On the second day of NHL free agency, Carter Rowney and Tom Kuhnhackl have signed with the Ducks and Islanders, respectively.
Both had been fourth-line defensive specialists and valuable members of the Penguins' penalty kill unit during their time in Pittsburgh, which included two Stanley Cup championships for Kuhnhackl and one for Rowney.
Rowney, 29, signed a three-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks, worth a reported $3.4 million.
We've signed Carter Rowney to a three-year contract through the 2020-21 season!
Give him a follow ➡ @carterrowney pic.twitter.com/cSPiMOkAKy
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) July 2, 2018
In 71 career games with the Penguins, Rowney scored 12 points (five goals and seven assists). He suffered through an injury-plagued 2017-18, averaging 9:21 in ice time in just 44 games and was a minus-13.
Undrafted out of North Dakota, Rowney came up through the organization with stops in Wheeling and Wilkes-Barre before reaching Pittsburgh full-time in 2017. That spring he recorded three assists in 20 games as the Penguins won their second straight Cup.
Rowney joins Josh Jooris, signed Saturday by Toronto to a one-year contract, as unrestricted free agents whom the Penguins did not re-sign.
Kuhnhackl was a restricted free agent to whom the Penguins did not extend a qualifying offer last week. The German signed a one-year contract with the New York Islanders on Monday. Terms were not disclosed but he made $625,000 last season.
#Isles News: The team has agreed to terms on a one-year contract with Tom Kuhnhackl.
Details: https://t.co/2cCLcuTvxw pic.twitter.com/11KLtcpdgM
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) July 2, 2018
The affable 26-year-old recorded 39 points (11 goals, 28 assists) in 168 career games with the Penguins over three seasons.
Both Rowney and Kuhnhackl were made expendable by Jim Rutherford's desire to get more balanced scoring and more production from the fourth line. In the past week, he's re-signed RFAs Bryan Rust and Riley Sheahan and brought back UFA Matt Cullen on Sunday.
Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak remains the only notable RFA without a contract. Rutherford said late last week that he was confident a deal would get done.