The Pittsburgh Penguins should be looking to add more young talent to their roster this off-season. One player who would make a lot of sense for the Penguins to consider targeting because of this is Florida Panthers forward Mackie Samoskevich.
Samoskevich is entering the off-season as a pending restricted free agent and is due for a nice raise from his $775,000 salary this year. With the Panthers having limited cap space, the Penguins should kick tires on the 2021 first-round pick's availability.
If the Penguins acquired Samoskevich, he would give them another promising forward with good upside. The 23-year-old is coming off a solid season with the Panthers, as he scored 12 goals and set new career highs with 20 assists and 32 points in 77 games. This is after he had 15 goals and 31 points in 72 games with the Panthers during the 2024-25 season.
With numbers like these, Samoskevich has already shown that he can provide solid secondary offensive production at the NHL level. However, with Samoskevich being so young, he certainly has the potential to hit a new level. He could do just that in a more significant role on a team focused on the future like the Penguins.
It will be interesting to see if the Penguins end up making a push for Samoskevich, but the fit looks good on paper.
