Penguins/NHL
Alex Ponikarovsky a player of interest for Pittsburgh?
Add Toronto Maple Leafs winger Alex Ponikarovsky to the short-list of wingers the Penguins are scouting of late.
Team sources tell me top scout Derek Clancey has been a frequent vistor to the Air Canada Center over the course of the past month with Ponikarovsky being a player of interest for Pittsburgh.
Ponikarovsky, 29, is a power forward type of winger (6ft4 – 220 lbs) and has 13 goals and 27 points on the season.
Ponikarovsky is in the final year of his current contract that pays him $2.5 million. Ponikarovsky has a cap hit of $2.1 million.
Vancouver, Philadelphia, and Boston are among three other teams to express early interest in Ponikarovsky.
Pittsburgh expressed interest in Ponikarovsky last winter as the Leafs and Penguins held numerous talks that mostly centered around Nik Antropov.
The winger market at the trade deadline is not expected to be strong after Ilya Kovalchuk.
