Pittsburgh Penguins Re-sign Jayson Megna, Philip Samuelsson; Add Gary Agnew To Staff
By Larry Snyder
As the Pittsburgh Penguins continue to re-tool the team, there have been several announcements regarding contracts for both players and coaching staff.
On Thursday, the Penguins re-signed Jayson Megna to a one-year contract. The deal is a two-way contract, and has an average annual value of $874,125 at the NHL level.
The Illinois native saw action at the NHL level for the first time in 2013-2014 and put up five goals, four assists for nine points in 36 regular-season contests for the Black and Gold.
The 6-foot-1 center also played in 25 regular-season games for the Pens’ minor legue affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Megna, 24, had nine goals, six assists for 15 points for WBS.
Meanwhile, general manager Jim Rutherford inked a contract with Philip Samuelsson, this afternoon. This deal is also a one-year agreement and a two-way contract, with an average annual value of $550,000 at the NHL level.
The Leksand, Sweden native made his NHL debut with Pittsburgh this past season and appeared in five games. The 6-foot-2 blueliner played the majority of the 2013-2014 campaign in the AHL, where he contributed three goals, 19 assists for 22 points in 64 games.
The 22-year-old defenseman was selected in the second round of the 2009 NHL Draft. He played two seasons of college hockey at Boston College where as a freshman, he helped the Eagles win an NCAA National Championship in 2010.
Off the ice, head coach Mike Johnston announced that Gary Agnew has agreed to join the coaching staff as an assistant coach.
The Niagara Falls, Ontario native was an assistant coach for the St Louis Blues under Ken Hitchcock during the past two seasons. He also had been an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets for four seasons from 2006 to 2010. During his stay in Columbus, Agnew served a brief stint as interim head coach.
Before coming on board with the Blue Jackets, he was the head coach of their AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch for six seasons and established a franchise record of 200 career victories.