Contract: $1.25 million x one year
I’m not the biggest
Anthony Beauvillier fan, but at a dirt cheap $1.25 million cap hit, it’s easy to see the upside case. Beauvillier struggled last season as he split time between Vancouver, Chicago and Nashville but the five years before that, he’s produced at a 19 goals and 39 points per 82 games pace. That includes scoring 18 goals and 40 points just a year ago in 2022-23.
Beauvillier’s long-term track record is that of a quality third-line winger and given that he only turned 27 a month ago, there’s a high probability last season was just a down year in a trade-filled season rather than a sign of precipitous decline. He’s an excellent skater, defensively responsible and has the scoring touch to produce at a middle-six rate. Beauvillier is streaky — he’ll go on heaters where he flashes top-six potential but also long stretches where he goes cold production wise and doesn’t accomplish much else.
The Penguins are starved of quality top-nine wingers which makes this a savvy bet. He should improve the Penguins’ speed, secondary scoring and could get looks further up the lineup depending on how he fits in — that’s good value for $1.25 million, especially when inferior, fourth-line quality players like
Sam Lafferty and
Ryan Lomberg both commanded $2 million x two years contracts on July 1.