Pittsburgh Penguins: Zach Aston-Reese deal could lead to another trade

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed Zach Aston-Reese to a two-year $1 million AAV deal. Could another trade be coming?

There has not been too much happening with the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last few weeks. That changed today when they re-signed winger Zach Aston-Reese to a two-year, $2 million ($1 million AAV) contract extension.

When healthy, the 24-year-old winger has been an effective player for the Penguins. In 59 career NHL games, Aston-Reese has scored 12 goals and tallied 23 points. To this point, injuries have limited him from fulfilling his potential after signing with the Penguins as a college free agent.

At even-strength. Aston-Reese has had a positive impact on the Penguins controlling territory. As you will see below, he is better defensively than I thought. He has also become a trusted member of the Penguins penalty kill unit by Mike Sullivan and the coaching staff.

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Despite only playing in 43 games last season, Aston-Reese’s production was on a full-season pace of 15 goals, 17 assists, and 32 points. At a cap hit of $1 million, his career total of 2.08 points per hour is very good. If Aston-Reese can stay healthy, this contract will likely provide some bang your buck value amongst Penguins bottom-six forwards.

Per Natural Stat Trick, Aston-Reese played 180 even-strength minutes alongside Evgeni Malkin last season. With this duo on the ice, the Penguins generated the majority of the shot attempts (50%) and scoring chances (58%).

They also had an expected goals for percentage of 56%. Aston-Reese’s two games complemented Malkin quite nicely. Simply put, he was not driving the bus, but he did not crash it. He has the ability to played with elite talents.

Even after the Phil Kessel trade, Pittsburgh still has adequate forward depth. It is not as good as it was last season, but they should not struggle to score. Here is how my forward lines would look on Opening Night.

Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Dominik Simon

Alex Galchenyuk – Evgeni Malkin- Bryan Rust

Jared McCann– Nick Bjugstad– Patric Hornqvist

Zach-Aston Reese –Teddy Blueger –Dominik Kahun

Due to the annual insane summer signing of Brandon Tanev, these will not be the lines. That contract provides awful value. There is no reason to hand out six-year contracts to depth forwards. Tanev and Crosby are both signed through the 2025-26 season. I’d say that there is quite a talent gap between the two players.

Per Cap Friendly, the Penguins are currently over the salary cap by $157,000. With defenseman Marcus Pettersson still unsigned, another trade is coming in the near future. Pittsburgh’s blue-line is still the weak link on this roster.

If the Penguins want to become legitimate contenders again, Jack Johnson needs to be the off-season causality this time around. But with 13 NHL forwards, Nick Bjugstad and Bryan Rust are also candidates to be moved. I would obviously move Johnson and keep both Bjugstad and Rust in the fold. We’ll see if Jim Rutherford agrees. Thanks for reading!

Data from Quant Hockey was also used in this article. What do you think is next for the Penguins? Let us know in the comments!