Penguins waive David Gustafsson, activate Ben Kindel

Kindel's return was the first move, and the beat had it before the second shoe dropped.

Josh Yohe

@JoshYohe_PGH

Penguins have activated Kindel from IR, so I suspect he's officially playing tonight.

Kindel hurt his lower body in the preseason and missed Wednesday's season opener, a 7-0 win over Philadelphia. The IR stint was backdated, so he sat out just that 1 game, and getting him back matters. As a rookie last year he scored 17 goals with 18 assists in 77 games and finished 9th in Calder voting. That's a lot from a guy plenty of people called a reach at 11th overall. He's eligible to go Saturday against Montreal.

Somebody had to come off the 23-man roster for Kindel, and Pittsburgh picked the guy who'd already been a healthy scratch for the Flyers win.

Elliotte Friedman

@FriedgeHNIC

David Gustafsson (PIT) on waivers

Gustafsson only showed up this summer. Pittsburgh sent defenseman Jack St. Ivany to the Jets for him on June 29, then signed him 6 days later to a 1-year, 2-way deal worth $850,000 at the NHL level. The 26-year-old Swede played 149 NHL games over 6 seasons in the Winnipeg system, with 6 goals and 18 assists, mostly as a fourth-liner getting under 9 minutes a night. Last year he never got called up and spent the whole season in the AHL with Manitoba, putting up 32 points in 49 games.

Winnipeg's beat writers noticed right away, and there's some timing to it: the Penguins and the Jets are apparently set to meet Monday.

Mike McIntyre

@mikemcintyrewpg

The former #NHLJets skater, who was traded last summer for Jack St. Ivany. Guess he won’t be facing Winnipeg on Monday.

Elliotte Friedman@FriedgeHNIC

David Gustafsson (PIT) on waivers

Don't expect a run on the waiver wire. A 26-year-old depth forward on a near-minimum deal could get a look from a team that's short at center, but if nobody claims him, he goes to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and waits for an injury to bring him back up. For Pittsburgh this was easy. A 20-goal-caliber second-year kid is back in the lineup, and the guy who paid for him was a spare part they got for a depth defenseman. The St. Ivany trade looks like a wash at best.