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Free Agent Focus: Pittsburgh Penguins

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Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Penguins.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Emil Bemstrom – Bemstrom had an up-and-down season last year splitting time between the Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets. The 25-year-old was placed on waivers early in the season and went unclaimed before eventually getting dealt to the Penguins in February for Alexander Nylander and a conditional sixth-round pick. The trade was a gamble for the Penguins who were hoping for a bounce back in Pittsburgh but unfortunately for them and Bemstrom, he struggled and was a healthy scratch on multiple occasions. The Nykoping, Sweden native posted just three goals and two assists in 24 games, playing primarily on the team’s fourth line. Bemstrom has shown glimpses of being an effective passer with a good shot, however, they are overshadowed by long stretches where he doesn’t appear engaged and struggles in his own zone. Bemstrom might get a qualifying offer from the Penguins for $945K, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if the team cuts their losses and lets the forward become an unrestricted free agent.

D Pierre-Olivier Joseph – POJ looked like a non-tender candidate for much of last season until the last six weeks of the regular season. The former first-round pick was a healthy scratch for a big portion of the season and appeared to lose the trust of Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan. However, injuries and the poor play of fellow defenseman Ryan Graves forced Pittsburgh to reinsert Joseph into the lineup alongside Kris Letang and the results were quite impressive, albeit in a limited sample size. While he has not been able to put all his tools together at the NHL level, Joseph is very capable offensively and can lead the rush as well. He will likely have an opportunity on a low-risk bridge contract to show the Penguins that he belongs in the NHL and can play in their defensive unit.

Other RFAs:  F Corey Andonovski, F Maxim Cajkovic, F Dillon Hamaliuk

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Jansen Harkins – Harkins was a waiver wire pickup for the Penguins, coming over from the Winnipeg Jets. He quickly earned the trust of head coach Mike Sullivan who repeatedly plugged Harkins into the lineup despite his offensive shortcomings. Harkins would be demoted to the AHL at one point during the season before resurfacing on the team’s fourth line, as Sullivan liked his speed and physicality at the bottom of the lineup. The 27-year-old had just four assists in 45 games but started over 80% of his shifts in the defensive zone. Given his struggles offensively, Harkins is likely a 13th forward at best, but he can give a team minutes on the fourth line in a defensive role. He should be able to find a one-way contract for next season that will come in below $1MM.

G Alex Nedeljkovic – The Penguins gambled when they signed goaltender Nedeljkovic, hoping they were getting the player he was with the Carolina Hurricanes and not the version that struggled in Detroit the previous two seasons. He rewarded the Penguins with strong play down the stretch, nearly willing the team into the playoffs after wrestling the starters’ role from Tristan Jarry. The 28-year-old’s performance likely priced him out of Pittsburgh, but the Penguins have shown an interest in re-signing him. Teams could be scared off by Nedeljkovic’s wildly inconsistent play from year to year, but he should be able to find a short-term deal at nearly double the $1.5MM he made last season with Pittsburgh.

D Ryan Shea – Shea was finally able to crack an NHL lineup, dressing in 31 games last season for the Penguins. Injuries forced Pittsburgh to utilize Shea more frequently down the stretch and he rewarded the team as he formed a solid third pairing with Jack St. Ivany. Shea’s possession numbers weren’t great with a CF% of 49.2% at even strength, but he did start nearly 60% of his shifts in the defensive zone and was solid in his own end. Shea won’t find his way onto the scoresheet very often but will likely only command league minimum on a short-term deal. If the Penguins are looking to save cap room to address other needs, Shea is a good option for their sixth defenseman.

F Radim Zohorna – Zohorna had a terrific training camp with the Penguins and looked like a good bet to make the starting lineup. However, he was sent to the AHL to start the year and eventually earned a call-up. Once he was brought back to the NHL he made an impact in his first few games, forming a solid third line with Drew O’Connor and Lars Eller. However, after a few games, Zohorna disappeared for a long stretch and was eventually a healthy scratch before being demoted to the AHL once again. He finished the season with four goals and three assists in 33 games and is likely looking at another two-way contract with a league-minimum salary at the NHL level. Zohorna has good hands and passing, and stands 6’6”, however, he has never been a player who engages physically and doesn’t play like a power forward.

