Penguins Re-Sign C Brandon Sutter. 2 Years, $6.6 Million

Tuesday, the Penguins came to terms with RFA center Brandon Sutter on a contract extension for two years and $6.6 million.

From the Penguins,

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed forward Brandon Sutter to a two-year contract, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

The deal runs through the 2015-16 campaign, and has an average annual value of $3.3 million.

Sutter was the last pending restricted free agent to be signed by GM Jim Rutherford this summer, and the third to receive a two-year deal. Simon Despres and Nick Spaling, both RFA eligible this summer, signed two-year contract extensions earlier this offseason.

Adding in Sutter's new cap hit, the Penguins should be left with just under $1 million in cap space with 21 players on the NHL roster.

Sutter had an underwhelming regular season with the Pens in 2013-14, scoring just 13 goals and 26 points in 81 games. His advanced stats were similarly poor, but then again his four most common linemates were all very woeful: Tanner Glass, Brian Gibbons, Craig Adams and Taylor Pyatt. Sutter now figures to field a stronger cast of wingers in the upcoming season, as the Pens have shed most of last year's bottom-six wingers while collecting players like Spaling, Steve Downie and Blake Comeau.

Sutter had a fine postseason, collecting five goals and seven points in 13 playoff games when he played mainly with a pair of departed wingers in Jussi Jokinen and James Neal.

With so little money remaining beneath the cap, the Pens would appear to be finished tinkering with the roster until training camp. Rutherford's first summer has now seen one big trade, the exit of nearly half the team's depth players from a year ago and a slew of one- and two-year deals as the team seeks to bolster its top-heavy lineup for the coming season.