As they begin a weeklong midseason break, the Pittsburgh Penguins assigned newly acquired winger Joseph Blandisi to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL on Sunday.
Blandisi, 24, was acquired from Anaheim for center Derek Grant early Thursday morning. He made his Penguins debut Friday in Arizona, going without a point in about seven minutes of ice time, then was a healthy scratch Saturday at Vegas when Patric Hornqvist returned from a concussion.
Blandisi was able to be sent to the AHL without going through waivers. That wouldn’t have been the case for Grant, which was perhaps the primary reason general manager Jim Rutherford made the trade in the first place.
With Blandisi down and Zach Aston-Reese out with a hand injury, the Penguins have 12 healthy forwards on the roster, including call-up Garrett Wilson on the fourth line.
It’s likely they will call a 13th forward back up when the break ends next Sunday.
Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jonathan at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.
