Pittsburgh Penguins Claim Feisty Forward Off Waivers

He's a player who may be short in stature, but large in offensive skill. And the Pittsburgh Penguins have decided to put in a waiver claim on Washington Capitals forward Matthew Phillips.

The Penguins have claimed forward Matthew Phillips off of waivers from the Washington Capitals.

Phillips is signed through the 2023.24 season and his contract carries an average annual value of $775,000 at the NHL level.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 16, 2024

The 5'7" dynamo, Phillips put up some pretty insane numbers in junior hockey, and was a top scorer in the American Hockey League the previous two years as well, with 67 goals and 144 points in 131 games. He earned an AHL All-Star berth in 2023. As once noted by a Calgary Flames beat writer, Phillips is not one to shy away from the action just because of his size.

Despite being 5-foot-7, 155 pounds, don't expect Matthew Phillips to be a perimeter player.
The young man is fearless, as evidenced by his role as the Wranglers' net-front presence on power plays where he's adept at disrupting, drawing penalties and finishing as the AHL leader.
— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) December 8, 2022

The Capitals had signed Phillips this past summer to a minimum contract as an unrestricted free agent, after he spent the first five years of his pro career (but only three NHL games) with the Flames. After a 27-game trial in DC this season, in which he posted five points in about 10 minutes of play per contest as well as spending plenty of nights up in the press box as a healthy scratch, the Capitals placed him on waivers this week.

Phillips, 25, was a 6th-round pick of the Calgary Flames in the 2016 NHL Draft, and then went out and scored 98 goals with 202 points over his final two seasons in junior with the WHL's Victoria Royals.

We shall see if the Penguins slot him into the lineup at the NHL level, as the team learned this week that they will be without star forward Jake Guentzel for about a month.

Photo: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports