Penguins lock up key forward with new contract extension

The Pittsburgh Penguins decided to finally award Blake Lizotte with a new contract after how well he has performed for the team this season. It was announced that he got a brand new 3-year 2.25 million contract that sees him extended him through 2029.

The Penguins and Lizotte both are winners in this scenario as the Penguins are locking up one of their true veterans who gives it his all night in and night out. And for Lizotte, he gets a raise on his current contract as this is a win for him.

Every time Lizotte is on the ice, you can just tell that he is doing everything he can to win puck battles, forecheck hard, and just be that player opponents hate playing against. The Penguins and Dubas love that kind of player so it made sense not to wait nor try to gauge trade value for him.

Lizotte has 5 goals and 5 assists in 35 games so far for the Penguins this season. That is pretty good production for the fourth line forward as he is not used to chipping in much offensively and sees a ton of ice time on the penalty kill.

Dubas could have tried to look to the trade market and see what he could get for Lizotte, but that really would not have made a lot of sense. Keeping Lizotte was the better idea as he has been one of the more consistent forwards on the Penguins roster last year and this year.

Lizotte is just a player that does everything right and is usually always in the right spots and knows how to play the game of hockey. So being able to lock him up for three more years makes it as to where the Penguins know they have him sticking around and staying in the forward core in the bottom six.

If Dubas had decided to try to trade him or let him get to free agency, that would have been a really bad idea. So extending his contract and keeping him in the 412 is going to pay off for the Penguins as they push for the playoffs now and into the near future.