Penguins place Brock McGinn, Mark Friedman on waivers
For the second time in five days, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed players on waivers.
On Tuesday, forward Brock McGinn and defenseman Mark Friedman were the latest members of the roster to be waived.
The fate of each player won’t be determined until 2 p.m. Wednesday.
If McGinn and Friedman clear, they could be assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
These maneuvers come with the NHL’s trade deadline approaching at 3 p.m. Friday.
Removing all or part of their salaries could clear salary cap space for Penguins management to make a substantial transaction.
McGinn, 28, is the most notable of the two who went on waivers Tuesday.
An unrestricted free agent signing in July of 2021, McGinn is in the second year of a four-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $2.75 million. Primarily deployed on the third or fourth lines as well as the penalty kill, McGinn had appeared in all 59 of the team’s games entering Tuesday and had 15 points (10 goals, five assists) while averaging 13 minutes, 12 seconds of ice time.
His production as of late has come to a halt, however, as he has not generated a point in the previous 26 games before Tuesday.
If McGinn were to clear waivers and be assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the team would be able to remove $1.125 million of his cap hit from their books while $1.625 million would remain.
McGinn was general manager Ron Hextall’s first major unrestricted free agent signing in his tenure with the Penguins.
As for Friedman, this marks the second time he has been waived this season. He cleared waivers in early October before being assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
In the first year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000, Friedman has appeared in 11 NHL games this season and has one goal while clocking 15:27 of ice time per contest.
A right-handed shot who can also play the left side of the blue line, Friedman has missed the past seven games because of an undisclosed injury.
Friedman, 27, has spent most of the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In 19 AHL games, he has five points (one goal, four assists).
If Friedman were to clear waivers and be assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, his entire salary cap hit would be cleared from the books.
A few weeks after he was hired as general manager (Feb. 9, 2021), Hextall’s first addition to the Penguins’ roster was to claim Friedman off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers (Feb. 24).
Despite being on waivers, McGinn was in the lineup for the Penguins for Tuesday’s road game against the Nashville Predators, opening the contest on the third line.
Friedman was scratched along with forward Ryan Poehling and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel.
On Friday, the Penguins placed forward Kasperi Kapanen on waivers and, by Saturday, he was claimed by the St. Louis Blues. That transaction removed Kapanen’s entire salary cap hit of $3.2 million from the Penguins’ books.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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