Pittsburgh Penguins place Nedeljkovic on injured reserve and re-assign Zohorna
The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed goalie Alex Nedeljkovic on the injured reserve after sustaining an injury during a game against the Dallas Stars. He ended up finishing the game, ultimately turning away 30 of 34 shots in the Penguins’ 4-1 loss. In addition, the Penguins have sent forward Radim Zohorna to the American Hockey League.
The team called up goalie Magnus Hellberg and forward Corey Andonovski in a corresponding move. Nedeljkovic has had a decent start to the season, playing two games for the Penguins so far. He has a 1-1-0 record with a 3.01 GAA and .914 SV%. Those numbers show that he has been under a barrage of shots and doing the best he can to win games in spite of that. There is room for cautious optimism that Nedeljkovic is on the way to an improved season after he put up a 3.53 GAA and .892 SV% with the Detroit Red Wings last year.
It is unknown at this time when Nedeljkovic will be back in the lineup for the Penguins. For the duration of his injury, the team will be going with a Tristan Jarry/Hogberg tandem.
Hellberg is another goalie that played for Detroit last year and joined the Penguins to be their third-string goalie and AHL starter. He has a 1-1-0 record in the AHL this year before being called up to backup Jarry. He played 17 18 games last year, 17 for the Red Wings and one with the Ottawa Senators. He finished with a 3.20 GAA and .888 SV%.
Zohorna has been a positive story for the Penguins this year, playing solid hockey during the two games he played. He is on his second stint with the Penguins have he took a detour, playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames before returning to Pittsburgh.
Andonovski has never played an NHL game before and has one point in three AHL games this year with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.