Pittsburgh Penguins re-sign Casey DeSmith to two-year, $3.6 million deal

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Tuesday afternoon that they signed goaltender Casey DeSmith to a two-year contract extension with a $1.8 million cap hit.

DeSmith was a pending unrestricted free agent after finishing up a three-year deal with a $1.25 million cap hit that he signed with the Penguins in the middle of the 2018-19 season. An undrafted player, he has been in the organization since 2015, although he didn’t get an NHL contract until 2017 after working his way up through the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers and the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

DeSmith has turned into a reliable backup goaltender for the Penguins in terms of performance, although he has dealt with several injuries over the years. He got into 26 games this season, with an 11-6-5 record, three shutouts, and a .914 save percentage, as well as his first playoff game in Game 1 of their first round series against the New York Rangers, which saw him post a .941 save percentage until the midway point of the second overtime when he left with an injury.

With their goaltending decided for next season, the Penguins now turn to their biggest offseason problem: what are they going to do with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang? Both players are unrestricted free agents, and the Penguins only have a bit under $21.5 million in cap space to retain both of them, along with other UFAs Rickard Rakell and Evan Rodrigues, and restricted free agent Kasperi Kapanen. There’s a strong chance that they might have to say goodbye to one of two big franchise cornerstones this offseason, maybe even both.