After appearing in just four games with the Penguins, newly acquired Dmitry Kulikov now finds himself out with a lower-body injury suffered on Sunday against the Rangers. He has been placed on long-term injured reserve, retroactive to March 12, it was announced on Wednesday by Ron Hextall.
The earliest Kulikov can be activated is April 6, a gameday versus the Wild. That falls one week prior to the end of the regular season. In the meantime, the Penguins will be getting salary cap relief on the entirety of his $1.125 million cap hit.
Ryan Poehling is expected to be activated from long-term injured reserve sooner than later, but his $750,000 cap hit is the same as Alex Nylander's, so if the latter is re-assigned when that happens, it won't change the Penguins' cap figure.