The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired forward Rob Klinkhammer from the Arizona Coyotes, the team announced on Friday. Klinkhammer, a 28-year old native of Lethbridge, Alberta, is 6’3” tall and weighs 214 pounds. He’s a left-handed shot and can play all three forward positions in a bottom-six role.
He has three goals and is a plus-3 in 19 games with the Coyotes this season. In 129 NHL games with Arizona, Ottawa, and Chicago, he has 19 goals and 17 assists. He was originally signed by the Chicago organization as an undrafted minor league free agent from the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League.
Klinkhammer’s contract carries a cap hit of $625,000 and he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. The Penguins can also receive a conditional draft pick as part of the trade.
In return, the Coyotes have acquired defenseman Philip Samuelsson. Samuelsson, 23, was Pittsburgh’s second-round pick in the 2009 NHL Draft. Samuelsson was born in Leksand, Sweden and is the son of former Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelsson. Philip’s brother Henrik also plays in the Arizona organization.
In 22 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League this season, he has four assists, 20 penalty minutes, and a minus-3 rating. He has five career NHL games, all in 2013-14 with Pittsburgh. Samuelsson will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
Earlier in the day, the Penguins recalled right-winger Bryan Rust from Wilkes-Barre. Rust, 22, was the team’s third-round pick in the 2010 NHL Draft.
In his first professional season with the AHL Penguins, Rust has seven goals and four assists in 22 games. He played 161 games over four seasons at Notre Dame, scoring 43 goals, and was a part of three teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Rust was recalled because winger Patric Hornqvist was injured in Thursday’s 3-0 loss to Vancouver. Hornqvist is undergoing concussion and no update on his status for Saturday afternoon’s contest against the Ottawa Senators has been made available.
To make room for Klinkhammer on the roster, rookie winger Scott Wilson was placed on the injured reserve. Wilson suffered a leg injury in his NHL debut on Tuesday and is expected to miss about two weeks.
Using figures compiled by capgeek.com, the moves leave the Penguins just $630 under the salary cap, using all of their long-term injured reserve exemption for Pascal Dupuis, who will miss the rest of the regular season.
Photo credit: NHL
