Pittsburgh Penguins avoid arbitration, sign 4 players to new contracts, including Egor Chinakhov
The Pittsburgh Penguins have avoided arbitration with four eligible players, agreeing to new contracts for forwards Egor Chinakhov and David Gustafsson, plus goaltenders Arturs Silovs and Joel Blomqvist.
Chinakhov, 25, signed a three-year deal, which runs through the 2028-29 season and carries an average annual value of $6.25 million.
He is coming off the best season of his professional career. setting new highs in games played (72), goals (21), assists (21) and points (42) split between Columbus and Pittsburgh, according to a news release from the Penguins.
Chinakhov tallied 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games with Pittsburgh after the trade, and his goal and point totals both ranked third on the Penguins in that span.
The newly acquired Gustafsson agreed to a one-year contract through the 2026-27 season and carries an average annual value of $850,000 at the NHL level.
Gustafsson spent the 2025-26 season with the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, recording 10 goals, 22 assists, 32 points across 48 games.
The 26-year-old has spent the last seven seasons in the Winnipeg Jets organization (2019-26), split between the Jets and the Moose. At the NHL level, Gustafsson has played in 149 career regular-season games, where he's accumulated six career goals and 20 points. At the AHL level, he's notched 34 goals and 91 points in 136 career regular-season games.
Gustafsson was drafted by Winnipeg in the second round (60th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.
Silovs' one-year deal runs through the upcoming 2026-27 season and carries an average annual value of $2.8 million, while Blomqvist's two-year deal runs through the 2027-28 season and carries an average annual value of $875,000 at the NHL level.
Silovs, 25, played in 39 games last year, going 19-12-8 with a 3.07 goals-against average and two shutouts. His 39 games played, 19 wins and two shutouts were all career highs. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he went 2-1 with a 1.52 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage in three games.
Blomqvist, 24, is coming off his third season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League in 2025-26, compiling a record of 16-5-6 with a 2.40 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and one shutout in 26 games.
The goaltender has played in 15 career NHL games, all with Pittsburgh, posting a 4-9-1 record since his NHL debut during the 2024-25 season. In the AHL, Blomqvist has played in 91 career games, going 49-26-16 with a .916 save percentage, 2.38 goals-against average and three shutouts.