It’s times like these when I miss baseball.

Guy goes out of a game in the second inning, limping off and is replaced. Later, in the fifth inning, the play by play guys cut down to the sideline reporter who reports up that the player is out with a knee injury and than an MRI has been scheduled for tomorrow. Manager comes in to his press conference the next day and says that the player that left the game the day before had an MRI that showed a tear in the meniscus and that he’s being referred to the surgeon and will be out of action for at least eight weeks.

In hockey, they speak in secret alphabet. Day-to-day, week-to-week, longer term, et cetra. It is what makes it a niche sport in my opinion because a casual fan doesn’t have time to listen to the coach speak with the media after the game and say he doesn’t have an update on the player that took the slapshot off the leg in the first period. I mean, do you think we are stupid?

Anyway, I can go on and on regarding this pet peeve of mine. The purpose of this entry today is to inform you of the following injuries affecting the organization at present.

Last night in their shootout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost Bryan Rust and Chad Ruhwedel to injury. The update this afternoon from Head Coach Mike Sullivan was as follows:

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Before we get to the fallout, here’s Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Head Coach Clark Donatelli’s update from the M*A*S*H unit:

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Let’s unpack the transactions known so far. First, Coal Street sent Cody Wydo back to Wheeling. Pittsburgh recalled defenseman Frank Corrado. I don’t think that Pittsburgh may pull a forward up if Wilkes-Barre let Wydo go, it really doesn’t make sense to me to release then recall Wydo over the course of 24 hours if Pittsburgh was going to take someone for Rust.

I’ll update the story in a later edit once confirmations come down as to who exactly has been recalled, but you can expect Casey DeSmith to go up to back up Tristan Jarry, since Matt Murray, who played the whole 65 minutes plus shootout last night against Columbus, is day-to-day. As far as where it leaves the AHL team, with Michael Leighton day-to-day after he backed up DeSmith Wednesday, Coal Street may need two goaltenders from somewhere, as they don’t have any other goalies on NHL or AHL contracts to call upon. In Wheeling, Colin Stevens is on IR and the Nailers have Adam Morrison and Will King on the roster. They could call upon Anthony Peters again from Cincinnati, or go a different direction. They may need only one, depending on how bad the Leighton injury is, but let’s just assume they need two.

EDIT: Pittsburgh made three recalls. Casey DeSmith, Andrey Pedan and Garrett Wilson get the call. Pens place Kris Letang, Chad Ruhwedel and Bryan Rust on injured reserve.

Hopefully DeSmith gets to start a game. For Pedan, the Penguins want to get a look at him since he was the return for Derrick Pouliot. Pedan is a bite your lip type of player from my perspective. Some nights, he’s a beast. Others, he’s a bonehead. For Garrett Wilson, he is not what the fans were expecting in Daniel Sprong, but I am guessing that they have learned their lesson in not rushing him as they had with names like Luca Caputi, Beau Bennett, Eric Tangradi and the aforementioned Pouliot. To bring him up to have him sit, play seven minutes a night or stick him on a fourth line doesn’t do anything for him.

Coal Street in one fell swoop re-signed G Anthony Peters from ECHL Cincinnati to another PTO and Adam Morrison from Wheeling. The Nailers in a separate transaction reactivated Colin Stevens and will roll with him and Will King in goal for this weekend against Fort Wayne on the road Friday, Toledo Saturday and Indy Sunday at home.

Anthony Peters stayed busy in between his stints with Wilkes-Barre. He was involved in a goalie fight against Indy.

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Pitchers and catchers report February 12, by the way.

Hartford is coming in Friday, the Wolf Pack are 6-1-1-2 in their last ten games. They will be without the services of Peter Holland, who was supsended two games earlier this week. Holland had three assists in the Wolf Pack’s win over the Penguins on December 15, and Vinni Lettieri, who was recalled to the Rangers on Thursday. Lettieri has 12 goals and 9 assists in 31 games for Hartford this season.

Pens travel to Hershey Saturday, and the Bears got a boost in the form of Nathan Walker who was re-assigned Thursday. Hershey has been struggling as bad as the Penguins have as of late, mired in sixth place in the Atlantic Division.

