Ty Smith cleared waivers. (Others waived or demoted too)

[Three Stars]

Anybody who would like to re-litigate the John Marino trade is invited to do so now.

[FLPensFan]

From what I am seeing....Ty Smith, Rem Pitlick, Jon Gruden, Taylor Fedun and Xavier Ouelett all on waivers today.

I would not be surprised to see someone pickup Smith or Pitlick. However, 12 teams are currently over the cap, and another 5 teams don't have enough cap space to add a league minimum contract...which may help the Penguins sneak those 2 through.

[pens_CT]

From what I am seeing....Ty Smith, Rem Pitlick, Jon Gruden, Taylor Fedun and Xavier Ouelett all on waivers today.

I would not be surprised to see someone pickup Smith or Pitlick. However, 12 teams are currently over the cap, and another 5 teams don't have enough cap space to add a league minimum contract...which may help the Penguins sneak those 2 through.

Well looks like the John Marino trade netted us the removal of his contract and nothing else.

[Skatingpen]

Goes down as a bad trade. smith never got a shot

[FLPensFan]

Goes down as a bad trade. smith never got a shot

Sounds like his defense is still not very good and he needs more time to develop, which the Penguins, in their current state, don't have that luxury to develop him.

It is a bad trade, but on the flip side, no Marino trade likely means no Karlsson this year.

[Three Stars]

It’s not that Smith never got a shot, because he did. He’s stuck in that mushy middle where his offense is ok but not good enough and his defense is meh but not ok enough. He did not look great in the exhibitions so far.

Any window for him to exist in the Justin Schultz Memorial Sheltered Defense Spot went away the moment that EK65 came aboard.

[KBone]

Dang I thought he was still waiver exempt and could be sent down freely.

[Admin]

The Pens' waiver-exempt list for future reference:
Andonovski, Corey
Ansons, Raivis
Belliveau, Isaac
Blomqvist, Joel
Frasca, Jordan
Gauthier, Taylor
Glover, Ty
Hamaliuk, Dillon
Johnstone, Marc
Pickering, Owen
Pieniniemi, Emil
Poulin, Samuel
Puustinen, Valtteri
St. Ivany, Jack
Svejkovsky, Lukas

Per https://www.capfriendly.com/waivers-calculator/

[dark_forces]

From what I am seeing....Ty Smith, Rem Pitlick, Jon Gruden, Taylor Fedun and Xavier Ouelett all on waivers today.

I would not be surprised to see someone pickup Smith or Pitlick. However, 12 teams are currently over the cap, and another 5 teams don't have enough cap space to add a league minimum contract...which may help the Penguins sneak those 2 through.

Well looks like the John Marino trade netted us the removal of his contract and nothing else.

I'm honestly surprised that some team wouldn't have dealt even a 4th or 5th round pick for him.

[KG]

Good idea by Dubas to try and squeeze Smith through waivers early while teams are still trying to figure out their own situation, especially with so many close to the cap.

That said, I expect a team to claim him. Great trade Hexy!

[Three Stars]

Corey Andonovski, Avery Hayes, Marc Johnstone, Austin Rueschhoff, Isaac Belliveau, Justin Lee, Dmitri Samorukov, Jack St. Ivany and Joel Blomqvist all sent to WBS.

[Sams_Dog]

How many of you think its possible that Hextall deliberately screwed the Penguins because of some kind of grudge from the past? I'm no conspiracy guy but he was so bad that I really think its possible.

[dark_forces]

How many of you think its possible that Hextall deliberately screwed the Penguins because of some kind of grudge from the past? I'm no conspiracy guy but he was so bad that I really think its possible.

I don't think that's the case. Everything you do in the league is watched by others. He wouldn't want to potentially risk a shot at another future opportunity. I think he's best suited to be an assistant GM/Director Player Development.
Besides, I don't think Hexy would've put Smith on waivers.

[DelPen]

How many of you think its possible that Hextall deliberately screwed the Penguins because of some kind of grudge from the past? I'm no conspiracy guy but he was so bad that I really think its possible.

Considering how bad he was for the Flyers it more likely he’s just a really bad GM.

[Three Stars]

The legend is that Hextall was told by Lemieux/Burkle that the rebuild was on…and then was told by Fenway that they’re contending. Secondhand accounts of Hextall’s reaction to the change in plans can be summarized as “WTF Bro”, as it was not the job for which he was hired.

This is not to excuse the process nor the result of Hextall’s regime, nor his inability to work with Sullivan, nor the sheer variety of people in the org that he pissed off… but there was a decided sea change in the organ-I-zation’s approach that had to be fielded by him, and that he was clearly not ready/able to field.

