Pittsburgh

Penguins

“I was chasing the whole year, and it’s unfortunate,” said Zucker. “But everyone goes through that at some point in their career, and for me it just happened to be last year. So I’m excited to get that out of the way. It’s a contract year for me, so I’m coming ready to play.” He will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer once his five-year, $27.5 million contract is completed. In 41 appearances during the 2021-22 campaign. Zucker registered eight goals and 17 points, but he has plenty of bounce-back appeal if he can stay healthy.

Heinen scored 18 goals and 33 points in 76 contests last season. He was an unrestricted free agent after the Penguins decided not to qualify him, but it seems the two sides were ultimately able to find a common ground anyways. That said, he’s taking a modest pay cut from last season’s $1.1 million salary.

Kapanen had filed for arbitration, so if the two sides couldn’t work out an agreement then he would have had a hearing. He had 11 goals and 32 points in 79 contests in 2021-22.

Kapanen is coming off a three-year, $9.6 million contract. He struggled in 2021-22 with 11 goals and 32 points in 79 games. Kapanen also had 129 shots and 110 hits, while averaging 14:32 of ice time per contest.

Poehling had nine goals and 17 points in 57 games last season. He’ll likely serve in a bottom-six role with the Penguins in 2022-23.

Petry wanted to be dealt for family reasons. Canadiens GM Ken Hughes had openly said that the team would attempt to fulfill Petry’s request, but only if it was in a trade that made sense for the team. To that end, the Penguins had to surrender a solid defenseman in Mike Matheson, but Jeff Petry should be an upgrade. Petry had six goals, 27 points, 117 blocks, and 140 hits in 68 contests while averaging 22:07 minutes last season and that was a down campaign for him. He has a good chance to bounce back in Pittsburgh and record over 40 points. Petry does come with a $6.25 million cap hit for each of the last three seasons, but between trading Matheson in this exchange and dealing John Marino earlier in the day, Pittsburgh can accommodate that cap hit.

Smith has a year left on his entry-level contract while Marino comes with a $4.4 million cap hit, so the Penguins are clearing up a significant amount of space with this trade. Smith had five goals and 20 points in 66 games while averaging 17:30 minutes last season. He did struggle defensively though. At the age of 22, he has room for growth.

The three-year deal will start when Pickering leaves junior hockey and plays in the Penguins organization. Pickering is a big defenseman, six-foot five and will eventually fill out his 180 pound body. He is a good skater but does need work offensively so his fantasy value at this time is limited.

It’s a return home for Lizotte who began his professional career with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Lizotte played in his first NHL game last season with Minnesota but played the rest of the campaign with the Iowa Wild of the AHL where he had two goals and nine points in 56 games.

The defenseman had three goals and 24 assists last season for WBS. Reinke has played two NHL games but you have to go back to the 2017-18 season for his NHL debut with St. Louis and he also played in one playoff game with the Blues in 2021.