One more thing out the door, I wanted to bring back the Tyrell Goulbourne goal that should not have counted yesterday. I ran a morning update to my postgame story from last night with video highlights that Coal Street put out. In case you didn’t see, I’m just cutting and pasting from the morning update to keep it fresh.

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Video Highlights: 

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Tyrell Goulbourne’s goal should not have counted. Also, there is no reason why there should not have been a review of the goal. First, here it is with the benefit of slow motion.

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From the AHL Rulebook on video review… In part, Rule 79.3, subsection vii…

79.3 Situations Subject to Video Review – The following are the only situations subject to video review by the Referee:

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(vii) To determine whether the puck entered the net from underneath the net frame.

I would be interested to know if Tom or Tyler asked Clark after the game what explanation he was given on that play.

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There wasn’t a Thursday follow-up from Tom or Tyler that I saw out of the Thursday practice updates. I would assume that the team moved on and let the tape speak for itself.

I’ll work an edit in later once Pittsburgh makes the DeSmith recall official as well as any other bodies they make take in light of today’s news. Check back here Friday at 3 for the Gameday setup against the Wolf Pack.

There was a trade made Tuesday afternoon with major implications on the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired goaltender Michael Leighton from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Josh Archibald, Sean Maguire and 2019 draft pick.

Michael Leighton is one of the greatest AHL goaltenders to put on a pair of pads.

Here is his resume, from the League release on the trade….

Leighton, a five-time AHL All-Star, had been acquired by the Coyotes on Nov. 14 in a trade from Tampa Bay. In 14 AHL games between Syracuse and Chicago this season, Leighton has a record of 4-4-4 with a 3.16 goals-against average, an .869 save percentage and one shutout.

The AHL’s career leader in shutouts (50), Leighton has appeared in 479 career AHL games with a record of 236-176-48, ranking fifth all-time in victories and eighth among goaltenders in games played. He was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2001-02 and won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender in 2007-08.

In postseason play, Leighton owns the AHL records for saves in a single game (98, in a five-overtime loss on Apr. 24, 2008) and for lowest GAA in a single playoff year (1.18, in 2008). He shows a 1.67 GAA, a .946 save percentage and five shutouts in 28 career Calder Cup Playoff contests (13-12).

He’s been around the AHL this season, initially starting with Syracuse, with a stop in AHL Chicago, he did not appear in a game with the Coyotes AHL affiliate, Tucson. He was loaned to Chicago from Arizona.

So the crease in Wilkes-Barre looks like Casey DeSmith and Michael Leighton. Unless there is another move coming down the pike which would see Tristan Jarry coming back down and Leighton going to to backup Matt Murray, which is entirely plausible.

Sean Maguire needed the change in scenery. He will a great asset for the Tucson Roadrunners. He was kind of lost in the shuffle here in Wilkes-Barre.

Josh Archibald wasn’t going to make it through waivers the thought process was by the brain trust up in Pittsburgh.

Jonathan had an interesting take…

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I disagree with that thought process entirely. Casey DeSmith played his way up from ECHL obscurity a few seasons ago to an NHL contract this past summer. He is as about as solid a #1 AHL goaltender you can find, anywhere, just like Tristan Jarry and Matt Murray before him.

But like I tell people all the time, I don’t manage or coach the organization, I just blog about it.

Oh dear, as I was about to hit publish on this, a second trade was made with another implication affecting Wilkes-Barre.

Penguins acquire Jamie Oleksiak from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2019 conditional fourth round draft pick. As a part of the move, Kevin Czuczman was re-assigned to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

The conditional end of it is explained here…

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Out the door, Wilkes-Barre recalled Jarrett Burton and Jeff Taylor from Wheeling Monday. With Ethan Prow’s status up in the air and Wilkes-Barre playing with just one extra forward last weekend, the need for those recalls were justified. Elsewhere, ex-Penguin Stuart Percy signed an AHL deal with the Rochester Americans.

Is there a third move up the sleeve of Penguins GM Jim Rutherford? We have to wait and see.