Egor Zamula could become an NHL free agent on Tuesday after failing to report to the Pittsburgh Penguins' AHL affiliate.
The Pittsburgh Penguins placed defenseman Egor Zamula on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination on Monday, according to The Athletic's Chris Johnston, insider Frank Seravalli and PuckPedia.
This roster transaction comes less than a week after the Penguins acquired Zamula in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 31. Philadelphia received Philip Tomasino in exchange for Zamula.
With that, the 25-year-old blueliner was placed on waivers by the Flyers earlier in December. He eventually cleared waivers and was sent down to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms before he was dealt to Pittsburgh.
Not long after he was traded to the Penguins, Zamula was suspended for not reporting to the AHL on Saturday.
On the suspension, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reported that Pittsburgh knew the possibility that Zamula would refuse to report to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and his preference is to be in the NHL.
Ultimately, with Zamula's contract in the process of being terminated, he'll be able to sign with any team he finds fitting and pursue the NHL ice time he desires, unless he is claimed within 24 hours.
Zamula is in the final year of a two-year contract that pays him $1.7 million per season.
The Russian D-man has 168 NHL games under his belt across parts of six seasons. In this campaign, he made 13 appearances, all for the Flyers. In that span, Zamula recorded one assist and a plus-four rating while averaging 14:02 of ice time.
In the two seasons ahead of this year, Zamula played 129 regular-season contests and registered 36 points. His best campaign was in 2023-24 when he put up five goals and 21 points in 66 games.
His last game in the NHL was on Dec. 7 in a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. He played 14:03 of ice time and had a minus-one rating to end the game.
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