Dumba and a 2028 second-round pick were acquired by Pittsburgh from Dallas on Thursday in exchange for Vladislav Kolyachonok.
Dumba had a goal, 10 points, 60 PIM, 57 shots, 70 hits and 60 blocks in 63 regular-season appearances with Dallas in 2024-25. He's entering the second campaign of a two-year, $7.5 million contract, so Pittsburgh is receiving the draft pick as compensation for allowing Dallas to free up some much-needed cap space with this trade. Dumba used to be a top-pairing defenseman, and he recorded at least 20 points in seven straight campaigns from 2015-16 through 2021-22. However, he's fallen substantially in recent years, averaging just 15:18 of ice time last season and spending the entire 2025 playoffs as a healthy scratch. Dumba is celebrating his 31st birthday July 25, so a comeback isn't completely out of the question, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him start the season as part of Pittsburgh's third pairing unless the Penguins make further moves to their blue line over the summer.
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Penguins' Benjamin Kindel: Inks entry-level deal
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Kindel agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract with Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Kindel was just selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft at the end of June and already has his ELC in hand. The 18-year-old center racked up an impressive 99 points, including 35 goals, in 65 regular-season appearances for WHL Calgary last year before adding another 15 points in 11 postseason outings. Now that he's signed, it's possible that Kindel will be given a nine-game stint with the Penguins to start the 2025-26 campaign before he is shipped back to juniors for the rest of the year.
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Penguins' Mikhail Ilyin: Staying in KHL
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Ilyin will play the 2025-26 season in the KHL, Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Saturday.
Ilyin has spent the last three campaigns in the KHL with Severstal Cherepovets. He had a career-high 30 points (seven goals, 23 assists) in 64 regular-season games last year. The Penguins hope the 20-year-old forward will be ready to play in North America in the 2026-27 campaign.
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Penguins' Melvin Fernstrom: Playing in Sweden next year
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Fernstrom will remain in Sweden for the 2025-26 campaign, Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Thursday.
After Fernstrom signed his three-year, entry-level deal with the Penguins in June, there was some question as to whether he would make the jump to North America to play with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Instead, the 19-year-old winger figures to be back with Swedish club Orebro HK where he notched eight goals and nine assists in 48 regular-season contests last year. Acquired by the Pens as part of the Marcus Pettersson deal back in January, Fernstrom will look to compete for a roster spot ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
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Penguins' Alexander Alexeyev: Inks one-year deal
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Alexeyev signed a one-year, $775,000 contract with the Penguins on Wednesday, according to Wes Crosby of NHL.com.
Alexeyev had no points, a plus-2 rating, seven shots, nine hits and 14 blocks across eight regular-season appearances with the Capitals in 2024-25. He did spend the 2024-25 campaign primarily with Washington, and his lack of appearances can mostly be attributed to how often he was a healthy scratch. Alexeyev might find himself in a similar spot with Pittsburgh by making the team but not drawing into the lineup often.
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Penguins' Rafael Harvey-Pinard: Secures one-year deal
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Harvey-Pinard (upper body) penned a one-year, two-way contract with Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Harvey-Pinard became an unrestricted free agent after Montreal decided not to issue him a qualifying offer. The 26-year-old winger should have a chance to make the Opening Night roster during training camp, but he may not avoid spending some time in the minors this year -- especially considering the two-way nature of his deal.
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Penguins' Philip Kemp: Inks two-year deal
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Kemp agreed to terms on a two-year, two-way contract with Pittsburgh on Wednesday, per PuckPedia.
Kemp has played in just one NHL game in his career, and that came back in 2023-24, when he was with the Oilers. The blueliner doesn't offer a ton of offensive upside -- he notched 12 points in 56 regular-season clashes with AHL Bakersfield last season -- but he is a decent depth piece. While a path to NHL minutes is probably easier with the Pens, Kemp probably will still play the majority of the 2025-26 campaign in the minors.
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Penguins' Anthony Mantha: Secures one-year deal
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Mantha (knee) agreed to terms on a one-year, $2.5 million contract with Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports.
Mantha's deal reportedly includes another $2 million in bonuses if he can stay healthy, something the winger has struggled to do, having managed to play in over 70 games just once over the last seven seasons. Those health struggles include 2024-25, when a knee injury limited the Quebec native to just 13 regular-season appearances for the Flames in which he garnered four goals and three helpers. If Mantha can stay healthy and get back to being a 20-goal scorer, he almost certainly will be flipped by the Pens at the deadline, similar to Anthony Beauvillier last year.
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Penguins' Caleb Jones: Signs in Pittsburgh
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Jones signed a two-year, $1.8 million contract with the Penguins on Tuesday.
Jones struggled to get into the lineup for the Kings last year, appearing in just six regular-season games. He also logged 21 points in 44 regular-season outings with AHL Ontario. Jones will be in the mix for bottom-four minutes on the Penguins' blue line, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him spend some time with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if his performance slips.
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Penguins' Justin Brazeau: Bound for Steel City
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Brazeau agreed to terms on a two-year, $3 million contract with Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Darren Dreger of TSN reports.
Brazeau played in 76 regular-season games for the Bruins and Wild last season, tallying 11 goals and 11 assists along the way. The Penguins will likely give their prospects plenty of opportunities this upcoming season, so the 27-year-old Brazeau won't be a lock to suit up on a nightly basis and could find himself serving as a healthy scratch periodically.
