NHL Notebook: Jesse Puljujarvi continues working out with Penguins as they place Bryan Rust on IR, and Hurricanes’ Antti Raanta clears waivers
7 months ago
Jesse Puljujarvi continues to work with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ strength and conditioning staff as he works his way back from double hip surgery.
The former Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes winger signed a free agent tryout with the club last week, but there’s no indication of how close he may be to either signing a contract or hitting the ice in a larger sense. He had been cleared for contact just days before signing his tryout.
“I’m not looking at him to come in and provide massive offence,” Penguins’ general manager Kyle Dubas said. “For me, it’s his forechecking ability. Get to the net, disrupt the defence of the other team.”
The Penguins, meanwhile, have placed winger Bryan Rust on the injured reserve.
On December 6th, the Penguins fell short 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Rust left during the second period with what was later found to be an upper-body injury. He left the game with a single shot on net and 12:03 of ice time.
Rust has had a solid start to the season, recording 10 goals and 20 points across 22 games, but unfortunately for him, this is his second injury of the season after a lower-body injury kept him out of the lineup for three games from November 22nd to November 25th.
Puljujarvi, the Oilers fourth overall selection in the 2016 draft, has several NHL seasons under his belt, including 317 games with the Oilers, where he recorded 51 goals and 112 points. The six-foot-four forward was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in February of 2023 but ultimately went unqualified by the Hurricanes in June, leaving him as a free agent.
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Hurricanes’ Antti Raanta clears waivers
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta has officially cleared waivers on Sunday.
Raanta has struggled to find his groove this season, posting a 3.61 goals-against average and .854 save percentage in just 14 appearances with these performances that finding him in the hot seat with the Hurricanes.
On November 24th, Raanta allowed eight goals on 14 shots in the Hurricanes’ 8-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and an additional 10 goals against on his previous two starts, four against the Vancouver Canucks on December 9th and six against the Nashville Predators on Friday night; both of which resulted in losses.
On Saturday, the club made the decision to place the goaltender on waivers, with Sportsnet‘s Elliot Friedman breaking the news on Sunday that Raanta had cleared no more than 24 hours later.
Raanta is in his third season with Carolina after signing a one-year deal worth $1.5 million back in July to extend his time with the club until the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
The Finnish netminder has 11 years of NHL experience split between the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Hurricanes, and the Arizona Coyotes. Raanta has an overall record of 133-78-28 across 267 games played.
As a result, Pyotr Kochetkov will stand in as the team’s starting goaltender, with the addition of netminder Yaniv Perets, who was recalled from the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals to join the team as a backup.
The Hurricanes currently sit fourth in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 16-12-2. However, their .871 team save percentage is last in the league.
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