Free Agent Focus: Pittsburgh Penguins
Free agency is now barely two weeks 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 also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Penguins.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Connor Dewar – Acquired at the trade deadline from Toronto, the change of scenery worked out rather well for Dewar as he had seven points in 17 games down the stretch while seeing his playing time jump up by more than four minutes a game. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he finished the year with just 10 points in 48 outings. The contract he was on was structured to allow for a lower qualifying offer ($819K) than his AAV ($1.18MM) but arbitration rights loom large as he has 238 career NHL appearances. If the two sides can agree on a deal before the tender deadline that’s around what he made this season, that would be ideal but if it gets to the point of requiring the qualifying offer, it would be surprising to see it issued, which would allow Pittsburgh to avoid arbitration.
D Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Non-tendered by the Penguins to avoid the risk of an arbitration hearing last summer, Joseph made his way to St. Louis where he struggled, resulting in Pittsburgh bringing him back midseason for extra depth. He got a few more minutes per game with the Pens but remained more of a depth piece than a full-time regular. The same issue exists now as it did a summer ago. He’s owed a $997.5K qualifying offer but with arbitration eligibility, he’s a non-tender candidate if something can’t be worked out before then.
D Conor Timmins – Also brought in from Toronto at the deadline, Timmins was more impactful down the stretch than he had been the rest of the year, also picking up seven points in 17 games while averaging a little under 19 minutes per night of ice time. Like Dewar and Joseph, Timmins is arbitration-eligible as well but this was the only NHL season where he played in at least 35 games; the track record isn’t as much. Accordingly, the risk of a qualifying offer isn’t as significant. A one-year deal could earn him a raise closer to the $1.75MM mark but walk him right to UFA eligibility. Accordingly, a two-year pact might be more desirable for GM Kyle Dubas in which case the offer could land closer to the $2MM range.
F Philip Tomasino – After playing time with Nashville was hard to come by, Pittsburgh acquired the 2019 first-round pick in late November and he largely played a regular role down the stretch. While he wasn’t able to replicate his rookie-season numbers, he still managed 11 goals and 12 assists in 50 games in a little over 13 minutes a night with no power play time. That’s worthy of a longer look. The 23-year-old is owed a qualifying offer of just over $866K and, like everyone else on this list so far, is arbitration-eligible. A one-year deal that allows both sides more time to evaluate could make sense here with a price tag landing around the $1.5MM mark, a two-year pact would push the AAV closer to the $2MM range.
Other RFAs: F Raivis Ansons, F Emil Bemstrom, G Taylor Gauthier, F Filip Lindberg (signed in Finland), F Vasiliy Ponomarev (signed in KHL)
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
D Matt Grzelcyk – The decision to take a one-year deal with Pittsburgh last summer in the hopes of rebuilding some value seems to have worked out quite well for Grzelcyk. After a slow start, he found his footing and set new career-highs in assists (39) and points (40), making him the top point-getter among pending UFA blueliners. Of course, it also needs to be noted that he’s one of the smaller defensemen in the NHL and that almost certainly will affect his market. Nonetheless, after settling for $2.75MM last summer, he has a good chance of beating that while getting the multi-year deal that eluded him a year ago. He had a cap hit of just under $3.7MM on his last deal with Boston and with the expectations of some higher prices on the open market this year, Grzelcyk should be able to set a new personal best on that front next month.
F Joona Koppanen – The term ‘key’ here might be a little misleading but Koppanen is just one of three of their pending UFAs to play at least 10 NHL games this season so that lands him a spot here. He averaged a little under four hits per game in his limited action in 2024-25 and at 6’5, he has the size that some teams may covet for a depth spot in the lineup. A one-way deal might be hard to come by but the 27-year-old should have several suitors for a two-way pact on the open market.
F Matthew Nieto – Once a valued bottom-six forward, injuries have really derailed Nieto over the past two seasons as he has played in just 54 games combined, managing just seven points. A veteran of over 700 career appearances at the top level, he may be in tough to add to that by any significant amount next season. At this point, he looks more like a training camp PTO candidate than someone likely to get a guaranteed deal over the next few months.
