Like clockwork, the daily paper transactions occurred before Thursday’s practice, enabling Matt Nieto and Sebastian Aho to suit up for another skate in Pittsburgh.
Essentially practice players right now, the two hopped on the ice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex and smiled as they tried to maximize their limited reps. In a matter of time, they will be officially reassigned to the American Hockey League — again.
In a sense, the two veteran pros are stuck in purgatory between the NHL and AHL, not needed to play at either level at the moment. But they have to be somewhere.
“It’s a weird situation,” Aho noted. “All you can do is practice hard, stay ready. They are doing a good job of keeping us ready and fit. But it’s kind of a waiting game.”
Since the trade deadline on March 7, the Penguins have utilized emergency recalls to add extra bodies for practice and to provide injury insurance on game nights.
No one has been shuffled up and down more than Nieto. He has been in nine total transactions since March 11. Physically, he hasn’t gone anywhere. They were merely “paper” moves, transactions made solely for cap or roster management purposes.
Four total players have been recalled on an emergency basis, which the Penguins were able to do because they have a few players who are “nicked up,” according to coach Mike Sullivan. Joona Koppanen was the only one to actually play in a game.
Nieto has been back with Pittsburgh for more than a week and has yet to suit up.
“It’s tough,” Nieto admitted. “But all you can really do is work hard every day and have a good attitude and be a good teammate. Obviously, I would like to play. But it’s out of my control. All that I can control is my attitude. So I’m trying to show up every day, work hard and have fun. And if I get a chance to get back in, I’ll be ready.”
The last 16 months have been challenging for Nieto, who is in the final season of a two-year deal. Last season, his NHL career was derailed by two knee injuries that required surgery. He was sidelined for nearly 12 months before he returned to the lineup in November. After playing in 31 games, Nieto was demoted to the AHL.
The jovial winger joined a playoff-bound Wilkes-Barre/Scranton squad that didn’t exactly need his services, not with a bunch of prospects admirably filling prominent roles. Plus, AHL rules limit the number of veterans rostered each game to six per team.
Playing in the AHL for the first time in a decade, he had three points in eight games.
The week of the trade deadline, the Penguins made five deals that left their roster short of full. Then Tommy Novak, one of the forwards they added, got injured and remains sidelined. Defensemen Ryan Shea and Pierre-Olivier Joseph are also out.
So the Penguins utilized emergency recalls to bring Nieto and Aho to Pittsburgh.
“It’s definitely a unique situation,” Nieto said after Thursday’s practice in Cranberry.
For Nieto and Aho, their contract statuses differ. Their perspectives may, as well.
Nieto is in the final year of his deal and is probably not in Pittsburgh’s plans going forward. But with him strictly being an extra body for the Penguins at the moment, he is not getting opportunities to show other teams he can still play in the league.
During his chat with the Post-Gazette, not once did Nieto express frustration with his situation. But the 31-year-old did admit he wished he could play somewhere.
“I’m happy to come back from the injuries and whatnot. I was out for a long time. And you don’t go through a full training camp, which makes it tough. But I feel good now,” he said. “As for the future, I really don’t know what’s going to happen there.”
Aho, meanwhile, has another year left on the contract he signed here last July.
The 29-year-old defenseman was unable to win an NHL roster spot during training camp and until last week, he had spent the entire season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Aho missed time with multiple injuries, skating in just 17 games at the AHL level. That presumably kept him off the call-up radar for the Penguins until this month.
Now, he is getting a chance, albeit in practice, to impress Sullivan’s coaching staff and possibly set the stage for him to seriously push for an NHL spot this fall.
“I’m trying to bring my best every day in practice to show them that this is where I want to be, this is where I want to play,” he said. “So I see it as a good opportunity to come up and show them what I can do and hopefully try to change their mind.”
While Aho hasn’t appeared in a game for Pittsburgh, he said his teammates still treat him as if he plays. He said they have been incredibly welcoming and helpful.
Apparently, Aho also got a big assist from a former Penguin — Marcus Pettersson.
The two Swedes are longtime friends. And with Pettersson having been traded to Vancouver in January, he is allowing Aho and his family stay at his old home here.
“That worked out much better than being in a small hotel room with my wife and my two kids,” a relieved Aho said. “With all four of us, that would be a little tough.”
Clearly, Aho and Nieto are trying to make the most of a bit of an awkward situation.
They both want to play — presumably in Pittsburgh — but say the team comes first.
“I’m just taking it day by day,” Aho said. “Whatever they think is best for me and the team, I’m not going to question that. I’m here and doing my job, and that’s it.”
First Published: March 20, 2025, 7:40 p.m.
