The Penguins acquired forward Rob Klinkhammer from the Arizona Coyotes Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Patric Hornqvist was involved in a helmet-to-helmet collision that could result in the loss of another top-six forward.
Klinkhammer, a defensively responsible left winger, is likely to be slotted on the third or fourth line. He was acquired along with a conditional fifth-round draft pick in 2016 for defensive prospect Phillip Samuelsson.
“Klinkhammer is a good two-way player and we like his speed,” general manager Jim Rutherford said in a statement. “He will be a good addition to our group.”
At 6 feet 3, 214 pounds, Klinkhammer certainly brings size and his all-important health to the Penguins, but he has a limited scoring history.
He scored three goals in 19 games with Arizona this year, and scored a career-high 11 goals in 72 games last season.
Klinkhammer, 28, is in the second year of a two-year, one-way contract that pays him an average annual value of $625,000.
Samuelsson, a 23-year-old former second-round draft pick and the son of Ulf Samuelsson, had fallen down the Penguins depth chart with so many quality young defensemen in the organization.
Klinkhammer’s presence alone will help immediately.
The Penguins are still awaiting word on the status of Hornqvist, who did not practice Friday but was having concussion testing.
He collided with Vancouver Canucks defenseman Ryan Stanton in the second period Thursday night and immediately left the game.
“We’ll find out how he is [today] after they do some more evaluations this afternoon on him,” coach Mike Johnston said after practice Friday. “Standard protocol at all levels is to make sure you do … you check every area. He’s seeing our doctors. He’s going to do his baseline tests and then they’ll determine sort of where he’s at.“
The loss of Hornqvist first prompted the club to dip into their American Hockey League affiliate again, by calling up right winger Bryan Rust Friday morning.
Rust, who had seven goals, four assists in 22 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, is the fifth recall this season from the AHL team currently on the NHL roster or injured reserve.
He skated on the third line with Brandon Sutter and Steve Downie at practice.
If Hornqvist misses time because of an injury, he will join key players Chris Kunitz (foot), Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), Beau Bennett (lower body injury) and Kris Letang (groin).
“You expect that to happen once in a few years, once in a while. It seems like every year we run into different things like that,” said Sidney Crosby. “Nobody comes in feeling sorry for us so we need to make sure that we learn from the experience in the past.
“I think in the past we’ve handled it well and have seen guys come in and do a really good job. So that should be encouraging.”
Asked how he would describe this period of seemingly constant injury for his team, Johnston said the influx of so many moving parts has to bring them back to basics.
“I think the one thing it does is it focuses on your team play. When you’re missing players and you’ve got players being juggled in out of lines, defense pairs being changed, it all comes back to your team play. If your structure and your team play is sound, and that’s what we’ve got to re-emphasize and we’ve got to stress, if we play a good, solid, team game, then the pieces can interchange within it.”
Jenn Menendez: jmenendez@post-gazette and Twitter @JennMenendez.
First Published: December 5, 2014, 6:53 p.m.