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Penguins' Philip Tomasino: Inks one-year deal
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Tomasino secured a one-year, $1.75 million contract with Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Tomasino will stick with the Penguins after joining the club via a trade from Nashville last year. In his 50 regular-season outings with Pittsburgh, the 23-year-old natural center generated 11 goals and 12 helpers, including eight power-play points. While listed as a center, Tomasino could be in line to play on the wing alongside Evgeni Malkin this year and should secure minutes with the No. 2 power-play group.
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Penguins' Connor Dewar: Staying with Pittsburgh
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Dewar signed a one-year, $1.1 million contract with the Penguins on Tuesday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Dewar did not receive a qualifying offer from Pittsburgh by Monday's deadline, but he is ultimately staying with the team that acquired him in March. The left-shot forward logged just three helpers over 31 regular-season appearances with Toronto in 2024-25, but he fared much better in his time with the Pens, generating four goals and three helpers over 17 appearances. The 26-year-old is set to be a fixture in the bottom six this coming season.
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Penguins' Parker Wotherspoon: Signs two-year pact
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Wotherspoon agreed to terms on a two-year, $2 million contract with the Penguins on Tuesday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Wotherspoon provides Pittsburgh with another option on the left side of the defense and comes in very cheap for the rebuilding club. In 55 regular-season games last year, the 27-year-old British Columbia native registered one goal and six helpers while delivering 75 hits. Between the relatively untested Vladislav Kolyachonok and the underwhelming Ryan Graves, Wotherspoon could find himself playing second-pairing minutes alongside Kris Letang (heart) this season.
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Penguins' Vasily Ponomarev: NHL rights remain with club
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Ponomarev was given a qualifying offer from Pittsburgh on Monday.
An initial report indicated that Ponomarev was not going to be retained by the Penguins but it seems like that plan changed. The 23-year-old center is signed with KHL club Avangard Omsk for the next three seasons, so even if he does return to the NHL, it won't be any time soon.
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Penguins' Brady Peddle: Defender latest to join Pens
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Peddle was the 91st overall pick by Pittsburgh in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft on Saturday.
A native of Nova Scotia, Peddle resisted the overtures of the QMJHL, instead opting to play 2024-25 with Waterloo of the USHL. In 62 regular-season games, he had just three goals and 10 points, although Peddle was much better in the playoffs, supplying 10 points in 15 appearances. Peddle's offensive game is limited, but he's very big (6-foot-3 and 205 pounds) and very strong. It's going to take some time, but Peddle has a chance to develop into a bottom-six, stay-at-home option for the Pens. He'll return to Waterloo for this coming season before moving to Michigan State in the fall of 2026.
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Penguins' Gabriel D'Aigle: Surprise Round 3 selection
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D'Aigle was the 84th overall pick by Pittsburgh in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft on Saturday.
Goalies have been flying off the board in this draft, and D'Aigle is the latest example. Ranked as the No. 11 North American goaltender according to NHL Central Scouting, D'Aigle was a workhorse for QMJHL Victoriaville in 2024-25, appearing in 55 regular-season outings and going 16-33-2 with a 4.52 GAA and an .883 save percentage. The Tigers had the worst record in the league and gave up 149 more goals than they scored, so D'Aigle's numbers were always going to be ugly. Clearly, the Penguins see something they like in the 6-foot-4 netminder.
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Penguins' Charlie Tretheway: BU commit links up with Pens
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Tretheway was the 73rd overall pick by Pittsburgh in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft on Saturday.
Like several of his US NTDP teammates, Trethewey didn't do much this season to raise his draft stock. He was very inconsistent in all phases of the game, looking like a potential top-four NHL defender at times and nothing more than minor-league roster depth at others. Trethewey's decision-making with the puck is a concern, and he often seems to be caught out of position in all three zones. Working in Trethewey's favor is the fact he won't be 18 years of age until early August. He's been on the map as a legitimate prospect for quite a while, so perhaps this is nothing more than an identity crisis at the worst possible time. The Maryland native will get a chance to work through his issues at Boston University in the fall.
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Penguins' Connor Clifton: Joins flightless birds in trade
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Pittsburgh obtained Clifton and a 2025 second-round draft pick from Buffalo on Saturday in exchange for Conor Timmins and Isaac Belliveau.
Clifton is best known for his bruising style of play. He collected 208 hits and 116 blocks across 73 regular-season appearances in 2024-25. He'll bring much-needed muscle to the bottom of the Penguins' blue-line corps.
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Penguins' Peyton Kettles: Grabbed in Round 2
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Kettles was the 39th overall pick by Pittsburgh in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft on Saturday.
As an early September birthday, Kettles was one of the youngest players available in the entire draft. He has elite size at 6-foot-5 and nearly 200 pounds, but Kettles has managed just seven goals and 27 points in 114 games for WHL Swift Current over the past two seasons. There's virtually no offense to his game, and it doesn't project to improve much moving forward. The hope for Pittsburgh is that Kettles can develop into a shutdown stay-at-home defender who can kill penalties.
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Penguins' Will Horcoff: Picked 24th overall at entry draft
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Horcoff was the 24th overall pick by Pittsburgh in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft on Friday.
Horcoff has a pro pedigree -- he's the son of former NHLer, Shawn Horcoff. He's big with skill, but his skating is truly his Achilles heel. His first couple steps are leaden, which puts him behind the play. Horcoff is strong in possession and on the wall in the cycle. Plus his shot is sharp. His future success will lie in offensive zone starts and perhaps as a net-front wall on the power play. If so, Horcoff could provide fantasy value in deep formats.
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