The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated the Charlotte Checkers 4-1 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Friday thanks to two goals from forward Vinnie Hinostroza.
Moving forward Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (28-18-7-1) was led by linemate Radim Zohorna, who scored a goal and provided an assist, while Sam Poulin registered three assists.
Following multiple games missed owing to unspecified injuries, Poulin (seven games) and Zohorna (two games) each made their way back into the starting lineup.
Joel Blomqvist, the goalie, improved to 17-8-5 with 21 saves on 22 shots.
The Penguins’ next game is scheduled for this Saturday at 6:05 p.m. at home against the Checkers.
The Wheeling Nailers lost 2-1 on the road to the Cincinnati Cyclones at the Heritage Bank Centre in Cincinnati despite goalie Taylor Gauthier stopping 22 of 24 shots.
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The outcome saw Gauthier’s record fall to 20-15-1, and Wheeling’s lone goal came from forward Jarrett Lee (30-21-1-1).
The Nailers’ next game is a road contest against the Fort Wayne Komets on Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
The rental market is frequently the centre of attention at the trade deadline. Rival teams are searching for that deciding element, but they only want to sign players for the near future because they cannot afford to pay them for the entire current campaign. But at this time of year, certain non-rentals also draw considerable interest. One of them appears to be in Pittsburgh, as Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff says that the Penguins are “interestingly enough” getting more requests for winger Reilly Smith than they are for Jake Guentzel, one of the best rentals available through March 8.
In a move that essentially amounted to a salary-cap dump from Vegas with Smith—a key component of their Stanley Cup run—Pittsburg acquired the 32-year-old last summer for only a third-round pick. The return was a little bit light for a guy who had 50 points or more in four of his six seasons with the Golden Knights, but in a situation when there was no cap, many teams were forced to make similar difficult choices.
Though it hasn’t precisely happened, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas had hoped that Smith would be a significant two-way player. Rather, he has less offensive points—just 10 goals and 15 assists in 51 games thus far—which is a poor return for a $5 million investment.
Given that half of the league is now using LTIR to be cap-compliant, fitting that contract into the books is going to be challenging enough this season. The fact that Smith still has one year remaining on his contract after this one increases its appeal but also increases the difficulties in pulling off a transaction of this kind.
In an effort to expand Smith’s market, Seravalli suggests that he would be a good candidate for salary retention. Two of the Penguins’ three available spots are still available, while Jeff Petry, the one they’ve already used, is signed through the following season. If Dubas is willing to use a second slot through 2024–2025—paying Smith’s contract down to just a $2.5 million annual average value (AAV) would undoubtedly increase his market share and enable them to obtain a far higher
