Penguins Announce Multiple Roster Moves

The Pittsburgh Penguins are returning one of their best free-agent acquisitions from a season ago. According to a team announcement, the Penguins activated forward Justin Brazeau from the injured reserve and placed Elmer Söderblom on it in a corresponding roster move. Pittsburgh has also assigned Avery Hayes and defenseman Chase Pietila to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Reassigning Hayes and Pietila opens the door for the Penguins to make a few more activations tomorrow. Based on practice over the past two days, optimism is growing that defenseman Samuel Girard (undisclosed) and forward Benjamin Kindel (vasovagal episode) could return for tomorrow’s contest against the Utah Mammoth.

Brazeau has been recovering from a lower-body injury suffered in preseason. After missing 18 games last season, Brazeau has already missed Pittsburgh’s first 12 contests of the 2026-27 campaign. Still, if he’s anything like the player he was last year, he’ll provide the Penguins with an offensive jolt.

The New Liskeard, ON, native signed a two-year, $3MM ($1.5MM AAV) contract with Pittsburgh ahead of the 2025-26 campaign. He fit in exceptionally well with the Penguins, scoring 17 goals and 34 points in 64 games with a +5 rating, averaging 12:39 of ice time. Brazeau typically played next to Anthony Mantha and Kindel on the Penguins’ third line.

Unfortunately, Brazeau’s activation is paired with Söderblom’s new injury. Yesterday, Pittsburgh announced that Söderblom would miss the next few days with an upper-body injury. Fortunately, given their relatively long break between games, Söderblom will be eligible to return on Saturday, having missed only one game.