Casey DeSmith has cleared waivers and has been assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Defenseman John Marino has also been assigned to Wilkes-Barre.
The Penguins will get $1.075 million in cap relief by assigning DeSmith to the AHL. The remaining $175,000 of his contract will still count towards the Penguins' cap.
Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry are the remaining goaltenders on the Penguins' roster. DeSmith joins Emil Larmi, Alex D'Orio and Dustin Tokarski as the goaltenders on Wilkes-Barre's roster.
DeSmith is eligible to be recalled to Pittsburgh during the season and play no more than 10 cumulative games or be on the roster for fewer than 30 cumulative days before he would have to be placed on waivers a second time to be re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre.
Goaltender Eric Comrie was placed on waivers by the Jets on Monday and was claimed by the Coyotes. Comrie, 24, has spent nearly all of his four-year professional career thus far with the Jets' AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. Last season, he recorded a 2.69 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in 47 games with Manitoba, and allowed five goals and posted a .821 save percentage in one game with Winnipeg.
Before Comrie, the Coyotes were spending $6.1 million on goaltending ($4.25 million on Antti Raanta, $1.85 million on Darcy Kuemper), and were operating $1,641,068 over the cap. Comrie's $700,000 cap hit made him an attractive backup option if the Coyotes are looking to shed salary in that area, whereas DeSmith's $1.25 million cap hit wouldn't have moved the needle very far.
Marino was eligible to be assigned to Wilkes-Barre without putting him on waivers, clearing his $925,000 cap hit from the Penguins' books. Given that Bryan Rust is being placed on long-term injured reserve after the roster is submitted, the Marino assignment is likely a paper transaction, and he would be recalled after the Penguins get relief from Rust going on long-term injured reserve.
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