Penguins Sign Hendrix Lapierre To Two-Year Deal

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed winger Hendrix Lapierre to a two-year, $2.6MM contract. Pittsburgh acquired the young forward from the Washington Capitals ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft. The deal sent Pittsburgh’s 2027 third-round pick and San Jose’s 2028 fifth-round pick to the Capitals. Lapierre will now sign with his former rival, leaving wingers Nick Robertson and Yegor Chinakhov, as well as goaltender Arturs Silovs, as the Penguins’ remaining restricted free agents.

Lapierre has seen highs and lows through his first four seasons in the NHL. He scored just 16 points in 74 games this season, doubling his mark through 27 games of the 2024-25 season but still falling short of his career-high 22 points scored in 2023-24. Lapierre has also appeared in 53 AHL games since 2023, scoring 49 points. He also contributed 22 points in 20 games to the Hershey Bears’ 2024 Calder Cup championship.

Lapierre battled through injuries in the early days of his career and has faced a challenge to earn a nightly lineup role ever since. With so many young prospects pushing for NHL roles out of Hershey, Lapierre quickly began to lose standing in that race. The Penguins will benefit from Washington’s crowded room, landing a forward who offered upside as a scoring center at the junior level. Lapierre has filled a wing role through his first years in the NHL – with a meager 38.4 win percentage on 705 faceoffs at the top level so far. Pittsburgh seems poised to continue to deploy Lapierre as a winger, likely on the flank of either Thomas Novak or Benjamin Kindel. His spot in the lineup will be largely determined by the deals handed out to Chinakhov and Robertson, who will represent Lapierre’s top competition for minutes.