Blake Lizotte vows to boost bottom-six identity for the Penguins

The Pens can use more heart and soul, and a newcomer is ready to step up

It could be argued that in many ways the Penguins have been looking for a Brandon Tanev type of player since they lost Tanev to the Seattle expansion draft in 2021. Coincidentally or not, 2021 was also the last time Pittsburgh won their division. (and, to be fair the correlation level isn’t 100%). But a certain flair for the intangible “heart and soul” element has been missing lately for a bottom-six that has been too blase in recent years.

Brock McGinn was an uninspired successor to Tanev, coming as too bland and vanilla a player to make the impact needed. Matt Nieto got hurt almost as soon as he got to town last year, barely having the time to get rolling. Noel Acciari at age-32 is trying but being a spark plug tends to be a young man’s game for a reason.

Enter Blake Lizotte. The former undrafted free agent comes to Pittsburgh on a two-year contract and looking to add a little bit of the “heart and soul” type of player back to the Penguins. He has earned the reputation the hard way coming from the Los Angeles Kings. Lizotte (listed perhaps generously at 5’9”) had to work his way up from being an undrafted player.

He ended up as a lineup staple and a minor cult hero for plays like this highlight below.

“I think that’s what I do well,” Lizotte said on a video call yesterday. “When we maybe don’t have our A-game, I tend to bring players into the game – whether it be with tenacity, speed, forechecking, or whatever that might be.”

Finding a way to stand out has been an aspect Lizotte has been looking to do since the very beginning of his career, and be necessity.

“I was always kind of this underdog, undersized workhorse-type player that obviously wasn’t drafted,” said Lizotte. “So, teams didn’t really see me as a viable option at a younger age.”

“I think if you look across the board in the NHL, very few players in the league can get away with just being a skill guy,” Lizotte said. “So, I think as a young player, you’re looking at the league going, okay, my odds of being that skilled player are a zillion to one. I have to bring something to the table that other people maybe aren’t willing to do, especially as an undersized guy.

“So, I think for me, it just kind of came naturally in my game to start with. As I realized that’s what was probably going to be my path to NHL, I really worked to kind of craft that way of play and that playing style.”

Lizotte is currently 26, which makes him the third youngest Penguin regular forward behind Drew O’Connor and Valtteri Puustinen.

Tapping into that passing ability might come with a shift to wing. Pittsburgh already had centers Lars Eller and Kevin Hayes on their roster when they signed Lizotte and knew that youngsters in centers Sam Poulin and Vasily Ponomarev are knocking on the door for NHL playing time. That might mean the versatile Lizotte will be on the left wing, something he allowed on his video call was an exciting possibility.

“Going from center to wing is definitely an easier step, a lateral step, than it is from wing to center. Just with defensive responsibilities and playing down low more. Playing the wing is something I’m comfortable with, it actually excites me to potentially have a chance to be on the wing. You’re able to focus a little more on the offensive zone which I think is exciting.”

Beyond that, you can read the excitement Lizotte has to get to Pittsburgh and get started.

As an older team, the Pens could use the infusion of youth and enthusiasm that Lizotte will bring to the table. Picking up the mantle left behind by Tanev figures to be a challenge, but it’s one the hard-charding Lizotte will be taking on by default to give his new team some added juice.

“[Pittsburgh is] a great fresh start and clean slate with new people that I’m not familiar with, the way the organization works…It’ll be all new, which I think is exciting and fun and kind of re-energizes my love for the game,” he said. “So, I think it’ll be a good thing, and I’m excited to get going when we get to Pittsburgh.”