The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed veteran enforcer Tom Sestito to a professional try-out contract, according to a release by general manager Jim Rutheford.
Sestito, 27, split last season between the Vancouver Canucks and their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. He had a hard time finding the lineup in Vancouver, as he was a frequently healthy scratch and also missed several weeks with a leg injury.
Sestito led the NHL in penalty minutes in 2013-14, racking up 213, the most in his professional career. Before his three seasons in the Vancouver organization, Sestito played for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Columbus Blue Jackets, who drafted him in the third round of the 2006 NHL draft.
In his 137 career NHL games, Sestito has just 10 goals and 8 assists to go with his 432 penalty minutes, and he has played in just one playoff game.
At this stage in his career and the state of fighting in the NHL, it seems most likely that Sestito is hoping to earn a job with the Penguins AHL team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Sestito joins defenseman Sergei Gonchar as veteran players that the Penguins have brought in for a tryout this season.
The historical results for those players are mixed. Last season, the Penguins chose not to sign forward Dan Carcillo after his camp tryout, but Carcillo later caught on with the Chicago Blackhawks. In 2013-14, forward Chuck Kobasew made the team after his camp tryout and played 33 games with the team.
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