Veteran center attempting to bounce back with Penguins

The training-camp roster continues to grow for Pittsburgh as TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports that center Colin White has agreed to a PTO agreement with the Penguins.

The 26-year-old was bought out by Ottawa last spring despite having three years and $15.75M left on his contract. He quickly landed with Florida, inking a one-year, $1.2M deal on the opening day of free agency. White wound up playing a very limited role with the Panthers last season, getting into 65 regular-season games where he played pretty much exclusively on the fourth line. He was relatively productive in that role, notching eight goals and seven assists despite logging less than 10 minutes a night.

White was a regular in Florida’s lineup for their run to the Stanley Cup Final, playing in all 21 games. However, his playing time was even more limited at less than eight minutes a night while his production dipped to just two assists without scoring a goal. While Florida could have retained White’s rights by issuing a $1.2M qualifying offer in June, they opted not to do so, sending him back into the open market.

White joins winger Austin Wagner plus defensemen Mark Pysyk and Libor Hajek as those entering Pittsburgh’s training camp on tryout agreements. Having been an NHL regular (when healthy) for the past five years would seemingly give him a leg up but GM Kyle Dubas has already added some extra depth this summer with the likes of Andreas Johnsson, Vinnie Hinostroza and Rem Pitlick. One thing is for certain, there is going to be quite a battle for the final few spots with the Penguins and White is the latest to become a part of it.