The Penguins Bring Up Casey DeSmith

In the wake of another blow out, Antti Niemi was waived by the Pittsburgh Penguins today after only 128 minutes and 8 seconds of ice time, spread out over 3 games, ceding 16 goals against and making 63 saves on 79 shots and losing all three games. Head Coach Mike Sullivan suggested that if Niemi clears waivers, he will be sent down to Wilkes – Barre/Scranton (WBS) to work on his game and hopefully get his confidence back.

The embattled veteran Goalie was not off to a very good start as a Penguin, but truth be told, he really did have much help from his teammates or from the NHL games schedulers. Niemi got the call for the back end of back-to-back games, trying to back stop an exhausted team that, even when fresh, finds playing defense a challenge this year.

The 34 year old Finnish Goalie led the 2009-2010 Chicago Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup Championship winning 16 of 22 games and posting 2 shutouts and a 2.63 Goals -Against Average (GAA) along the way. Hopefully, Niemi can find his game again.

Replacing Niemi will be Casey DeSmith. The 25 year old, 6’0” tall, native of Rochester, New Hampshire worked his way up from the Wheeling Nailers to earn himself a contract with the Penguins’ WBS affiliate last year. He followed that up this past preseason by impressing the Penguins Coaching staff enough to ink a contract with the big club. So far this year in WBS, DeSmith is unbeaten in 3 starts, owns a GAA under 1.00 (0.98) and has stopped 96.5% of the shots he has faced. Last year, he and his tag-team partner Tristan Jarry led the AHL in goaltending, earning the Harry “Hap” Holmes award for the lowest GAA.

Success at the NHL level doesn’t necessarily equate to success in the NHL and the Penguins still may look at other options to replace Niemi. In the meantime, welcome to the NHL regular season Casey DeSmith.