Penguins sign Alexander Alexeyev to one-year contract

Former Capitals draft pick joins Pittsburgh

In their quest to add every marginal NHL left handed defenseman around, the Pittsburgh Penguins have reportedly picked up former Washington Capitals Alexander Alexeyev on a one-year free agent signing.

Alexeyev, 25, is a very interesting case. He was stuck in Washington as a depth defender last season, as he had been for most of his career. Alexeyev only appeared in eight NHL regular season games and was a healthy scratch for the rest, save a short AHL conditioning stint. An injury opening got him into 10 playoff games to ironically give him a bigger role on the team at the most important time of the year. Then he ran afoul of the law shortly after the season ended (didn’t look too worse for wear, though). The Caps opted to cut him loose by not extending a qualifying offer.

Back on the ice, trying to find a niche has been an issue for Alexeyev. He played sporadically for the Capitals in the past few seasons, before barely being able to scratch the lineup last season. CapFriendly (RIP) provided a scouting report from 2023 that still largely applies as accurate as an introduction:

Third pairing ‘D’ who takes the majority of his shifts at even strength.

Big body. Not physical. In the way. Absorbs contact to move pucks out of dangers. Long reach is an asset.

Adequate distributor. Can’t afford to hold onto the puck too long / doesn’t have the creativity or escape ability to get too cute.

Good feet for his stature.

Competes. Recognizes his role. Keeps his game mostly simple. Averages around 11:30 TOI

As pointed out on Japers Rink before last season, Alexeyev could post some decent numbers when he actually got the opportunity to stay in the lineup for an extended time.

…when playing consistently with more minutes, Alexeyev seems to thrive. Note that these are not relative to his teammates, as that is much harder to manually calculate, but we can look at the Caps’ overall numbers during the same stretch of “good” for Alexeyev:

45.71 CF% (+1.71)

47.26 xGF% (+3.17)

47.6 SCF% (+3.34)

46.66 HDCF% (+4.67)

Those numbers make Alexeyev’s numbers on the Good Run look even better, even more impressive when considering that he started in the offensive zone only about 30% of the time – so his shifts weren’t exactly easy over that run.

The easy answer for getting the best out of Alexeyev, then, seems to be simply play him more…and that’s where the bad news comes in, because Alexeyev is going up against yet another crowded blueline [in Washington in 2024-25]

The end part proved to be prophetic, Alexeyev barely got his name into the playing lineup in the regular season. He’s got size at 6’4” and 214 pounds and can skate well for a big guy. But he’s never been able to make an impression.

That brings him to an interesting place moving forward in Pittsburgh. Alexeyev signed for league minimum (albeit at a rate that pays him full freight if assigned to the AHL) so the Pens could cut him and suffer minimal consquences.

However the LD depth chart as of now is: Ryan Graves, Ryan Shea, Owen Pickering, Parker Wortherspoon and Caleb Jones. Nary a top-four defender in the mix. Alexeyev isn’t coming in as one either, but stacked up against the rest there’s a case to make that he might be able to provide the best (or second best) level of play compared to that weak competition.

Of course, Pittsburgh could always trade one of their many forwards to bolster the blueline and help balance the lineup, but as of now Alexeyev looks as good of a bet as anyone within the organization to be an NHL capable left handed defender. This looks more like a “low reward, no risk” move than trying to assign any sort of huge upside or pay off to Alexeyev, but he could be a player that could help the Pens in the NHL next season.

Dan Muse won’t be hurting for candidates to round out his blueline, though he rightfully could complain about the general quality right now. Time will tell how much a part of the story that Alexeyev could be for next year but it at least adds yet another option to the growing supply of left shot defenders for the Pens.