March of the (ex) Penguins

I thought I’d take a break from bemoaning the Penguins’ less-than-inspired free-agent signings (good things generally don’t come in small packages) and track the recent movements and whereabouts of former black-and-golders.

An asterisk indicates an extension or new deal with a player’s current team.

Without further ado, here goes:

FREE AGENT SIGNINGS

Player	Pos	Team	AAV	Term
Agozzino	LW	UTA	$775K	2 Yr.
Blueger*	C	VAN	$1.8M	2 Yr.
Cole	D	UTA	$3.1M	1 Yr.
DeSmith	G	DAL	$1M	3 Yr.
Harkins	C	ANA	$787.5K	2 Yr.
Heinen	LW	VAN	$2.25M	2 Yr.
Hinostroza	RW	NSH	$775K	2 Yr.
Guentzel	LW	TBL	$9M	7 Yr.
Johnson	D	CBJ	$775K	1 Yr.
Joseph	D	STL	$950K	1 Yr.
Kapanen*	RW	STL	$1M	1 Yr.
Kulikov*	D	FLA	$1.15M	4 Yr.
Lafferty	C	BUF	$2M	2 Yr.
Murray*	G	TOR	$875K	1 Yr.
Noesen	RW	NJD	$2.75K	3 Yr.
Pouliot	D	TBL	$775K	1 Yr.
Zucker	LW	BUF	$5M	1 Yr.

 

I confess, some of the deals surprised me, most notably the Sabres ponying up a cool $5 million for Jason Zucker following an off-year (14 goals) split between the ‘Yotes and Preds. Good for you “Zucks.” Wish we still had ya, albeit at a cheaper rate.

Another surprise? Kasperi Kapanen re-upped with the Blues. After three straight middling-to-down seasons, I thought for sure Kappy’d run out of options on this side of the pond.

I’m also surprised Jansen Harkins of zero-goal fame hooked on as quickly as he did. He inked a two-year pact with the Ducks.

Prominent former Pens still available include sniping right wing Daniel Sprong, who tallied 18 goals and 43 points in limited duty with the Red Wings, and veteran defenseman Justin Schultz, late of Seattle.

Speaking of left coast d-men, the Kraken dealt former Pen Brian Dumoulin to the Ducks for a fourth-round pick in 2026. One-time black-and-gold wunderkind John Marino was traded by the Devils to the Utah Hockey Club along with a fifth-round pick in the ’24 draft for second-round picks in the ’24 and ’25 drafts.

In closing, I was shocked to learn Sportsnet didn’t list the Pens in the free-agent losers bracket, an “honor” bestowed on the ‘Canes, Jets and Kings.

Guess they see us somewhere in the mushy, mediocre middle.