Other UFAs: D Taylor Fedun, F Vinnie Hinostroza, D Jack Rathbone, D Dmitri Samorukov

Projected Cap Space

The Penguins will enter the offseason with a shade under $13MM in available cap room which will limit their ability to make major roster improvements unless they can move out one of the many undesirable contracts on their books. The Penguins could move Reilly Smith which would open up an additional $5MM to pursue help in the top six or add some scoring to the bottom of their lineup. The Penguins could also try and move a player like Rickard Rakell for another underperforming player, but that would be a tough trade to make as he has four years remaining on his deal. Penguins’ fans would likely want to see defenseman Graves moved on, but with five years left on his deal at $4.5MM per year, it is highly unlikely that the contract can be traded without significant retention.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Evening Notes: Drysdale, Summer Showcase, Young Stars Classic

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Adam Kimelman of NHL.com is reporting that Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale should be ready for training camp in September after undergoing significant surgery in April. While the exact procedure is unknown, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere had said back on April 18th that Drysdale might need to have a procedure on his lower body.

Drysdale was acquired by the Flyers from the Anaheim Ducks along with a second-round pick in early January in exchange for Cutter Gauthier. He struggled after the trade, posting just two goals and three assists in 24 games, however, he suffered a significant injury in late February that looked to affect his left shoulder and caused him to miss 16 games. Briere did add that the former sixth overall pick would be better able to show his skillset after the most recent surgery and the latest ailment was in no way related to the previous shoulder injury

In other evening notes:

  • The World Junior Summer Showcase has officially been announced by USA Hockey (as per Steven Ellis of DailyFaceoff). The games will be held in Plymouth, Michigan between July 26th and August 3rd and will feature Team USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland. Teams will practice daily during the event and a total of nine international games will be played as part of the showcase. The event is a precursor that will offer players the opportunity to showcase themselves for their national teams prior to the 2025 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa, Ontario. That tournament will be played from December 26th, 2024, through January 5th, 2025.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have formally announced that they will host the Young Stars Classic rookie tournament in Penticton, British Columbia beginning on September 13th. The four-day tournament will feature four teams as the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Winnipeg Jets will participate alongside Vancouver in a six-game round-robin format. The tournament began in 2010 and regularly features players who get into NHL games the following season.

Current NHL Free Agents

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Pro Hockey Rumors’ up-to-date list of current free agents is below. These are players who are free agents during the 2024-25 season. The player’s 2024 age is in parentheses.

This list includes players who played at least 10 games in 2023-24 or finished the season on a roster. It also includes players who appeared in at least one game in 2024-25. It will continue to be updated throughout the season.

You can access this list anytime under the “Pro Hockey Rumors Features” menu on the right sidebar on our desktop site or in the Flame menu on our mobile site. If you have any corrections or omissions, please contact us.

Updated 12/19/24 (10:59am CT)

Unrestricted Free Agents

Centers

Left Wingers

Right Wingers

Defensemen

Goaltenders

Sabres Name Michael Leone AHL Head Coach

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The Sabres have hired USA Hockey mainstay Michael Leone as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, per a team announcement Thursday. Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald was the first to report the hiring yesterday.

Leone succeeds Seth Appert, who’d been the head coach of the Amerks for the past four seasons. He was recently promoted to the NHL bench and will serve as an assistant on Lindy Ruff’s staff as he makes his return to Buffalo.

The 36-year-old Leone had a collegiate and low-level minors career as a player, topping out in the ECHL with the Toledo Walleye in the mid-2010s. After retiring, he immediately began his coaching career as an assistant with the ECHL’s Quad City Mallards for the 2017-18 season.

The Michigan native has quickly risen up the ranks ever since. He jumped to an assistant role with Bowling Green State University the following season before joining USA Hockey in 2019, first as an assistant with their national U-17 team on a squad that boasted Calder Trophy finalist Luke Hughes on its blue line.

He hopped between the U17 and U18 teams over the next few years, also serving as an assistant for the national team at various international tournaments, before moving back to league play in 2022. Tabbed as the GM and head coach of the Green Bay Gamblers of the major junior United States Hockey League, he’s guided them to a 66-41-17 record over the past two seasons.

Leone coached multiple NHL-affiliated prospects with the Gamblers this season, namely Blackhawks 2023 second-round pick Adam Gajan, NHL Utah prospect Julian Lutz, and Lightning 2023 fourth-round pick Jayson Shaugabay.

