The Penguins signed depth forward Jimmy Huntington to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000 at the NHL level on Monday.
Huntington, 25, is a 6-foot-1, 201-pound left-handed center from Laval, Quebec. He's coming off a season in which he played for the Hershey Bears on an AHL contract, scoring 16 goals and 17 assists in 67 games. He scored five goals and nine assists in 20 games as Hershey went on to win the Calder Cup over the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Huntington scored the overtime-winner in Game 5 of the Calder Cup Final to give the Bears a 3-2 series lead:
BOOTH CAM ๐ฅ
โ Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) June 24, 2024
Big fist pumps on Jimmy Huntingtonโs Game 5 winner from @zackfisch and @Mitchy1_0! ๐ค pic.twitter.com/oG3WhvYEEv
Prior to signing in Hershey, Huntington spent four years in the minors on an NHL contract. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by Tampa in 2019, and spent parts of three seasons in the Lightning's system before being traded to the Predators. He spent a season and a half with the Predators' AHL affiliate Milwaukee Admirals.
Huntington played five seasons of junior hockey in the QMJHL with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Victoriaville Tigres and Rimouski Oceanic.
Kyle Dubas tries to sign higher-end minor-league players like Huntington to make Wilkes-Barre/Scranton more competitive and bring some internal competition. Wilkes-Barre's full of younger players who haven't ever made a deep playoff run at the AHL level. Bringing in a champion is a nice add for that level.