Other UFAs: D Nathan Clurman, D Mac Hollowell (signed in KHL), D Filip Kral (signed in Czechia), F Jimmy Huntington, F Marc Johnstone, F Mathias Laferriere, D Colton Poolman
Projected Cap Space
Pittsburgh has the type of salary cap flexibility that they simply haven’t had in quite some time with over $23MM in room heading into the summer. That number shouldn’t be reduced by too much from re-signing their pending RFAs either. Normally, this would seemingly position the Penguins to be active in free agency. But Dubas has stated that he won’t be too active on that front while the hiring of Dan Muse as their head coach suggests they’re heading into more of a rebuild. With that in mind, they might not be spending that money early this summer and it would be surprising to see them anywhere near the $95.5MM Upper Limit at the start of 2025-26.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images (both players). Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.
Poulin Could Still Be In The Mix For Regular Time With Pittsburgh
- This season wasn’t a great one for Penguins winger Samuel Poulin. He cleared waivers during training camp and outside of a seven-game stint with Pittsburgh (six of which came in November), playing time at the top level was hard to come by. Even so, Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review feels that the 24-year-old still has a chance to be in Pittsburgh’s plans. With the team planning to get younger, the fact that he had a career-best 41 points with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, and his size as the heaviest player in the organization, Poulin could very well find himself in the mix with the big club next season. If not, he’ll have to pass through waivers again and could be a candidate to be claimed with his stronger showing in the minors this year.
Penguins Re-Sign Bokondji Imama To One-Year Contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed depth forward Bokondji Imama to a one-year, two-way contract that carries a league-minimum $775K salary at the NHL level. Imama split the 2024-25 season between the NHL and AHL rosters, and appeared in a career-high 16 games with the Pittsburgh lineup.
Imama blazed his style at the top flight this season. After years of establishing himself as a minor-league bruiser, he showed the control needed to maintain that title at the top level – with 30 penalty minutes and a plus-two in his NHL appearances. He also chipped in 47 penalty minutes and a minus-one in 24 AHL games – a modest total relative to seasons past. Imama led the Belleville Senators in PIMs last season, with 115 through 53 appearances. He held the same title with the 2021-22 Tucson Roadrunners, where he racked up a daunting 178 PIMs in 54 games played.
Through eight seasons in the AHL, Imama has averaged just over nine points a year. He’s a low-scoring, low-minutes depth forward with the smooth skating and pest tendencies to continue finding work at a pro level. A one-year deal will keep him in Pittsburgh’s depth charts as the team looks to move into a new era, with a much younger lineup. That fact could earn Imama even more ice time at the NHL level next season, though any minutes are likely to come in an extra-forward role.
Jaromir Jagr Hopes To Play 38th Professional Season
Enough will never be enough for former NHL superstar Jaromir Jagr. The two-time Stanley Cup Winner, five-time Art Ross Trophy winner, and future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer called an end to his NHL career in 2017-18, after 24 years in the league. But he’s continued his journey in pro hockey through this season, spending the last seven years with Rytíři Kladno in the Czechia Extraliga. Now, after completion of his 37th season in pro hockey, the legendary Jagr committed to one more year on TNT’s pre-game broadcast for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Jagr will extend his career after previously stating the 2024-25 season would be his last. But he performed well throughout the year, netting five goals and 16 points in 39 appearances. He told the TNT broadcast crew:
“I still love the game. I love to practice. I don’t want to get fat. I lost some weight right now, like 20 pounds, so I feel a little bit better… I just do it just to be healthy, and I just enjoy the existence…”
That sentiment will launch Jagr one step closer to spending four decades in pro hockey. He’s now 53 years old and no longer holds the majority ownership stake in Kladno’s hockey club – selling an 80 percent ownership stake in January, after previously serving as a rare combination of club player and owner for 14 years. It was under that title that Jagr supported Kladno’s surge back to Czechia’s top pro league in 2018, and then again in 2021. The team has stayed at the top level in the three seasons since.