He’ll now be entrusted with the development of a deep Sabres prospect pool in which almost every player makes a stop in Rochester at some point. Next season’s roster is likely to include 2022 first-round picks Jiri Kulich and Noah Östlund up front, with other first-round picks Isak Rosen and Matthew Savoie being potential options to suit up for the Amerks if they don’t make the NHL roster out of camp.

Latest On Nikita Zadorov

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Earlier Thursday, it appeared there might be some progress on extension talks between the Canucks and pending UFA defenseman Nikita Zadorov, according to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. However, that was quickly refuted by Zadorov’s agent, Dan Milstein, and additionally  by a report from CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal, who said the likelihood of Zadorov remaining in Vancouver was looking “bleak.”

Zadorov, 29, was successful in his short stint with the Canucks. Picked up from the Flames via trade in late November, he finished the year with 14 points, a +6 rating and a whopping 102 PIMs in 54 games in a Vancouver sweater while averaging 17:04 per contest.

The legend of the 6’6″, 250-lb defender grew in the postseason, where he was arguably the team’s second-most valuable blue liner behind Norris finalist Quinn Hughes. He exploded for four goals and eight points in only 13 games, supplementing that with a +3 rating and good underlying metrics while averaging over 20 minutes per night.

That certainly boosted his value as he wraps up a two-year, $7.5MM contract he signed with Calgary in 2022. The hulking Russian has now logged at least 20 points in three consecutive seasons, posted a career-high 125 PIMs this season, and posted strong possession quality numbers during his previous two seasons in Calgary.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported last month that Zadorov would likely seek a six-year, $36MM ($6MM AAV) deal should he hit the open market. For a player without a lengthy history of playing top-four minutes, though, that’s a prohibitively expensive price tag.

Evolving Hockey projects Zadorov to receive a three-year deal at a $4MM cap hit, more in line with what shutdown defender Erik Gudbranson received from the Blue Jackets two summers go. In all likelihood, his next deal will likely fall somewhere in the middle of those two figures.

Maple Leafs, Predators Linked To Brett Pesce

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Expect the Maple Leafs and Predators to be two of the top suitors for Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce if he hits the open market next month, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports.

The Hurricanes are still attempting to extend Pesce after general manager Don Waddell resigned last month, but they haven’t been close to a deal since discussions started last summer. In fact, most believed he would be traded last summer to avoid losing him for nothing at the end of this season, but they took him off the trade block during training camp and decided to continue negotiations.

Recent reports around Pesce’s pending free agency suggest more of the same. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believed the Canes were holding firm at an offer of around $5MM annually on a five-year deal that Pesce wasn’t willing to accept.

Nashville was one of the teams interested in acquiring him when he was made available for trade last summer, Pagnotta notes, so it’s of no surprise to see them linked to Pesce again. They’re looking for a top-four defender to replace Ryan McDonagh, whom they traded back to the Lightning last month after acquiring him from Tampa in the 2022 offseason.

Pesce would be a similar stylistic fit, but unlike McDonagh, he’s a right-shot. That gives him a greater potential of sliding upward in the lineup to play alongside captain Roman Josi, also a left-shot, on the team’s top pairing.

He’s used to heavy usage, averaging over 20 minutes per game for eight straight seasons. The 29-year-old is coming off a down year offensively with only three goals and 13 points in 70 games, but his career averages suggest the two-way blue-liner is more of a 25-to-30-point producer over a full season.

The New York native has earned sparse Norris consideration in the past, receiving votes in 2018 and 2020. His possession numbers are still strong, controlling 54.4% of shot attempts at even strength throughout his career. He’s also had an expected goals share north of 50% for the past four years, per Hockey Reference.

It’s no surprise to see Toronto engaged in Pesce rumors, either. They’ll be in on nearly all of the top defensemen on this summer’s UFA market, but especially right-shots. Ideally, second-year GM Brad Treliving is looking for a stable partner for top offensive blue liner Morgan Rielly, who’s had a rotating cast of shutdown partners over the past few seasons.

The Leafs lack puck-movers outside of Rielly among their defense corps, and while it’s not a hallmark of Pesce’s game, he would be a small upgrade over Jake McCabe and the outgoing T.J. Brodie in that regard. He’s eclipsed 20 assists four times in his career, including a career-high 25 helpers in 2022-23.

Evolving Hockey’s contract projections peg Pesce to land a six-year, $5.5MM AAV deal on the open market, slightly lengthier and richer than his rumored extension offer in Carolina. That would be feasible for both the Leafs and Preds, who enter the offseason with a decent amount of salary cap flexibility.

