Today, Kyle Dubas has made a signing to bolster the 4th line for the foreseeable future. The Pittsburgh Penguins general manager came to terms on a three-year deal with Blake Lizotte. The deal carries an AAV of $2.25 million.
Good value
I am usually pretty guarded about handing out contract extensions with term to fourth line players. A lot of times these contracts are given out on intangibles and take too much of the cap for what is essentially a replacement level player.
I do not feel this way with Lizotte. The three year term is fine and the 2.25M cap hit is an acceptable number as we see the cap ceiling rise to ~104M next season and 113.5M for the 2027-28 season. Point being, this is what low end contracts are going to look like moving forward. Lizotte’s cap hit will be 1.9% of the total cap in 2027-28. Currently, the Penguins have 53.18M in cap space heading into next season. This is an appropriate contract for the player.
On ice results
Lizotte’s speed and tenacity has been quite the asset for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has done a nice job at both even-strength and killing penalties. His contributions are a big reason why the Penguins have a very functional and successful fourth line in 2025-26.
The fourth line with Dewar-Lizotte-Acciari has been fed defensive zone starts. Their offensive zone starting percentage is only 17.32. Despite being fed difficult zone starts their CF% as a group is 54.68 and their xGF% is 54.04. Lizotte as an individual has a CF% of 55.17 and an xGF% of 55.42. These are really good numbers for a fourth line player not being sheltered with offensive zone starts by the coach.
Lizotte has excelled in his penalty killing role with the team which is a great use of his speed. Any time you can give the older more skilled players a break from killing penalties is good and with Lizotte you are getting someone who can definitely handle the role. I wouldn’t consider Lizotte a penalty killing specialist because he is very functional at even-strength.
Among the 124 forwards who have at least 50 minutes of penalty killing time Lizotte is 14th overall in xGA/60 at 6.62. He is the best ranked forward among Penguins.
All in all this is a tidy signing from Kyle Dubas and a well-earned contract for Blake Lizotte. The retooling continues down a positive path.