Jagr’s physical upkeep seemed to be declining through last season. He only appeared in 15 games on the season, and – for the first time in his life – didn’t record a goal all season long. But he bounced back to form this year, appearing in more games than he has since the 2021-22 campaign, when he scored 19 points in 43 games.
With health back on his side, Jagr will look to continue Kladno’s surge at the top flight. The club finished second-to-last in the Extraliga last year, though they avoided relegation by four wins. Aside from Jagr, they were led by Eduards Tralmaks, who recently signed with the Detroit Red Wings after netting 51 points in 48 Czech games last season.
Jagr’s trophy cabinet has been filled beyond capacity. He’s a member of the Triple Gold Club – a winner of Gold Medals at the World Championship, Olympic Games, and a Stanley Cup winner – on top of taking home hardware at truly every level he’s appeared in. He may fall shy of repeating that in Czechia next season, but one more year will push Jagr even closer to the illustrious, unheralded feat of playing 40 years in pro sports.
Penguins Sign Melvin Fernstrom To Three-Year, Entry-Level Contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward prospect Melvin Fernstrom to a three-year, entry-level contract. Fernstrom was originally drafted in the third-round of the 2024 NHL Draft by the Vancouver Canucks. He was traded to the Penguins ahead of this year’s Trade Deadline, alongside a first-round pick and two depth pros in the deal that send Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor to Vancouver.
Fernstrom spent the bulk of the 2024-25 season with Orebro HK of Sweden’s SHL. It was his first full year of professional hockey and he dotted it with eight goals and 17 points in 48 appearances. That stat line doesn’t jump off the page, but Fernstrom’s scoring did lead all U19 skaters in the SHL. In fact, his scoring total falls closely in line with current and former NHL fixtures like Magnus Paajarvi, Adrian Kempe, and Alexander Holtz — who all managed either 16 or 17 points in their own U19 seasons in the SHL.
For his part, Fernstrom earned his pro role on the back of responsible and smooth hockey across the board. He’s a strong skater even despite a lanky frame, and uses that to find his spots and weave between his teammates well. When he can’t, he has a laser wrist-shot that’s dangerous anywhere below the tops of the circles. He may not fall into the clear category of playmaker, but showed an abundance of confidence in handling the puck around pro defenders and finding ways to set up his teammates.
Fernstrom recorded 63 points in 45 games in Sweden’s U20 league – and added eight points in seven games at the World U18 Championship – in his draft year last season. That stat line, and his smooth style, led to a confident third-round selection, though some public scouts like Craig Button had him ranked as a second-round talent. Fernstrom was a priority addition to the Pettersson trade, and Pittsburgh will now take the first step in trying to bank on the upside he offers. Fernstrom is expected to return to the SHL next season, but could be a candidate to join the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins when Orebro’s 2025-26 campaign concludes.
Penguins’ Vasiliy Ponomarev Signs In KHL
June 11: As expected, Ponomarev has indeed signed in the KHL after Avangard Omsk acquired his rights. The team announced on its Telegram account that they’ve signed him to a three-year contract. Ponomarev will still be RFA-eligible at the end of the contract so as long as he’s tendered a qualifying offer at the end of this month, Pittsburgh will still hold his NHL rights.
June 6: The Pittsburgh Penguins could soon lose a promising young winger. 23-year-old Vasiliy Ponomarev is expected to sign in the KHL after not being guaranteed NHL playing time next season from Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, shares Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now. Dubas adds that Ponomarev has switched his Russian representation and is in the midst of working out a KHL deal. The GM also added that Pittsburgh will issue a qualifying offer to the young forward, and thus will retain his rights for the duration of his European stay.