[KG]

Says something that the Pens think more highly of Ruhwedel and Freidman, a couple of 6-7th defenseman then they do about a younger Smith. Surprised they waived him though. Would have thought they would just waive Freidman and let Smith and Ruh rotate as 6-7 D men.

But in Dubas we trust

[Three Stars]

Says something that the Pens think more highly of Ruhwedel and Freidman, a couple of 6-7th defenseman then they do about a younger Smith. Surprised they waived him though. Would have thought they would just waive Freidman and let Smith and Ruh rotate as 6-7 D men.

But in Dubas we trust

If you (the Royal you) think that there’s something salvageable/developable about Smith still remaining, then the proper place to do it is on WBS’s top 4, not the press box in Pittsburgh. I agree with your point above that this is the time to sneak him down.

Ruhwedel and Friedman are known quantities.

I also think that Ruhwedel’s new nickname should be Ruh Roh based on what you said above, especially if he messes up. Ruh Roh, Ruhwedel!

[Pitts]

Good idea by Dubas to try and squeeze Smith through waivers early while teams are still trying to figure out their own situation, especially with so many close to the cap.

That said, I expect a team to claim him. Great trade Hexy!

I think that is the game plan. Too many teams still trying to figure things out and too many veterans still available for what should be cheap contracts at this time. Sneak him through now.

[Pitts]

Says something that the Pens think more highly of Ruhwedel and Freidman, a couple of 6-7th defenseman then they do about a younger Smith. Surprised they waived him though. Would have thought they would just waive Freidman and let Smith and Ruh rotate as 6-7 D men.

But in Dubas we trust

I don't think that is the case at all. Smith is an offensive dman. Already have Letang, Karlsson, PO for that role. They need a defensive partner for PO. Smith ain't it.

[Puck-Lurker]

Expecting our entire chalk of demotions to clear waivers.

[Admin]

Expecting our entire chalk of demotions to clear waivers.

All cleared per https://www.capfriendly.com/transactions/penguins

[Pensfan4life8771]

So does this put us under the cap again? I would imagine so since Pitlick and his 1.1M goes down.

So that means Smith or Wagner gets signed to team? Also it looks like if numbers are correct we can carry one extra D and one extra forward putting us at 22 of 23 roster and under cap?

[FLPensFan]

So does this put us under the cap again? I would imagine so since Pitlick and his 1.1M goes down.

So that means Smith or Wagner gets signed to team? Also it looks like if numbers are correct we can carry one extra D and one extra forward putting us at 22 of 23 roster and under cap?

I think the first question is, who is the 7th defenseman. Do they like what they have seen out of Ryan Shea that he holds down the 7th d-man spot? Is that only temporary until Will Butcher is healthy, and they get a better look at Butcher? Or, do they recall Ty Smith...as he now has 30 days of waiver exemption status by clearing waivers.

Up front, I think there is really only one roster spot up for grabs, and it is going to Radim Zohorna. He's played too well to not make this team. He has nothing to prove at the AHL level. And maybe overlooked, he seems to be a very popular and likeable guy by the team. Everyone was glad to have him back. He's done the work.

It also appears that Guentzel may be on track to be available for opening night. He was in a regular practice jersey today. Not sure if he took any contact yet, but he appears to be close.

At the moment, here is what I think the opening night roster looks like:

Forwards (13): Guentzel, Crosby, Rakell, R. Smith, Malkin, Rust, DOC, Eller, Nylander, Nieto, Acciari, Carter, Zohorna
Defense (7): Graves, Letang, Pettersson, Karlsson, POJ, Ruhwedel, Shea
Goalie (2): Jarry, Nedeljkovic

That 22 man roster has 245K left in cap space. I don't see a spot for Hinostroza, White, Johnsson, Koppanen, etc.

[Puck-Lurker]

Pitlick clears a trickle of cap space that allow us to carry a spare forward and spare defenceman, which we should.

I think 12F, 13F and 7D are the ones up for grabs. I think Zohorna will be ahead of Nylander. Pens will send down Puustinen because he;s waivers exempt; won't factor in until at least december. There's a small chance Hinostroza makes it ahead of Nylander, but I think Nylander will play come opening night.

7D I have no idea. I was paying attention to the Smith situation, mainly. POJ/Ruhwedel will start the season, that much seems certain.

I think the training camp roster is 33 players currently - with none of the PTOs in sight of an NHL job.

[KG]

Why wouldn’t a team like San Jose pick up Smith as a PP QB? They are talking about playing Jan Rutta on the PP…

Wonder if some of these GM’s have handshake arrangements in place