Physical defender scooped up by Avs
The Pittsburgh Penguins brought John Ludvig into their organization as a waiver claim just before the 2023-24 regular season.
Fast forward a year, and the Penguins have seen John Ludvig depart their organization as a waiver claim before the start of the 2024-25 season.
Colorado claims John Ludvig
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 5, 2024
Ludvig was in and out of the lineup season, mostly due to injury reasons. He wasn’t able to gain much traction in this training camp, passed up on the depth chart by players like Sebastian Aho, Ryan Shea and even the rise of prospect Harrison Brunicke.
Coming off a summer wrist surgery, Ludvig skated mostly in depth roles with minor league pieces, the Avalanche will give him a chance to see what he’s got with their organization to start the season. I had half-wondered if the Penguins would consider keeping Ludvig as an eighth defenseman to shield him from waivers due to his somewhat unique physical/fighting skillset, but it turned out they weren’t too concerned about losing him with the other depth pieces on hand.
The fortunate news is that Sam Poulin and the other five players that Pittsburgh waived have cleared and can now be assigned to the AHL.
The Pens have to submit their opening night roster by Monday afternoon and have a few more cuts to make to get there in the coming days.
