Ducks claim Agozzino

While the Penguins were busy doing their last roster tinkering before the NHL’s trade deadline Monday, Andrew Agozzino found a new home.

The former Penguins center was claimed off waivers by Anaheim. It’s possible he’ll be in the lineup Friday night when the Penguins visit the Ducks.

Agozzino, 29, split time between the American Hockey League and the NHL, playing 17 games with the Penguins. In the 5-3 loss in Washington, he centered the fourth line, playing between Sam Lafferty and Anthony Angello.

Just before that game, Agozzino was placed on waivers. Per NHL rules, a player must be on an AHL roster at 3 p.m. of deadline day in order to be eligible to be sent down to the minors at any time the rest of the season. Agozzino’s contract required that he be placed on waivers before being reassigned.

Later Monday, the Penguins reassigned forwards Lafferty and Angello to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. It remains to be seen if it was a paper transaction to fulfill the NHL’s rule or if the four new forwards added to the roster this month have bumped these two players from the roster’s fringe to the AHL. They also re-assigned defenseman Zach Trotman to the AHL in order to preserve his eligibility and then immediately recalled him for their road trip to California.

While losing Agozzino eliminates a depth center option from the organization, it’s not a back-breaker. After adding Jason Zucker from Minnesota Feb. 10, Patrick Marleau from San Jose, plus Conor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues from Buffalo, Agozzino was going to have to fight to stay in the lineup.

Agozzino was initially a healthy scratch Sunday before the Penguins learned that then winger Dominik Kahun couldn’t go after testing his injured leg in warmups, Agozzino was a late addition.