The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Tuesday that the team has signed defense prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph to a one-way, two-year contract extension to carry him through the 2023-24 season. The deal carries a cap hit of $825,000.
It seems like the 23-year-old Joseph is set to make the jump to the NHL full-time any day now, and the willingness of Pittsburgh to hand out a one-way extension is proof the organization believes that to be true. A 2017 first-round selection by the Arizona Coyotes (acquired in the Phil Kessel trade), Joseph has improved steadily throughout his three years of professional experience in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, capping off his 2021-22 season with 33 points in 61 regular-season games and five points in six playoff games.
With 20 NHL games under his belt over the past two years, Joseph knows what he has to do to play at this level and fit in with the Penguins’ system under Mike Sullivan. It wouldn’t surprise anyone at this point to see Pittsburgh aggressively try to shop a defenseman to make room for Joseph in the lineup (and to clear much-needed cap space), most likely John Marino or Marcus Pettersson.
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