Hockey IQ and plenty of offensive production. The Pittsburgh Penguins targeted more of those attributes when they signed NCAA free agent defenseman Jake Livanavage to a two-year entry-level contract Friday.<\/p>\n
Livanavage, 21, is an Arizona native who came up through the Jr. Coyotes program, spent a few years in the USHL with the Chicago Steel and then a few seasons with one of college hockey\u2019s most storied programs and arenas at the University of North Dakota. This season, the left-handed Livanavage scored five goals with 20 assists, 25 points and was plus-15 in 39 regular-season games.<\/p>\n
When you are cutting the Jake Livanavage tape and you come across a sequence so good you have to stop and tweet it pic.twitter.com\/KrTrDwRB03<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) April 11, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n The contract will begin immediately and run through the end of next season, the 2026-27 season. Livanavage will not report to Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton, but instead report to directly to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n The Penguins may have gotten a better look at the D-man as they scouted their own 2024 seventh-round pick, Mac Swanson, who is also a member of the UND squad. Livanavage also played for the U.S. Collegiate Selects with fellow Penguins prospect Zam Plante at the 2026 Spengler Cup.<\/p>\n The 5-foot-11, 190-pound blueliner spent three seasons (2023-26) at UND, playing in 117 games, scoring 14 goals, 68 assists and 82 points.<\/p>\n While many reports indicate his size is an issue, 190 pounds isn\u2019t slight. Scouting reports from his drafts years also indicate a strong hockey IQ, which fits the motif of Wes Clark and Kyle Dubas, who gravitate toward those types of players in hopes of working on their physical skills. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: Jake Livanavage<\/a> Penguins news<\/a> <\/p>\n Categorized:Penguins News<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t