penguins loaned rookie defenseman John Ludvig and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on conditioning assignments Thursday.
Each player has been sidelined since suffering injuries during a 4-1 home loss to the Dallas Stars on Oct. 24. Each player is currently designated to long-term injured reserve and is not eligible to rejoin the active NHL roster until Sunday.
Per NHL rules, players on long-term injured reserve must carry that designation for 10 games and 24 days on the league’s regular season calendar.
Ludvig suffered a concussion while making his NHL debut during a violent collision with Stars forward Radek Faksa. Attempting to make a hit in the neutral zone, Ludvig wound up striking his face off of Faksa’s helmet and fell to the ice immediately.
Before leaving that contest, he logged 5:29 of ice time on 10 shifts and had one shot.
Nedeljkovic was hobbled when he appeared to injure his left knee after he made an ill-advised sprint out of his crease in hopes of clearing an errant puck. Instead, he collided with Stars forward Jason Robertson and was unable to prevent Stars defenseman Thomas Harley from scoring a goal on a mostly vacant net.
In two games this season, Nedeljkovic has a 1-1-0 record, a 3.01 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have two games scheduled this weekend, back-to-back contests against the Providence Bruins on Friday and Saturday.
