Marc Johnstone
Position: Right winger
Shoots: Righte
Age: 28
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 180 pounds
2024-25 AHL statistics: 51 games, 11 points (five goals, six assists)
Contract: In the second year of a two-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000. Pending unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July 2, 2023
This season: Expectations have been modest for Marc Johnstone since he joined the Penguins.
He is a career minor leaguer with a nice story, having come up as an undrafted player from his home state of New Jersey and through the NCAA ranks with Sacred Heart. And when he made his NHL debut in 2023-24 at the age of 27, it was a triumph on so many levels, even if he only skated in one game.
So, there weren’t any kind of grand aspirations for Johnstone entering 2024-25. And he largely met those modest hopes throughout the season.
After appearing in one preseason game and recording an assist, Johnstone cleared waivers and was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Oct. 3.
Opening the campaign on the right wing of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s fourth line, Johnstone got off to a quick start with a goal in the season opener, a 7-6 home loss to the Charlotte Checkers.
Johnstone’s season largely progressed as one might expect of a bottom-six forward in the AHL. Healthy scratches were common due to the American Hockey League’s rules on the number of veterans eligible to be in a lineup. And while he is listed as a right winger, he started more games as a center (35) than on the starboard side (16).
Offensively speaking, the high point of Johnstone’s season came during a 7-2 home win against the rival Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Dec. 21 when he netted a goal and an assist.
Things largely remained static for Johnstone once the calendar flipped to 2025 until March 21, when he suffered an undisclosed injury that cost him the final 13 games of the regular season and both of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s postseason games.
It marked the second consecutive year Johnstone failed to complete the regular season due to an injury.
The future: When he’s been healthy, Johnstone — who had a previous relationship with president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas before signing with the Penguins — has mostly been what the Penguins hoped he would be when they signed him. That’s to say he’s been a dependable bottom-six forward on the AHL roster.
Further to that, he has also operated as a good citizen with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, helping foster a positive environment for the organization’s prospects with legitimate NHL futures.
But Johnstone turns 29 on June 19 and obviously, the hopes for him to play in a second NHL contest are finite (to be kind). And injuries have clearly been a considerable impediment during his tenure with the organization.
Johnstone offers some value to the Penguins but the expectations will always be limited.