Ponomarev’s KHL rights were traded to Avangard Omsk on Wednesday. He made his pro debut in the Moscow Spartak pipeline in 2021-22, stepping into 14 KHL games and recording two points with the club. He also appeared in 21 games in the VHL – Russia’s second-tier pro league – that season and scored 13 points. It was all a part of Ponomarev’s brief return to Russian hockey after he was drafted out of Canada’s QMJHL in 2020. He returned to America at the tail end of the 2021-22 campaign, and spent his first 29 AHL games supporting the Chicago Wolves in a push to the Calder Cup championship. He scored 16 points in those appearances.
Ponomarev kept the good times rolling in his first full season in the AHL, netting 24 goals and 46 points in 64 games with the Wolves – and adding one goal and one assist in his the first two NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes. But the Hurricanes ultimately opted against the gritty Russian – and loaned him to the Tuscon Roadrunners, then traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, partway through the 2023-24 campaign. Ponomarev has since appeared in 59 games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, where he’s recorded 16 goals and 42 points. He also appeared in seven games in the NHL lineup this season, but didn’t manage any scoring.
At 23 and with a history of international travel between seasons, news of a return to the KHL won’t entirely rule out Ponomarev’s chances at playing full-time for the Penguins one day. He’s been a productive and physical forward at the AHL levels, but has so far received minimal opportunity to do the same in the NHL. A move back to Russia will mark a chance to play in a league somewhere between North America’s pros – and a chance for Ponomarev to prove he can be a top-end center on a productive pro club.
Mario Lemieux-Led Group Interested In Stake In Penguins
5:00 PM: FSG has issued a statement following reports of Lemieux’s interest, walking back claims that a stake in the Penguins is up for sale shares Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. FSG’s statement mentioned that the Penguins are only interested in finding a small, passive partner. They went on to add that they’re engaging multiple potential investors – potentially hinting at more than the one engaged investment group mentioned by LeBrun.
3:30 PM: The Pittsburgh Penguins’ ownership group could be due for yet another shakeup. Franchise legend Mario Lemieux, billionaire Ronald Burkle, and partner David Morehouse owned the majority stake in the club as a subsidiary of Lemieux LP from 1999 to 2021, but made a major move to sell the franchise to the Fenway Sports Group just before 2022. Now, three years later, Lemieux and co are interested in rebuying a stake in the Penguins’ franchise, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.
Lemieux continued to serve as a club chairman through this season – but his renewed interest in returning to the ownership chair will come as welcome news for Penguins fans. LeBrun adds that Lemieux, Burkle, and Morehouse’s interest comes after Fenway Sports Group (FSG) expressed interest in selling a partial stake in the company. He also shared that the Hall-of-Famer isn’t the only party interested in the offer, and that FSG owner John Henry is also in discussions with another group.
Lemieux LP would be buying back into the team at a considerable markup. Their 2021 sale to FSG cost a reported $900MM, per TSN, but the most recent Forbes ranking claimed that the club has nearly doubled in value ($1.75B). Having a mainstay of Penguins hockey at the helm could be beneficial as the club looks to maintain that evaluation through the retirement of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang – three legends all likely to end their careers in the new few years. FSG has employed general manager Kyle Dubas to lead the ship through their looming change. He’s already taken steps towards the future by replacing decade-long head coach Mike Sullivan with NHL-rookie Dan Muse.
The legacy of Lemieux in Pittsburgh can’t be understated. He, with help from Burkle, saved the club from bankruptcy for an estimated $1.07MM in 1999 – one year after Lemieux was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He’d return to play five more seasons with the club from 2000 to 2006, capping off a career that many regard as one of the NHL’s finest. Lemieux recorded an incredible 1,723 points in 915 career games, and built a trophy cabinet that’s simply second-to-none. Among it are two Stanley Cup wins, which he earned with a boost from partner-in-crime Jaromir Jagr. Lemieux spent the entirety of his career in the Steel City, and knows the passion of Pittsburgh fans as well as any. His return to an owner role will be a journey worth following, even if it is still many steps away.