Kings Sign Akil Thomas To Two-Year Extension

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June 6: The Kings made Thomas’ extension official Thursday. It carries a cap hit of $775K, confirming he’ll earn the league-minimum base salary in both seasons of the deal.

June 5: The Kings have agreed to terms on a two-year extension with center Akil Thomas, reports The Fourth Period’s Dennis Bernstein. Thomas was slated to become a restricted free agent on July 1. He’ll have a two-way salary structure next season before converting to a one-way deal in 2025-26.

A second-round pick of in 2018, Thomas returns for his fifth and sixth professional seasons in the Kings organization. He’s been a mainstay for their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, since making his professional debut in 2020.

Thomas only recently made his NHL debut, impressing with three goals and an assist in a late-season seven-game call-up a few months back. It was a good sign for the one-time World Juniors gold medalist, who was once viewed as one of the Kings’ top prospects but has had significant injury struggles in the past few years. His 71 combined games played for the Kings and Reign this season were his most at any level.

With added health came added production. The 24-year-old right-shot pivot served as an alternate captain for the Reign while putting up career highs offensively, ranking fourth on the team in scoring with 46 points (22 goals, 24 assists) in 64 games.

Thomas’ rookie deal ran out last summer, prompting him to sign a one-year, two-way deal that paid him $775K in the NHL and $100K in the minors this season. While financial details haven’t been reported yet, he’ll likely earn a significant AHL pay bump with the potential for a slightly increased NHL salary.

He’s no longer waiver-exempt, so if the Kings cut him from the roster, they would have to expose him to the league’s other 31 teams during training camp. Signing Thomas to a two-year deal is partially a deterrent to keep teams away from claiming him if they go that route, but a one-way commitment in the second half is a promising sign that they envision Thomas still capping out as an NHL contributor as he enters his mid-20s.

Snapshots: Warsofsky, Radulov, Utah Branding

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The San Jose Sharks have interviewed a long list of candidates for their vacant head coaching position, including assistant coach Ryan Warsofsky who, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, is now pulling ahead as the favorite for the job. He pulls ahead of a list of interviewees that features Jay Woodcroft, Matt Nieto, Jeff Blashill, Jeff Halpern, and Jeremy Colliton. Warsofsky also interviewed for San Jose’s head coach role in 2022, though he was ultimately hired behind David Quinn.

Warsofsky oversaw San Jose’s defense and penalty kill while serving behind Quinn, serving as the coach behind Erik Karlsson’s 101-point, Norris Trophy-winning season last year. But he was also the coach behind San Jose’s 326 goals allowed this season – the third-most of any team over the last decade.

Warsofsky is just two years into his NHL coaching career – experiencing two of the staunchest extremes he could have – after leading the Chicago Wolves to the 2022 AHL Calder Cup Championship to cap off his three-year tenure as an AHL head coach. Warsofsky’s hire would follow a growing trend of teams finding their coaches internally, with each of Winnipeg, St. Louis, Seattle, and Los Angeles already promoting coaches to the NHL head coach role this off-season. The role in San Jose would be the first NHL head coaching role of Warsofsky’s still very young career.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Long-time Dallas Stars forward Alexander Radulov has signed a one-year contract with the KHL’s Lokomotiv (Twitter link). Radulov has spent the last two seasons with Kazan Ak-Bars, posting a combined 41 goals and 97 points across 120 games. He’s remained productive, even at the age of 37, and will now be set to play with the fourth KHL club of his career – after four seasons with Ufa, four with CSKA Moscow, and two with Kazan. Those seasons add to Radulov’s nine-year career in the NHL, where he totaled 368 points in 524 career games spent with three different clubs. With no signs of slowing down, Radulov will look to vindicate this one-year contract with a strong season and continue his trek to becoming just the 19th KHL player to play beyond 40 years old.
  • NHL Utah is down to six finalists for its permanent name after an initial vote yielded over 500,000 responses. They’ll be called the Utah Blizzards, Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom or Utah Yeti beginning with the 2025-26 season. They’ll carry temporary Utah Hockey Club branding for their inaugural 2024-25 campaign. Fans can choose between the six finalists using this link.

Lightning Sign Declan Carlile To Two-Year Extension

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3:15 p.m.: Carlile’s deal carries a $775K base salary in both seasons, which will serve as his cap hit. He’ll earn $100K in AHL salary with a $150K guarantee next season, increasing to a $250K AHL salary with a $350K guarantee in 2025-26.

