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Awkward salary shuffle gets Penguins prospect Eric Tangradi sent to ECHL

Eric Tangradi, Derek MacKenzie

Pittsburgh Penguins’ Eric Tangradi (42) controls the puck in front of Columbus Blue Jackets’ Derek MacKenzie in the second period of a preseason NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010. The Penguins won 3-1.(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

AP

While we outlined some of the more interesting starting roster notes of the day earlier, the most eyebrow-raising move of the day came when the Pittsburgh Penguins released their opening day roster and one name was missing from it.

While Pens prospect forward Eric Tangradi was mentioned in the press release announcing the roster, it wasn’t showing him as being part of the 23-man crew set to open against Philadelphia. Instead, Tangradi was sent to the Pens ECHL affiliate in Wheeling, West Virginia while Wheeling Nailers goalie Patrick Killeen gets called up to Pittsburgh.

Wait, what?

As it turns out, the Pens have some minor salary juggling to do to get ready for the season. They put center Jordan Staal on the injured non-roster list because he didn’t participate in training camp and placed prospects Alex Grant and Casey Pierro-Zabotel on injured reserve.

The injured non-roster list is something relatively new to us (or we’re totally ignorant on the Collective Bargaining Agreement) and Bryan Reynolds of Hockey Wilderness figured out what that means when discussing Wild forward James Sheppard. You can apply the same stuff to Jordan Staal in this case. In short, Staal being on the injured non-roster list doesn’t give the Penguins relief from his cap hit.

Lost in the jumble there somehow the Penguins are perilously close to or over the salary cap with the 23 active players they’ve got on the roster and Tangradi is one of the few players they could send to the minor leagues without going through waivers.

Until the Penguins can get Jordan Staal on the LTIR or have Grant or Pierro-Zabotel medically cleared, this awkward set up will hold up. In the meantime, Tangradi waits for the paperwork shuffle to be completed so he can rejoin the Penguins. It wouldn’t be shocking to see this hurdle cleared quickly and Tangradi suits up for the Penguins sooner than not, perhaps even tomorrow night against Philadelphia. For now, file this one away as something goofy that happens when trying to appease the gods of the salary cap.