The Penguins have recalled defenseman Juuso Riikola from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) and assigned him to the taxi squad.

The left-hander has appeared in five NHL games this season and recorded one assist while averaging 13:23 of ice time per contest. In 17 AHL games, he has 12 points (one goal, 11 assists).

Riikola’s stay on the taxi squad is bound to be brief.

After using taxi squads throughout the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 regular season, the NHL reinstituted them on a temporary basis in December to help teams deal with a rise of players testing positive for covid-19. The league is scheduled to eliminate them by the end of the week in advance of the All-Star Game event.

Forwards Kasper Bjorkqvist and Michael Chaput and defenseman P.O Joseph are also on the Penguins’ taxi squad.

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