The Lightning have signed defenseman Declan Carlile to a two-year, two-way extension, per a team announcement Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Carlile, 24, made his NHL debut this season on Jan. 4 against the Wild, posting a +1 rating, one hit and two blocks in 11:27 of ice time. It remains his only major-league appearance to date.

The Bolts picked up the undrafted blue liner as a free agent signing out of Merrimack College in 2022, and his entry-level contract was set to expire this summer. He’s spent nearly all of the past two seasons on assignment to AHL Syracuse, where he finished second in scoring among defensemen this season with 27 points (seven goals, 20 assists) in 61 contests. He also added a goal and four assists in eight playoff games as the Crunch were eliminated in the North Division Finals by the Cleveland Monsters.

He’ll now remain in the Tampa Bay organization through the 2025-26 season. He’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry, but he’ll be eligible to reach unrestricted free agency early via Group VI status if he plays fewer than 80 career NHL games by the time the extension runs out.

In the likely event that Carlile doesn’t crack the Bolts’ opening night roster, they won’t need to place him on waivers to return him to Syracuse to begin next season. He has one season and 69 NHL games played remaining until he loses his waiver exemption, meaning they would need to waive him to begin 2025-26 if he’s cut from training camp.

Sharks Looking To Add Top-Four Defenseman In Free Agency

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The Sharks will look to pick up an experienced top-four blue liner when the free agent market opens July 1, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.

San Jose, coming off a last-place 19 wins and 47 points, allowed the most goals in the league last season, conceding nearly four per game on average. That was despite largely solid performances in the net from Mackenzie Blackwood and Kaapo Kähkönen, their tandem for most of the season, who each performed slightly above expected, per MoneyPuck.

That places the blame squarely on an understaffed defense led by Mario Ferraro, journeyman depth piece Jan Rutta and rookie Henry Thrun. A blue line that was designed to fail after shipping out Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the Penguins over the summer performed as expected. According to MoneyPuck, the Sharks allowed 313 expected goals against in all situations, 24 more than the second-to-last Blue Jackets, who had 289.

Thus, with their big offseason splash at forward already set in the form of projected first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini, prioritizing defense on the open market is the logical choice for general manager Mike Grier. Most of the Sharks’ cast last season is set to return – veteran Jacob MacDonald (who played forward for half the season anyway) is the only pending UFA.

But pushing overworked depth pieces down the depth chart is never a bad thing, and any addition will have its benefits outside of the player’s skill set. Allowing for reduced minutes for the trio above, plus reduced responsibility for others like Calen Addison and Kyle Burroughs, should lead to a slight overall improvement in their defensive game.

In terms of specific targets, Sean Walker is a name to watch when Free Agent Frenzy begins, Pagnotta said. The 29-year-old is coming off a career season in which he scored 10 goals and 29 points in 81 games split between the Flyers and Avalanche, averaging a career-high 19:14 per game to boot.

Like everyone else on the Sharks’ roster, putting him in a top-pairing role is likely asking too much of him, but he’s still an upgrade on anyone they have. He logged a career-high 19:14 per game last season after toiling in third-pairing roles for the Kings the past few seasons, posting strong even-strength possession metrics (53.2 CF%) and logging significant time on the penalty kill in Philadelphia before being stripped of special teams usage on a deep Colorado blue line after a deadline deal sent him to Denver.

Walker’s market value has never been higher, too, and signing with a team with virtually infinite cap space this summer would allow him to take full advantage of it. Evolving Hockey projects him to land a five-year, $5MM AAV deal on the open market, but he could likely bump that figure up in negotiations to join a rebuilder in San Jose.

The Sharks won’t be alone in their pursuit of Walker, though. Pagnotta reports the Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Predators and Stars are all expected to engage with the defender’s camp once free agency begins. After going without a point in 11 playoff games for the Avs with a -5 rating, it seems highly unlikely he’ll re-sign with a cap-strapped club dealing with financial uncertainty fueled by the futures of Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin.

There are plenty of other defenders with top-four experience for the Sharks to target if they don’t get Walker. While the biggest names like Brandon Montour and Brady Skjei seem unlikely to join a team in the throes of a rebuild, Alexandre Carrier, Matt Roy and former Shark Dylan DeMelo are names with top-four experience that could make sense.

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