Pittsburgh Penguins Extend D Deryk Engelland

Kyle Dreibelbies | WBS "Baby" Penguins

Feb 11, 03:34 PM | Hype this story!

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed defenseman Deryk Engelland, 25, to a two-year contract extension. Engelland is a physical, defensive defenseman who is a veteran minor-leaguer.

Engelland, 6’2” and 202 pounds, has recorded eight points (1G+7A) and 106 PIMs in 49 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season. Only he and Mark Ardelan have been in every Penguins game this season.

Originally selected in the 2000 NHL Draft by New Jersey, Engelland suited up for 156 AHL regular season games with the Lowell Lock Monsters, Hershey Bears and Penguins during parts of four seasons, recording 22 points (5+17) and 312 penalty minutes along with 142 regular season ECHL games with the Las Vegas Wranglers, South Carolina Stingrays, and Reading Royals.

It is doubtful that this move will have much of an impact this year or even next year in Pittsburgh, but this does shore up the WBS Penguin blueline for the next two years, along with providing a physical presence to a team that doesn’t have much toughness among their defensemen.

Comments

  1. henkegbgskea

    Feb 12, 04:24 AM

    Well good depth signing for pens and good for wilkes barre.
    Ben Lovejoy and Mark Ardelan are 2 d-men i hope pens will sign too for a extension of 2 years.

    It all may depend where Alex Goglioski plays next year (hopefully with pens) and where Carl Sneep and Brian Strait ends up.
    Are they ready for AHL?

  2. Matt Bodenschatz

    Feb 12, 09:27 AM

    I would think both are ready for the AHL, but I’m not sure either one wants to turn pro just yet. I agree, though, Lovejoy and Ardelan would make great depth signings.

  3. Kyle Dreibelbies

    Feb 12, 10:01 AM

    Last I heard, both Sneep and Strait were planning on staying in college. Both Lovejoy and Ardelan would be good to have back. Right now, there are only 7 D-men under contract for Pittsburgh for next year, and that is including Engelland.

    So there will definitely be plenty more signings as you would expect 16-18 d-men with NHL contracts by the time the season will start. You may have noticed in the Faceoff Factor interview with Ben Lovejoy that he is only on an AHL contract now, so it would be a good idea to give him that entry-level NHL deal and see how he develops.

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