Penguins hopeful new environment will spark forward Anthony Beauvillier

It wouldn’t be entirely accurate to look at Anthony Beauvillier’s career and label him as a journeyman.

But if you glance at his 2023-24 season, yes. He journeyed a lot.

Opening the campaign as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, he was dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 28, then was on the move again after being traded to the Nashville Predators on March 7.

His latest stop is with the Pittsburgh Penguins after he signed a one-year contract worth $1.25 million Monday.

The Penguins are hoping the former first-round pick (No. 28 overall in 2015) can regain the form that allowed him to score a career-best 21 goals in 2017-18 as a member of the New York Islanders, the team he spent most of the first seven years of his career with.

Last season, the left-handed Beauvillier, 27, appeared in 60 games and produced only 17 points (five goals, 12 assists).

“I don’t think this last stretch has gone particularly well for him by any measure,” Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas said Monday in Cranberry. “But, when you watch the film and you start to dig into it, that player that was so effective for the Islanders and going back to his draft year and just continuing to get better and better is still there. We just have to provide the environment for him to show that again.”

Blake Lizotte is in a new environment as well after the Penguins signed the former Los Angeles Kings forward to a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $1.85 million.

Undrafted, Lizotte, 26, has spent his entire six-year NHL career with the Kings. Last season, the left-hander played in 60 games and scored 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) while primarily deployed in a bottom-six role.

The blue line will feature another reclamation project in defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, who was signed to a one-year deal worth $2.75 million.

A third-round pick (No. 85 overall) in 2012, the left-handed Grzelcyk has spent his entire eight-year career with his hometown Boston Bruins until this point.

Last season, he largely struggled, appearing in 63 games and posting 11 points (two goals, nine assists). During the playoffs, he was a healthy scratch for 10 of the Bruins’ final 11 games.

The Penguins also signed a handful of reserves who will likely spend most of the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Forwards Jimmy Huntington and Bokondji Imama as well as defensemen Nathan Clurman and Mac Hollowell were all signed to one-year, two-way contracts.

Huntingdon helped the Hershey Bears win the AHL’s Calder Cup by scoring 33 points (16 goals, 17 assists) in 67 games while Imama offers some toughness, having accrued 115 penalty minutes in 53 games with the AHL’s Belleville Senators last season (as well as three goals and seven assists).

Hollowell was an All-Star in the AHL last season, scoring 44 points (three goals, 41 assists) for the Hartford Wolf Pack. The right-hander was a fourth-round pick No. 118 overall) in 2018 when Dubas was that team’s general manager.

Clurman was a sixth-round pick (No. 161 overall) of the Colorado Avalanche in 2016. Last season, he appeared in 37 games for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles and scored five points (one goal, four assists.)

The only free-agent departures from the Penguins on Monday were reserve forward Vinnie Hinostroza (Nashville Predators — two years) and defenseman Jack Rathbone (Buffalo Sabres — one year), who each signed two-way contracts elsewhere.

Hinostroza, 30, appeared in 14 NHL games for the Penguins last season and scored three points. With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the right-hander played in 42 contests and totaled 35 points (16 goals, 19 assists).

The left-handed Rathbone, 25, spent most of 2023-24 with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, appearing in 67 games and scoring 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists).