Penguins place Owen Pickering on injured reserve, recall Nate Clurman
The Pittsburgh Penguins placed rookie defenseman Owen Pickering on injured reserve Monday and recalled defenseman Nate Clurman from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
After a morning skate Monday in Cranberry, coach Mike Sullivan revealed Pickering was diagnosed with a concussion.
Pickering, a left-handed shot, was injured during a 3-0 road loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
Appearing in 14 NHL games this season, Pickering has scored two points (one goal, one assist) while averaging 15 minutes, 47 seconds of ice time per contest.
At the time of his injury, Pickering had been skating primarily on the top pairing with right-hander Kris Letang.
Clurman, 26, was recalled for the second time in the span of seven days. The Penguins summoned him from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday then reassigned him to the AHL affiliate a day later.
In his fifth professional season, the right-handed Clurman hasn’t played in an NHL contest. With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, he has appeared 18 games and scored five points (one goal, four assists).
Before last week, he had never been recalled to an NHL roster before in his career.
The Penguins signed Clurman to a one-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000 on July 1.
After these transactions, the Penguins have $2,418,598 of salary cap space, according to Puckpedia.
Pettersson skates again
Per Sullivan, injured defenseman Marcus Pettersson worked out on the ice before the morning skate.
Currently designated to injured reserve because of an undisclosed ailment, Pettersson had been sidelined for three consecutive games entering Monday.
A time frame of “week-to-week” was offered for his recovery. Pettersson was hobbled during a 3-2 road loss to the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 14.
Joseph returns home
Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph played his first home game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday since he rejoined the Penguins via a trade with the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
The left-handed defenseman left the Penguins as an unrestricted free agent in July, signing a one-year contract worth $950,000 with the Blues. He made his season debut for the Penguins during Saturday’s loss against the Devils, logging 18:49 of ice time on 26 shifts.
“He played a solid game the other night in (New) Jersey,” Sullivan said. “He brought everything that we anticipated. His mobility, his ability to get back to pucks, help us on the breakouts. He has good poise with the puck, he’s pretty good on that offensive blue line, he can join the rush, he defends well with his mobility and his stick. That’s something that we’ve tried to stress with since we’ve had him, in just trying to encourage him to play to his strengths.”
Partially because of the injuries to Pickering and Pettersson, Joseph was reunited with his former defensive partner — and close friend — Kris Letang.
Toward the end of the 2023-24 season, Joseph and Letang were virtually arc-welded to one another as the team’s top defensive pairing.
“I felt like I left two weeks ago,” Joseph quipped. “Basically. Just having a veteran presence like that and knowing him by heart now, it’s definitely comforting. He’s a very talented person, and he’s someone that’s always trying to learn something. That’s what I’ve learned a lot from him. Being around him on the ice is just definitely useful and makes it easy on the ice.”
Entering Monday, Joseph had played in 24 games this season — between the Blues and Penguins — while posting two assists and an average of 13:21 of ice time per contest.
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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