Rostislav Klesla is headed to Portland.
Possibly for real this time.
The Coyotes announced on Monday they’ve re-sent the veteran defenseman to the AHL, capping off a bizarre week in which the club waived Klesla, demoted him to Portland, recalled him to Phoenix... and then, today, returned him to the Pirates.
Klesla, a former first-round pick (fourth overall, 2000 NHL Entry Draft) has been plagued by injuries this season — missing four games to a lower-body injury and three to a concussion suffered on a hit during a preseason game by L.A.’s Jordan Nolan — and was originally supposed to use the demotion as a chance to play big minutes, according to head coach Dave Tippett.
“He goes down and can get his game going,” Tippett told the Arizona Republic. “He came into camp in pretty good shape and got hurt, missed some time, came back and starting playing, got hurt again and missed some time.
“Hopefully this is an opportunity for him to go down and play a lot of minutes and see if he can get his game back in order and if that’s the case, he can be a helpful player on our team. But we just need him to be playing at a higher level.”
But before Klesla played a single second for Portland, he was called back up (on Friday) in what looks to have been a paper transaction. According to the Arizona Republic, Tippett said Klesla was brought back to Phoenix to sort out some personal issues.
Klesla is in the final year of a four-year, $11.9 million deal originally signed with Columbus (he was acquired via trade in 2011.) The Czech rearguard has appeared in 15 games for the Coyotes this season, scoring three points while averaging 15:42 TOI per game.