Alex Nylander impressed in his Penguins debut, that's for certain.
When Nylander was acquired by the Penguins a year ago, everyone knew that he could score. But he was a player that came with concerns regarding his effort level, overall pace, and his play when he didn't have the puck.
None of those things seemed to be a concern in his Penguins debut in Tuesday's 5-4 overtime win over the Blue Jackets.
One game is a small sample size, too small to start writing Nylander into any long-term plans.
But at least in the near future, there are cap concerns for keeping Nylander recalled to the NHL roster, and that's why Nylander was re-assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Thursday evening. But that doesn't mean that he won't get another shot, as Brian Burke said Wednesday.
When the Penguins recalled Nylander on an emergency basis as a result of Mikael Granlund's illness and Bryan Rust being unavailable due to the birth of his second son Logan, the Penguins had just $712,000 in available cap space -- not enough to accommodate Nylander's $750,000 salary cap hit. That meant that they had to put Ryan Poehling on long-term injured reserve, bringing the Penguins a temporary $750,000 in cap relief.
Poehling was put on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 14. The earliest he's eligible to be activated and play is Saturday against the Flyers.
Normally teams bank unused cap space each day and grow that available cap space figure, but that process stops when a team is using long-term injured reserve relief. So when Poehling is activated, the Penguins will again fall short of being able to afford Nylander on the NHL roster -- temporarily.
When Poehling went on long-term injured reserve, the Penguins were only two days away from banking enough cap space to get to $750,000 and being able to afford Nylander without using long-term injured reserve. They'll again be able to bank unused cap space and get back to being able to afford Nylander, though the actual number of days it will take will depend on when exactly Poehling comes off of long-term injured reserve.
Nylander was still around Thursday morning prior to being sent down, taking part in the Penguins' optional morning skate at PPG Paints Arena ahead of their 7:08 p.m. game against the Islanders. He said afterward that he hadn't been told of what the plans for him are, and Mike Sullivan didn't offer specifics when I asked what the plans were.
"Well right now he's with us," Sullivan said. "We'll make lineup decisions accordingly based on who is available to us. I thought he had a strong game the other night. He's certainly a talented player, he's had a real good year for Wilkes. We're encouraged by his progress."
Management was pleased with Nylander's debut, too. Burke, who made the trip to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this week to watch the AHL team play, made an appearance on the team's broadcast Wednesday and spoke about Nylander.
"We're very pleased with his progress as a player," Burke said. "It hasn't been as fast maybe as we would have liked, but it's been steady and he's really turned into a complete hockey player. Last night in the first period we were awful, but we were all awful. After that we played well and Alex was part of that. He played well. ... J.D. (Forrest) has taught him to lose some of the bad habits and pay more attention to detail. This is a league where if you're not making it on pure talent, you better do the details. JD's done a really good job building it, Alex has done a good job of soaking it up."
Burke acknowledged the aforementioned salary cap constraints when it comes to keeping Nylander up, but said that he'd anticipate Nylander getting another shot if he does get sent back down.
"I'm not sure how long he'll stay right now because we have roster and cap issues. It might be a brief stay, but we don't know yet. But he's certainly acquitted himself well and he's earned a second shot if he does get sent back. He'll get another shot, I think."
It's looking like that "second shot" won't come just yet. Before Nylander was sent back to WIlkes-Barre, Nylander rotated with Jeff Carter on the right wing of the third pairing in Wednesday's practice, and Carter's inclusion on the second-power play in the special teams portion of practice is an indication that he would be the one that stays in the lineup.
Regardless, Nylander remains pretty pleased with how his Penguins debut went.
"It was awesome," Nylander said after Thursday's morning skate. "I was really excited when I got the call, and it was a fun day there. ... I'm happy with the way it went, and we just have to keep going here every day."
One of the big reasons Nylander got the opportunity was that increased focus on his play away from the puck.
"That's been a big focus for me this year," Nylander told me. "D-zone, just try to focus on those areas, getting those pucks out, and paying attention to where the D is, that kind of stuff. That's been really smooth this year, and it's been going really well. I'm just happy the way it's been going this year. Obviously had a good year down in Wilkes, I'm just really happy to be here."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• Tristan Jarry will start.
• Both Rust and Granlund will be available.
• It was an optional morning skate. Participants were Poehling, Evgeni Malkin, Dmitry Kulikov, Ruhwedel, Jan Rutta, Danton Heinen, Joseph, Casey DeSmith and Nylander.
• Burke also spoke about the Penguins' trade deadline acquisitions on Wednesday's Wilkes-Barre broadcast.
On Kulikov: "We think we needed to add a depth defensemen and Dmitry Kulikov is a guy who's had a great career -- not a great career, a good career. But he's had a little renaissance the last year and a half or so. His play had leveled off and really picked up we think the last year and a half."
On Nick Bonino: "Nick Bonino, everybody knows. Nick brings a veteran presence, he can kill penalties, he's a quality person."
On Granlund: "Mikael Granlund was a guy we tried to get last year. Everyone says it makes your bottom-6 forwards better, I think it makes your top-7 forwards better. We view him as a top-six guy that can help out. He can do any job on a hockey team."
• I saw Sidney Crosby outside the locker room juggling a weighted sphere on his stick. He didn't drop it once. It looked pretty difficult.
• J-G Pageau and Cal Clutterbuck are out for the Islanders tonight. Ilya Sorokin will start.
