Penguins waive defenseman Ty Smith, 4 others
Share this post:
The Pittsburgh Penguins placed five players on waivers Thursday, the most notable being defenseman Ty Smith.
It was always a possibility the Penguins could waive Smith before the start of the regular season in order to potentially assign him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. But doing it barely one week into training camp is a surprising development given Smith’s acumen.
A first-round pick (No. 17 overall) by the New Jersey Devils in 2018, Smith, who was a member of the NHL’s All-Rookie team in 2020-21, was acquired by the Penguins via a trade in July of 2022 that sent steady second-pairing defenseman John Marino to the Garden State.
While Marino settled into a defensive shutdown role and helped the Devils reach the playoffs last season, Smith spent most of 2022-23 with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton because of limited salary cap space as well as the fact that his previous contract allowed him to be sent to a minor-league affiliate without being exposed to waivers.
In addition to Smith defensemen Taylor Fedun and Xavier Ouellet as well as forwards Jonathan Gruden and Rem Pitlick went on waivers. Should all five players go unclaimed on waivers by 2 p.m. Friday, they will be eligible to be assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Penguins did assign nine players to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Thursday:
Forwards — Corey Andonovski, Avery Hayes, Marc Johnstone, Austin Rueschhoff
Defensemen — Isaac Belliveau, Justin Lee, Dmitri Samorukov, Jack St. Ivany
Goaltender — Joel Blomqvist
Per Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, part of the reason for those transactions at such an early stage of training camp involved the team’s upcoming trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia for a neutral site game against the Ottawa Senators Monday.
“The logistics of the team going to Halifax (Friday), I think has forced us to make some of those decisions a little bit sooner than we would have in other years,” Sullivan said. “We can only take so many guys to Halifax. These are all very difficult decisions.
“Ty is a good defenseman. He’s a solid defenseman and we think very highly of him. These are difficult decisions that we are trying to make. We’re trying to get down to a certain number at this point. We’ll continue to make these decisions. Just because these decisions are made today doesn’t mean anything is etched in stone. Performance is going to be the dictator on the decisions that are made and they’ll continue to be the dictator moving forward. It’s the nature of pro sports. The biggest reason for a lot of the decisions today was logistically with the challenge of going to Halifax.”
Smith, 23, earned a recall last season in December and appeared in nine NHL games while posting four points (one goal, three assists) and clocking an average of 20 minutes, 12 seconds of ice time.
With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Smith largely served as the top defenseman when he was in the lineup. Appearing in 39 AHL contests last season, Smith had 24 points (seven goals, 17 assists). Fractures to his jaw and cheekbones sidelined him for six weeks late in the season, however.
This past offseason, Smith, a left-handed shot, was a restricted free agent, re-signing to a one-year contract worth $775,000 that no longer exempted from waivers for any assignments to a minor-league affiliate.
Seen as a viable candidate to earn an NHL roster spot before the preseason, Smith was relegated to practicing Wednesday and Thursday with a second group of players who likely will open the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
In two games this preseason, Smith has no points, one shot and two penalty minutes according to Natural Stat Trick.
“You want to be (your) best anytime you are out there, the best you can be,” Smith said earlier this week. “It’s something that you can work towards, just being as good as you can every opportunity you get, waivers or no waivers.”
Also going on waivers Thursday were defensemen Taylor Fedun and Xavier Ouellet as well as forwards Jonathan Gruden and Rem Pitlick.
Fedun, 35, is entering his third season as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s captain. A right-handed shot, Fedun appeared in four NHL games last season and had no points while averaging 11:04 of ice time. Fedun is entering the final year of a two-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $762,500.
Ouellet, 30, was limited to 29 games and 17 points (two goals, 15 assists) last season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton because of injuries. The left-handed shot is entering the final year of a two-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $762,500.
Gruden, 23, made his NHL debut last season after earning a recall in January. Appearing in three games, Gruden had no points while averaging 5:20 of ice time. With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Gruden set a career high at the AHL level with 31 points (16 goals, 15 assists) in 54 games. Acquired via a trade that sent goaltender Matt Murray to the Ottawa Senators in October of 2020, he entered this past offseason as a restricted free agent. He was re-signed to a one-year, two-way contract that carries a salary cap hit of $775,000 on July 14.
Pitlick, 26, joined the Penguins on Aug. 6 from the Montreal Canadiens via the three-team blockbuster trade (involving the San Jose Sharks) that brought defenseman Erik Karlsson to the Penguins. Last season, the left-handed Pitlick appeared in 46 NHL contests and scored 15 points (six goals, nine assists) while averaging 12:55 of ice time. He is entering the final year of a two-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $1.1 million.