The Pittsburgh Penguins made some news on their day off on Monday by signing forward Blake Lizotte to a new three-year contract extension. It pays him $6.75 million over the duration of the contract, coming out to a salary cap number of $2.25 million per season.
There had been talk the Penguins were interested in re-signing Lizotte, who would have been an unrestricted free agent after this season, so it is not really a huge surprise to see something get done. The only surprise might be in the timing and how quickly it all came together.
Normally a contract extension for a bottom-of-the-lineup player is not something that will get you overly excited, and this should be no different. It is a fine move. Lizotte has been a sparkplug for the fourth line and penalty kill, and he has made a noticeable difference while he is in the lineup. He is a good player to have on the team. It is just not really much of a needle-mover in terms of a rebuild.
But it is also not a bad move.
There is almost no downside to and very little risk.
The three-year term might be a little longer than you need for a fourth-liner, but it is not excessive. It also probably helped reduce the salary cap number a little bit, and at $2.25 million per season he is basically making the same amount under the cap as he is on his current contract.
When he originally signed with the Penguins in free agency prior to the 2024-25 season, his contract accounted for 2.10 percent of the salary cap.
This contract accounts for 2.16 percent of the salary cap.
That percentage will only go down as the cap continues to rise in future seasons.
So while the average annual value is a little more in terms of real dollars for him, it will actually end up being a pay decrease as far as the Penguins’ salary cap situation is concerned. By the time the 2027-28 season rolls around, it will be just 1.9 percent of the salary cap, assuming it goes to the expected $113.5 million.
Plus, they do not really have much reason to be overly concerned with the salary cap given how much space they have beyond this season.
If there is a missed opportunity here it might have been his potential value as a trade chip at this year’s trade deadline. I do not think he would have brought back a major return (depth wingers do not bring a lot, even if they are good depth wingers), and certainly not anything more than a second-or third-round pick. But the Penguins are already loaded with second-and third-round picks over the next couple of seasons, so much so that it would probably make sense for them to package some of them in other trades, either to move up in a draft class or look to acquire more NHL-level help.
There is also the fact the Penguins are still very much in the playoff race right now, and Lizotte is very much a part of that.
Beyond that, Lizotte’s game probably is not going to deteriorate that much over the next couple of years that he will lose future trade value. If anything, having some additional term left on his contract might even make him a more attractive and more valuable trade asset next year or the year after if they look to move him them. Teams like cost certainty, and cheap term for a quality depth player might be worth an extra round on potential draft pick compensation.
At the end of the day somebody needs to play on your fourth line. That fourth-line player is probably going to cost similar to what Lizotte is making whether it is him, or somebody else. You know he is a good player in that role. You know he fits in here. You know he is probably still going to have future trade value.
It is not a needle-mover by any means. It is also not a bad move. It is a relatively low-risk move that just makes sense. There is no real downside to it.