Miroslav Satan expected to report to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

 Jonathan Bombulie of the Citizens Voice reports that Miroslav Satan will suck it up and go to Wilkes-Barre, at least for the rest of the regular season.

There really was no other choice for both parties:

• NHL team's rosters are locked at the trade deadline (save four non-emergency callups from the AHL).  So even if the Penguins were to put Satan on re-entry waivers another team couldn't claim him and have him in their lineup.  They could only block him from playing for PIttsburgh and end up paying him half his remaining salary.  And everyone knows the Pens don't have Satan in their plans, so there's no reason for another team to do that.
• The Penguins didn't have the salary cap room to keep Satan on the NHL roster with the addition of Bill Guerin.
• The NHL does not like "paper" moves, such as what Pittsburgh and Satan have been going through since Satan cleared waivers on March 4th.  He's been in limbo since then and something had to give.

So Miroslav Satan, he of 1012 NHL games and 721 points will be an American Hockey Leaguer riding the buses again.  A league he hasn't seen since 1994-95 when he was a 21 year old breaking into North American hockey.  It's been so long that the team Satan played for back then (the Cape Breton Oilers) has been defunct for now 13 years.

Satan is a trooper for not pulling a Zigmund Palffy and jumping back to Europe when the going gets tough.  But then again, he still gets his $3.5 million this year for the 65 NHL games and a few minor league games.  I do hope that maybe next season that another NHL team will give him a second chance next season.  Even though it looks like he has lost a step, he still could be a decent 2nd line player in the right system.

And hey, there's no salary cap after the end of the regular season, so Satan could techinically be recalled to Pittsburgh.  He probably wouldn't see the ice unless a top six winger were injured, but wouldn't it be wild if he wasn't finished....Yeah I'm getting a little out there now, but I guess you should never say never.  Satan is expected to be on the AHL clear day roster (which is announced tomorrow) which will make him eligible for the AHL post-season.