Penguins recall AHL scorer Rafael Harvey-Pinard for season finale depth

Pittsburgh’s season finale has turned into one more evaluation window, and Rafael Harvey-Pinard got the call again. With the Penguins locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division and headed to St. Louis for a road matchup at Enterprise Center, the recall points more to NHL depth and roster sorting than to any late push in the standings.

For Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the move matters because Harvey-Pinard had been one of the club’s most reliable finishers all season. In 57 AHL games, the 27-year-old winger produced 15 goals, 13 assists and 28 points, along with a plus-9 rating. He had also been recognized league-wide when he was named AHL Player of the Week on Dec. 29, after collecting two goals and two assists in two games that helped keep Wilkes-Barre/Scranton atop the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.

The recall also tells a familiar story about Pittsburgh’s handling of its depth chart. Harvey-Pinard had already been brought up briefly on Jan. 10, then returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 13 after serving as a healthy scratch for two games. He had not appeared in an NHL game for Pittsburgh before this latest move, which makes the timing notable as the regular season closes and the organization takes one last look at a player who has already shown he can drive offense at the AHL level.

Pittsburgh signed Harvey-Pinard as a free agent on July 2, 2025, and the fit has been productive in the minors. He has played 214 career AHL games and has 140 career AHL points, a track record that includes stops with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Laval. Drafted by Montréal in the seventh round in 2019, 201st overall, he also brings 84 NHL games of experience, all with the Canadiens, giving Pittsburgh a veteran winger with a defined résumé rather than a pure prospect project.

The tradeoff is straightforward for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton: the AHL club loses a scorer who had been helping power its stretch run, while Pittsburgh gets an extra forward for a game that carries little standings consequence but plenty of organizational meaning. For Harvey-Pinard, the recall is another chance to turn a strong first year in the Penguins system into a longer NHL look.