The Penguins made another depth signing, adding forward Brett Sterling to a two-way contract that will pay him the league minimum salary of $500,000 at the NHL level.
↵Sterling, 26, is an interesting case: he’s been a pro for four years and though he only has four points in 19 career NHL games, he’s got 263 points (144 goals, 119 assists) in in 254 AHL games.
↵He’s only 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds, so in many ways Brett Sterling is like Chris Bourque: a very talented player at the minor league level who can score in the AHL but is a little too small to make a produce at the NHL level.
↵Still, Sterling offers something the Penguins badly need: a winger with skill. Sterling will have every chance to make the NHL team out of training camp, and while he’s probably not a long-term option to play with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, he gives the Pens options.
↵And for a team that won the Stanley Cup with a mishmash of Ruslan Fedotenko, Chris Kunitz, Bill Guerin, Petr Sykora, Maxime Talbot and Miroslav Satan as their top six wingers, the Penguins have proven you just need to get enough chances of guys to be able to ride a hot hand. Sterling offers that chance. And if not, he can just go to the AHL and play brilliantly there.