With their shopping apparently done when it comes to unrestricted free agents, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford took care of a couple of the teams restricted free agents on Thursday, inking both forward Jayson Megna and defenseman Philip Samuelsson to one-year deals.
Megna’s deal is a two-way contract and has an average annual value of $874,125 at the NHL level.
The 24-year old saw action at the NHL level for the first time in 2013-14 where he scored five goals, had four assists and nine points in 36 regular-season contests. He also suited up for two playoff games.
Megna played in 25 regular-season games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL and tallied 15 points (9G-6A). He also added three points (1G-2A) in 13 AHL playoffs games.
He was originally signed by the Penguins as an undrafted free agent in August 2012.
As for Samuelsson, he inked a two-way contract and has an average annual value of $550,000 at the NHL level.
The 22-year old made his NHL debut with the Penguins this past season, appearing in five games.
The son of former Pens defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, spent most of the 2013-14 campaign with WBS, notching 22 points (3G-19A) and was a career-high plus-17 in 64 games.
Samuelsson was drafted by the Penguins in the second round (61st overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft and is just one of a handful of good young Pens’ defensemen waiting to get an opportunity at the NHL level.
Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Penguins
