Penguins waive Mark Friedman, Calgary puts Radim Zohorna back on waivers

There were a couple of interesting names on the waiver wire today.

First, the Penguins have not officially announced they have cut Mark Friedman, but it is not just a matter of time until he leaves the NHL roster — one way or another. Tomorrow we will find out if any teams have claimed him (probably unlikely, but who can say) or if not, Pittsburgh can then assign him to the AHL. That’s a necessary step for salary cap compliance. The team did not make what looks like their other cut to fully get under the upper limit.

Also on the list of cuts today: Radim Zohorna. Zohorna was only claimed five days ago by Calgary. He appeared in two exhibition games, recording no points in 10 minutes of work on Wednesday against Winnipeg. Zohorna then recorded an assist last night in the Flames’ 5-3 loss (also to Winnipeg) in just nine minutes of playing time.

Apparently that was all Calgary needed to see and has decided to drop him off their NHL roster.

If no other NHL teams put a claim in on Zohorna, Pittsburgh can elect to claim him and send him straight to Wilkes-Barre in the AHL, if they so choose. (Here’s to guessing they probably would choose to do that, being a little unhappy to have lost the big Czech on waivers earlier in the week). As we noted when Zohorna went to Calgary, there was a really good chance he would eventually return to the Penguins organization. The only major surprise is just how quickly that the Flames reversed course and decided to go a different direction.