Penguins re-sign Taylor Gauthier to one-year contract extension
The Pittsburgh Penguins are keeping around a solid depth piece within their organization.
On Tuesday, the team announced that they have re-signed goaltender Taylor Gauthier to a one-year, two-way contract extension. The deal will carry an annual average value of $850,000 at the NHL level.
The Penguins have re-signed goaltender Taylor Gauthier to a one-year contract extension ✍️ Details: pens.pe/4wdUlJp
Gauthier, 25, spent the entirety of this past season with the Penguins’ ECHL affilate Wheeling Nailers, where he posted a 21-9-5 record with a 2.09 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage in 36 appearances. He then went 9-8 with a 2.23 GAA and a .922 SV% in 17 postseason games as the Nailers reached the Eastern Conference Final of the Kelly Cup playoffs.
The Calgary native went undrafted following his junior career in the Western Hockey League (WHL), in which he spent four-plus years with the Prince George Cougars before making his the last 28 appearances in his final season of 2021-22 with the Portland Winterhawks, where he put up a sterling 24-4-0 record with a 2.16 GAA and a .931 SV%.
Gauthier began his professional career by signing as an undrafted free agent with Pittsburgh on March 1st, 2022. He split his 2022-23 season between the Nailers and the Penguins’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. In 16 appearances with Wheeling that year, he had an 8-7-1 record with a 3.09 GAA and a .896 SV%. In 20 appearances with Wilkes-Barre Scranton, however, he showed well with an 8-3-6 record along with a 2.71 GAA and a .907 SV%.
In the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, he played almost entirely in the ECHL with the Nailers, making just five total appearances in the AHL for the Penguins. In those five appearances, he had a 2-2-1 record with a .917 SV%. In 42 appearances for Wheeling in the 2023-24 season, he had a 24-16-2 record with a 2.23 GAA and a .923 SV%. In 30 appearances for Wheeling in the 2024-25 season, he put up a 18-10-2 record with a 2.06 GAA and a .928 SV%.