Canadiens, Penguins, Red Wings Interested In Nicolas Hague
Nicolas Hague‘s trade market continues to percolate. The Canadiens, Penguins, and Red Wings have joined the previously reported Flyers in demonstrating interest in the Golden Knights’ pending RFA defenseman’s services, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period today. Pagnotta added that the Golden Knights have informed Hague’s camp their focus is on a trade rather than a new contract, although a move is “not a guarantee.”
Hague is an intriguing option for teams looking to add a lefty who can cycle into top-four minutes amid a rather weak UFA market. He would slot in the third tier of available left-shot rearguards if he were old enough for unrestricted free agency, along with names like Brian Dumoulin, Matt Grzelcyk, Ryan Lindgren, and Nate Schmidt. He is, of course, younger than all of those options and, although he’s 26 years old, may still have a bit of room to grow into a steadier second-pairing piece. He’s projected to receive a two-year deal worth north of $2.6MM per season this summer, according to AFP Analytics. While that’s a tad prohibitive for the Golden Knights, who have bigger moves in mind, it won’t be a salary-cap hurdle for nearly every interested party.
The 6’6″ defender was Vegas’ own second-round pick in their inaugural 2017 draft class. Hague has spent his entire career in Nevada, almost exclusively as the left-shot option on their third pairing. Buried on the depth chart for years behind Brayden McNabb and now Noah Hanifin as well, his ice time took a small hit this year, averaging 17 minutes per game following three years of seeing 18-plus per game.
A steady 10-20 point producer, that’s not why teams are interested. He’s a good fringe second-pairing option with PK deployability, size, physicality, and historically strong possession metrics. ‘Historically’ is doing some heavy lifting there, though. His two-way play wasn’t particularly adept in 2024-25, at least at even strength. His -4.9% relative shot-attempt share was a career-low, especially considering he received rather even offensive and defensive zone deployment. His control of possession quality (expected goals) also fell below 50% at even strength for the first time in his six-year career.
There’s enough of a track record there for reasonable optimism surrounding a rebound, though. The Ontario native enters the summer with 83 points and a +20 rating in 364 career regular-season games, and he logged 18:34 per night in Vegas’ run to the 2023 Stanley Cup.
Perhaps no team among those mentioned needs a cost-effective player like Hague more than Detroit. Negative-value signings on defense over the past few years have hampered their ability to exit their rebuild, with aging names like Ben Chiarot and Justin Holl incapable of having success in anything above a third-pairing role. Hague, while untested in 20-plus minute deployment, would be a younger, cheaper, and better-skating option than any of those other supplemental pieces behind young core defenders Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson.
There’s also a clear need for Hague’s services in Pittsburgh. While the Penguins are under far less pressure to contend for a playoff spot in 2025-26 than the Red Wings, they simply need more defenders in the system to avoid overdeploying their younger prospects while also ideally having the flexibility to move on from Erik Karlsson and begin winding down Kris Letang‘s workload. The Pens need another pickup on top of just Hague to accomplish that, but he’d go a long way toward helping and would immediately become their top left-shot option ahead of a paper-thin group behind him.
Hague would see a more familiar depth role in Montreal if that’s where he ends up. His acquisition is less about shifting him into top-four deployment – Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson, and Mike Matheson are all lefties and have that covered. It would be more about flexing enforcer Arber Xhekaj into a No. 6/7 role while having Hague replace him as the everyday left-shot option on their third pairing.
Mac Hollowell Signs In Russia
June 11: Yaroslavl made Hollowell’s addition official today, announcing a one-year deal for the defender on their Telegram channel.
May 29: Pending Group VI unrestricted free agent defenseman Mac Hollowell “is in the final stages of negotiations” to join Russia’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League, Andrey Pchelintsev of Sovsport.ru relays.
Hollowell, 26, hasn’t played in the NHL since receiving a six-game trial with the Maple Leafs in the 2022-23 campaign. He spent this season on a two-way deal with the Penguins after also becoming a Group VI UFA last summer, but he cleared waivers during training camp and went the entire year without a call-up.
