The Penguins have extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Marcus Pettersson, Teddy Blueger, Zach Aston-Reese, Adam Johnson and Joseph Blandisi.
Tuesday was the deadline to extend qualifying offers.
The only restricted free agents who didn't receive qualifying offers from the Penguins were AHL defensemen Blake Siebenaler, Macoy Erkamps and Jeff Taylor. Siebenaler and Erkamps already have been signed to AHL-level contracts with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the 2019-20 season. Taylor, the Penguins' seventh-round pick in 2014, will become an unrestricted free agent.
Qualifying offers are extended to restricted free agents to retain negotiating rights. They are not contracts unless the player accepts the offer. All qualifying offers are for one season, and are for the following amounts, per the CBA:
- If the player's prior year's base salary is less than or equal to $660,000 for year, 110 percent of the prior year's base salary.
- If the player's prior year's base salary is greater than $660,000, but less than $1,000,000 for that year, 105 percent of his prior year's base salary, but can not exceed $1,000,000.
- If the player's prior year's base salary is equal to or greater than $1,000,000 for that year, 100 percent of the prior year's base salary.
Qualifying offers must be one-way contracts if the player played in 180 games over the previous three seasons, 60 games the previous season, or did not clear waivers in the previous season.
Qualifying offers are subject to salary arbitration, but players typically sign full contracts with the team that extended the qualifying offer. The team can sign a player to a contract with more term or salary than the qualifying offer, they are not restricted when signing the player to an actual contract.
Other teams can extend offer sheets to the Penguins' qualified restricted free agents, and the Penguins are allowed the first right of refusal. Other teams can begin negotiating offer sheets with players beginning on Wednesday.
If another team extends an offer sheet to Pettersson, Blueger, Aston-Reese, Johnson or Blandisi, the Penguins can accept the offer sheet from the other team and receive draft pick compensation, or the Penguins could match the offer extended by the other team and be bound to all of the terms of that contract, and are prevented from trading the player for one calendar year.
