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Anthony Mantha, Calgary Flames (Photo by Derek Cain/Getty Images)

Penguins Have Had a Great Start to Free Agency

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Nicholas Kramer | Last updated Jul 3, 2025 8:35 AM ET

As expected, the Pittsburgh Penguins did not make many, if any, front-page worthy signings in the first two days of free agency. However, if you are a Penguins fan, this is a good thing. With over $20 million in cap space before the free agency period began, it was possible for the Penguins to sign several big-time free agents like Brock Boeser or Mikael Granlund. Instead, they made some minor moves and did not take massive risks or spend substantial amounts of money on long-term contracts.

Who Did the Penguins Sign?

Just because the Penguins did not make any eye-popping signings does not mean that general manager Kyle Dubas was not busy on the first two days of free agency. In fact, the Penguins signed eight players, none of whom carry an average annual value (AAV) exceeding $2.5 million, and none for a term longer than two years. Dubas is looking to avoid any Ryan Graves-type contracts that would financially hamstring the Penguins for multiple seasons.

The most expensive player was forward Anthony Mantha, whom Dubas inked to a one-year $2.5 million deal. He only played 13 games last season for the Calgary Flames before an ACL injury ended his season prematurely. He is a large human, standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing 234 pounds, but has not lived up to his first-round potential. He will, in all likelihood, not be with the Penguins for an extended period, but he is worth taking a flyer on. Maybe playing next to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will reinvigorate him, and then the Penguins can move him at the deadline for a draft selection or prospects.

The Penguins also signed former Boston Bruins defender Parker Wotherspoon to a one-year $1 million deal. I mentioned in my last article how the Penguins needed left-handed defense help in the worst way, and while Wotherspoon is not an Ivan Provorov-type solution to their problems, he is a cost-effective short-term fix to the Penguins’ defensive issues. Since this is a one-year deal, Wotherspoon will not drastically limit the playing time of younger players, such as Owen Pickering.

Who Did the Penguins Not Sign?

While the list of players the Penguins signed is not particularly impressive, they did not make any financially crippling or abjectly bad signings on July 1. There were several questionable signings on the opening day of free agency. I do not have the space to cover all of them, but here are a few of the notable ones:

Cody Ceci – four years, $4.5 million AAV with the Los Angeles Kings
Brian Dumoulin – three years, $4 million AAV with the Kings
Ryan Lindgren – four years, $4.5 million AAV with the Seattle Kraken
Tanner Jeannot – five years, $3.4 million AAV with the Boston Bruins

Firstly, with Ceci, he was not a good player on either the San Jose Sharks or Dallas Stars last season, and at 31 years old, this is a sizable contract for a third-pair defender. The same applies to Dumolin, who was a significantly better player than Ceci was last season. However, he is 34 and is not worth a $4 million a year deal, let alone that amount for three years. Lindgren is not even close to a $4.5 million a year defender, and Jeannot amassed just 13 points last season. The Jeanot signing is probably the most confusing free agency signing so far. The Penguins seemed to have learned their lesson from the Graves deal in 2023 and did not want to risk financially handcuffing themselves for an extended period.

While the Penguins did not make any newsworthy signings or trade acquisitions since the 2024-25 season ended, they have nonetheless had a successful offseason. They have not committed significant financial resources to players who will not live up to the value of their deals, and they have maintained their financial flexibility not only for the upcoming trade deadline but also for the 2026 offseason, when they will have a projected $51 million in cap space. They will have room at the deadline to acquire some bad expiring deals in exchange for draft capital or prospects. The other free agency signings also make Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust’s contracts more appealing for other teams.