The 5’10’, 176-lb righty thus played out his sixth minor-league season with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, leading their defensemen in scoring with 31 points (1 G, 30 A) in 56 games along with a minus-three rating. Pittsburgh was his third NHL organization. He was initially drafted by current Penguins GM Kyle Dubas in 2018 in the fourth round when he was at the helm in Toronto, playing four years in their system before being non-tendered in 2023. He signed a two-way deal with the Rangers that summer but was stashed with their AHL affiliate in Hartford for the entirety of the campaign before inking his most recent two-way agreement with Pittsburgh.
Without a clear pathway to NHL minutes, the Ontario native will look for an expanded role in one of the top leagues in the world. Lokomotiv is fresh off its first Gagarin Cup championship in franchise history. However, they’ve already lost a piece of their back end to the NHL in the form of 2023 No. 6 overall pick Dmitri Simashev, who signed his entry-level contract with the Mammoth yesterday. Hollowell, an adept puck-mover with a career 0.56 points per game rate in 244 AHL games, would be an impact pickup for a club with just three defenders under contract for next season at the time of writing.
Penguins Aiming To Reduce Kris Letang’s Minutes
The Penguins’ retool is in full swing. While the up-and-coming forward group benefits from having a still-effective Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell to build and develop around, the same can’t be said for the defense corps.
Pittsburgh’s depth issues on the blue line are compounded by the fact that neither of their top two rearguards is expected to return in their current roles next season. In addition to trade talks involving Erik Karlsson likely serving as the dominant storyline of the Penguins’ offseason, the organization is looking to have right-side mainstay Kris Letang slot lower on the depth chart next year as he enters his age-38 campaign, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports.
As Yohe writes, the Penguins’ front office believes a role reduction is the best way to get value out of the aging defender, who still has three seasons remaining on his contract at a $6.1MM price tag. This season marked Letang’s least effective performance in well over a decade. The lifelong Penguin, known primarily for his elite offensive ceiling, only managed a 9-21–30 scoring line in 74 games. That works out to 0.41 points per game, his worst offensive showing since the 2009-10 season. He only had 14 points in 39 games in the back half of the season, a 0.35 per-game rate.
His point production had already taken somewhat of a hit after the Karlsson pickup, since the latter superseded him on the top power play. That means most of his nosediving point totals had to do with a lack of even-strength output, a more concerning and less variable long-term factor. Letang recorded just 13 even-strength assists in 2024-25 after notching 35 of them, the second-highest mark of his career, the year before.
A reduction in minutes also makes sense for physical reasons. Letang is already fully recovered from the minor heart procedure he underwent in April to address the underlying cause of his two documented strokes, but it’s unrealistic to continue expecting him to shoulder such a high workload.
As Letang’s ice time decreased slightly for the third year in a row, there could be a more dramatic dropoff from the 23-minute range to the 20s next season as a result. He’s already entered the negative value stage that most knew was coming when he signed his six-year, $36.6MM extension in 2022. What wasn’t clear at the time was how the rest of the Penguins’ roster would look when that happened and how they would opt to move forward.
Nearly every scenario still involves Letang finishing his contract in Pittsburgh, Yohe writes. A buyout would be feasible if Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas decided he really needed the roster spot and additional cap space, but that’s rarely an avenue he takes. The negative reputational impact of paying the best defenseman in franchise history to not play for them likely outweighs any positives.
A trade is also out of the question. Letang’s no-movement clause notwithstanding, “it’s believed that no NHL teams are interested in Letang’s services” even if he decides to green-light a deal, according to Yohe.
Assuming Karlsson is moved, their plan for Letang only increases their desperate need for bodies on defense. That could increase their urgency to re-sign pending unrestricted free agent Matt Grzelcyk or put their names in the ring for one of the better free-agent blue-liners on a shorter-term deal while giving prospects like 2022 first-rounder Owen Pickering and 2024 second-rounder Harrison Brunicke a long leash to begin what could be an extremely difficult 2025-26 campaign defensively in Pittsburgh.