Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero announced this morning that the team has re-assigned forwards Dustin Jeffrey and Nick Johnson to Wilkes Barre/Scranton.
Jeffrey and Johnson, who were recalled Thursday, saw action in Pittsburgh’s game against the Washington Capitals. Johnson made his NHL debut in the contest and scored his first career goal, playing well alongside Evgeni Malkin and Ruslan Fedotenko.
Dustin Jeffrey, the Penguins leading scorer in Wilkes Barre, struggled to adapt to the pace of the game last night.
Meanwhile, the announcement of Johnson was not a surprise considering Thursday’s callup was believed to only be a one game callup but it’s up for debate whether Pittsburgh has their best 21-to-22 players on the roster.
Johnson and defenseman Ben Lovejoy each showed the ability to contribute at the NHL level and at least for one night, Johnson was a good fit for Evgeni Malkin.
On a team that has had only one consistent winger all season in Billy Guerin, Johnson’s performance should have grabbed the teams attention and it did but according to a source, right now it’s a numbers game.