Penguins place veteran on unconditional waivers for purpose of termination

The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed Andreas Johnsson on waivers for purposes of contract termination. He signed a one-year, $800,000 contract with the Penguins in free agency this past offseason but hasn’t played a game for them yet this year. He recently signed a multiyear contract with Skelleftea in the Swedish Hockey League.

Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas likes “his players,” and Andreas Johnsson was one of them. After the 2018-19 season when Johnsson put up a career-high 20 goals and 43 points for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dubas signed him to a four-year contract worth $3.4 million annually. The results of the contract are a mixed bag, he had two pretty good seasons and two awful seasons during the duration of that deal.

Dubas was hoping to revive his career with this one-year deal and have him provide some depth scoring for a Penguins team that just acquired Erik Karlsson in the offseason and is hoping to make the playoffs this year. The Maple Leafs ended up trading him to New Jersey in 2020 for Joey Anderson.

Johnsson played most of the 2022-23 season in the American Hockey League with the Utica Comets in the New Jersey Devils organization. He scored nine goals and 30 points in 36 games with the Comets and only played two games with the Devils. Halfway through the season he was a part of a major trade that sent Timo Meier to New Jersey from the San Jose Sharks. Going from a cup contender to the Sharks was a big opportunity for Johnsson and he played 11 games for them to end the season, scoring three assists.

Johnsson has played 259 NHL games and scored 48 goals and 116 points in that span. It is unknown at this time whether the Swedish-native ever plans on making a return to the NHL.