Penguins sign defenseman Jack St. Ivany, forward Jonathan Gruden to extensions

Jack St. Ivany proved to be a small but key component of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ valiant but futile push for a playoff spot in the final weeks of the 2023-24 season.

His contributions to that endeavor led to the team signing him to a three-year contract extension through the 2026-27 season that will carry a salary cap hit of $775,000. The first two years of the contract are two-way with the third year being one-way.

Additionally, the team signed reserve forward Jonathan Gruden to a two-year contract extension that also carries a salary cap hit of $775,000. The entire contract is two-way.

Both signings were announced on Tuesday.

St. Ivany broke through as an NHLer late in the 2023-24 season.

A fourth-round selection (No. 114 overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2018 NHL Draft, St. Ivany never signed with that team. Once his NHL rights expired with the Flyers, former Penguins general manager Ron Hextall — who drafted St. Ivany in his previous role as Flyers general manager — signed St. Ivany in August 2022.

After spending most of his first two professional seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, the right-handed St. Ivany (6-foot-3, 198 pounds) was initially recalled to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ roster on March 15 of this past season and appeared in 14 NHL games, recording one assist while averaging 13 minutes, 42 seconds of ice time.

With Chad Ruhwedel traded to the New York Rangers on March 8 and Ryan Graves sidelined due to a concussion, St. Ivany settled into the right side of the team’s third defensive pairing and primarily played with left-hander Ryan Shea in the final weeks of the regular season as the team went 8-3-3 during St. Ivany’s 14 games in the lineup.

St. Ivany was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this upcoming offseason

Gruden was recalled to the NHL roster on seven occasions during the 2023-24 season. That allowed him to set a career-high in NHL games with 13. He also scored his first career NHL goal March 2 and averaged 8:40 of ice time per contest while primarily skating on the fourth line.

Acquired in October 2020 via the trade that sent former top goaltender Matt Murray to the Ottawa Senators, Gruden has primarily spent the past four seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

He was in the final weeks of a one-year, two-way contract and was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

The team was busy Tuesday as it also signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Filip Kral to a one-year contract worth $775,000.

A native of Czechia, Kral spent the 2023-24 season with the Lahti Pelicans of Finland’s Liiga, the top-tier league in that country. Appearing in 46 games, he led all defensemen in that league with 37 points (five goals, 32 assists).

A left-handed shot, Kral (6-foot-2, 198 pounds) was a fifth-round pick (No. 149) of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018 draft under former general manager Kyle Dubas, who is currently the Penguins’ president of hockey operations. Kral appeared in two NHL games with the Maple Leafs in 2022-23 but did not record a point.

With St. Ivany and Gruden under new contracts, the Penguins now have 16 players who are scheduled unrestricted or restricted free agents on July 1:

Unrestricted

Forwards — Jeff Carter, Jansen Harkins, Vinnie Hinostroza, Radim Zohorna

Defensemen — Taylor Fedun, Xavier Ouellet, Jack Rathbone, Dmitri Samorukov, Ryan Shea

Goaltenders — Alex Nedeljkovic, Ludovic Waeber

Restricted

Forwards — Corey Andonovski, Emil Bemstrom, Maxim Cajkovic, Dillon Hamaliuk

Defenseman — P.O Joseph

Note: Carter has announced he has retired.