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.