The Penguins were left with few options to get under the $82.5 million salary cap before 23-man rosters were due on Monday at 5 p.m.
They had put Mark Friedman on waivers on Saturday afternoon, and Friedman cleared on Sunday. Sending Friedman down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would get the Penguins to a 23-man roster, but $780,175 over the salary cap. They needed to send one more player down.
The Penguins' lone player on the roster who was still exempt from waivers in order to be re-assigned to the AHL was Ty Smith, and the Penguins opted to send Smith down.