The Pittsburgh Penguins added more depth on the left side of their blue line Tuesday, swiping a defenseman from the New York Islanders via free agency.
The Penguins signed Sebastian Aho to a two-year contract worth $775,000 per season. It’s the fourth defenseman with NHL experience that Penguins and president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas have signed since the start of free agency Monday.
Correction: The original version of the story listed the contract as a one year deal.
Aho, 28, has been an NHL regular for the Islanders over the last three seasons, playing 190 NHL games. He has scored 11 career goals and 50 points. Last season, Aho played in 58 games for the third-place Islanders, scoring two goals with nine points and a minus-7 rating.
The defenseman was the Islanders’ fifth-round selection in 2017 (139th overall). He played for the Skelleftea AIK organization in juniors and the Swedish Elite League before coming to North America.
Presumably, Aho will compete with Ryan Shea for the seventh defenseman position and push Ryan Graves for playing time, as well. The Penguins have about $3.4 million of salary cap space remaining. The 5-foot-10 defenseman is not a physical type but excels at making the first pass. He’s put up offensive numbers in the AHL but has been plagued by defensive zone issues and soft scoring at the NHL level.
