Click here to subscribe today or Login.
From Staff and Wire Reports
Monday, March 10, 2003 Page: 5B
Pittsburgh traded away forward Randy Robitaille on Sunday and Eric Meloche
was called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to fill his spot.
Robitaille was shipped to the New York Islanders in exchange for a
fifth-round pick in the 2003 National Hockey League Entry Draft. Meloche
joined the Penguins on Sunday in Ottawa, where they played the Senators.
“It’s not a surprise,” Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Glenn Patrick said of
Meloche being called up. “He has played very well for us all year.”
Meloche had 12 goals, 17 assists, 93 penalty minutes and was a minus-2 in
57 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season. He is one of the local
Penguins’ best player in the plus-minus category, a factor that earned him his
second shot with Pittsburgh. Meloche, a 26-year old right wing, was called up
to the NHL Penguins last season, and had one assist and eight penalty minutes
in 23 games while there.
“He is a great forechecker and he plays great defensive hockey,” Patrick
said of Meloche. “Those are attributes that you have to have. You have to
score goals, but you have to be sound defensively.”
The move leaves Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with 11 forwards, six defensemen and
two goalies, meaning they won’t have to scratch any players for its game
tonight against Syracuse (7:05 p.m., First Union Arena). Patrick said he
didn’t plan on calling up any players prior to the contest.
Robitaille, 27, had five goals and 12 assists in 41 games for the Penguins
this season. Last season he had 10 goals and 20 assists in 40 games.
The deal might not be the last one Pittsburgh makes prior to the NHL trade
deadline tomorrow afternoon. The Penguins, who entered the game at Ottawa on
Sunday on an eight-game losing streak and will probably miss the playoffs for
the second consecutive year, are considering going to a youth movement next
season. They might seek to deal away veterans, a move that could help the
financially strapped club cut its payroll.