Twenty-two players across the NHL have filed for salary arbitration as restricted free agents. One of them is Penguins forward Drew O’Connor, who scored five goals and had six assists in 46 games last season.
Four other Penguins are restricted free agents and the Penguins have made qualifying offers to all five – O’Connor, Jonathan Gruden, Filip Hallander, Ty Smith, and Filip Lindberg – in order to retain exclusive signing rights. Hallander and Lindberg have both signed to play this season in Europe. Hallander has a five-year deal in Sweden and Lindberg will play in Finland.
The Penguins have until 5 o’clock this afternoon to elect for arbitration with O’Connor or he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
HORNQVIST RETIRES
One of the most popular Penguins players ever has retired from hockey. Forward Patric Hornqvist played 15 seasons in the NHL, the last two in Florida after the Penguins traded him to the Panthers for Mike Matheson and Colton Sceviour in 2020. He played six seasons for the Penguins, scoring 132 goals with 132 assists. He played on two Stanley Cup winners for the Pens and scored the Cup-clinching goal against Nashville in Game Six in 2017.
Hornqvist suffered a number of concussions in his career, including two last season. He cited the concussions as one of the reasons he was hanging up his skates.
