The Edmonton Oilers reclaimed defenseman Travis Dermott from the Minnesota Wild off NHL waivers on Wednesday, while the Pittsburgh Penguins placed Matt Nieto on the wire.
The Oilers signed Dermott to a one-year contract worth $775,000 in October but placed him on waivers on Dec. 12. The Wild claimed him the following day.
If no other team made a claim for Dermott on Wednesday, the Oilers can send him down to the minors with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
This season, the 28-year-old has played 19 games, 10 with the Oilers and nine with the Wild. Dermott has no points, along with a minus-three rating and an average ice time of 12:14, the lowest of his eight-year NHL career.
Aside from a conditioning loan to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks in 2022-23 where he played one game, Dermott hasn’t played in the AHL since the 2017-18 campaign. He was a member of the Toronto Marlies, which went on to win the Calder Cup.
Nieto, meanwhile, has only played 15 AHL games in his career, and 13 of them were more than a decade ago. This season, Nieto played two games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring a goal in a conditioning loan during his recovery from two knee surgeries.
He has one goal and two assists in 31 games for Pittsburgh this season. He averaged 12:14 of ice time. Last season, he recorded one goal and three assists for four points in 22 games with the Penguins.
During his 12-year NHL career, Nieto played for the San Jose Sharks for parts of four seasons, the Colorado Avalanche for parts of four seasons, the Sharks again for parts of three seasons, the Avalanche again for part of 2022-23 and the Penguins for the past two campaigns.
Nieto is in the final year of his two-year contract worth $900,000 annually.
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