Matt Nieto was struck with some miserable luck in his first year with the Pittsburgh Penguins. After signing a two-year deal, Nieto played 22 games before missing the remainder of the 2023-24 season with an injury. The last game Nieto played was in late November against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
A lower-body injury took Nieto out of the lineup, and in January, he underwent surgery on his right knee. At the time, he was expected to miss another six to eight weeks, but he never managed to return.
Nieto suffered setbacks during his recovery phase and eventually underwent a second surgery to start the offseason. His second surgery was on his left knee, however, and will keep him for six to seven months.
If everything clears and Nieto can hit the ice again, his earliest return would be early November, nearly a year since his last game action.
This lengthy process makes Nieto a candidate for LTIR, where he will likely stay all season. He has one year left on his contract and isn’t a needle mover on the ice. Placing a player on LTIR for the season would be nothing new to president and general manager Kyle Dubas, as he had to do that often with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If Nieto does spend the year on LTIR, the Penguins will get salary cap relief from his contract. At $900,000, he doesn’t save the Penguins a ton of money, but it’s more than nothing and can open the door for plenty of depth options.
Unfortunately, that late November game in 2023 may have been the last time we see Nieto in a Penguins uniform.
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