Penguins sign forward Matt Cullen to a one-year, $800,000 contract
Veteran center Matt Cullen signed with the Penguins on an affordable one-year deal Thursday.
By
Chris Peters
•
2 min read
The Pittsburgh Penguins continued their offseason trend of filling out forward depth with particularly affordable contracts Thursday. The club signed veteran center Matt Cullen to a one-year deal worth $800,000.
The 38-year-old forward had 25 points in 62 games with the Nashville Predators last season.
A veteran of 1,212 NHL games, Cullen has seen time with seven different NHL teams, including the Carolina Hurricanes, whom he helped win a Stanley Cup in 2006. Cullen played four seasons in Carolina, where he enjoyed some of the best years of his career. Current Penguins GM Jim Rutherford was in that same role with the Hurricanes at that time, so there's a connection.
Cullen is not a big name and may not even be an everyday player anymore, but adding a veteran that can still produce a little bit at such a low cost should be beneficial to the Penguins’ bottom six.
Over his career, Cullen has compiled 626 points, including 219 goals. He has topped 20 goals twice in his career and has hovered around half a point-per-game for a good portion of his career. Even last season, he registered 0.4 points-per-game in somewhat limited action.
The Penguins now have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Nick Bonino, Eric Fehr and Cullen as their centers heading into next season, with one of the last two possibly seeing more time on the wing. That should be a little bit of an upgrade depth-wise.
Since the Penguins have spent a lot of money at the top of their lineup, they have to skimp a bit on the bottom six. That means the Pens could see multiple players from its AHL team making the jump to the NHL this season. That's another area where Cullen, who will turn 39 in November, should provide some value, as one of the more experienced players at the bottom of the Penguins' lineup.
This might actually end up being Cullen's last kick at the can, as he has discussed retiring after next season. He'll have a shot to go out with a pretty competitive team.
Pittsburgh's bottom six isn’t exactly going to be a huge strength for the club, but the way it is being built now makes it look less likely to be such a liability as it had become over the last few years. Many questions remain about the Penguins' ability to contend for a title in 2015-16, but they're shaping up pretty nicely on paper right now.
