Penguins Re-Sign Brad Thiessen

Add caption

The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that they have re-signed goaltender Brad Thiessen to a one-year deal that would pay him $525,000 at the NHL level. It is a two-way contract. I'm not surprised by the one year deal; Thiessen knows that NHL backup Brent Johnson's contract expires after the season and was likely seeking a one-way deal for any contract that was more than just one season.

Either way, the Penguins retain the AHL goalie of the year for 2011-12 and are now focusing on finding a backup for Thiessen in Wilkes-Barre Scranton (AHL).

I spoke with Thiessen's agent Ian Pulver and he confirmed that Thiessen has indeed been re-signed a one-year, two-way deal with Pittsburgh this afternoon. When asked why the deal was only for one year and if either side was pushing for a multi-year extension, Pulver told me that the one-year deal  was a mutual agreement between both sides.

Thiessen and Pulver will probably be looking for a one-way deal next summer.

In other less official news, it appears that the Penguins have signed defenseman Alexandre Picard to a one-year deal worth $600,000 at the NHL level. All this according to TSN. Not sure if the Penguins plan on keeping Picard in the NHL or not, but what I do know is that Picard hasn't played in the AHL for quite some time (2007-08 season with Norfolk). I'll wait until the team announces the signing before posting the actual story.