With nothing new coming on the Tomas Tatar front, if the Penguins are still looking to add someone to the team, they might have to look at other options. 

In comes Max Comtois. 

Comtois is a very interesting player who is still out there as an unrestricted free agent. Debuting with the Anaheim Ducks back in the 2018-19 season, Comtois spent parts of the season with the NHL’s Ducks before becoming a full time member for the 2020-21 season. 

A former second round pick (50th overall) by the Ducks, Comtois would have been a restricted free agent when his two year deal expired on July 1st. However, the Ducks opted to not tender him a qualifying offer, making him now an unrestricted free agent, free to sign anywhere with no strings attached. 

Comtois played in 64 games last season in Anaheim, tallying 9 goals and 10 assists for 19 points. He hasn’t fully lived up to the potential some had believed he had on his draft day, but he’s shown plenty of flashes. 

It wasn’t too long ago Comtois was a team leader in points. During the 56-game season in 2020-21, Comtois put up 33 points, the highest on Anaheim’s roster. The second ranked player that season was Rickard Rakell, of course now in Pittsburgh. 

Ideally, a guy with 33 points is not your team’s leader, but the Ducks have been going through an excruciating rebuild for years now, and many of the team’s young players either weren’t there yet or had yet to break out in the NHL. 

To this point, it’s Comtois’s career high in points, including goals (16), evident that he has offensive upside, but maybe a chance of scenery could do him well. 

Not every young player can thrive in that kind of environment. Some young players are able to better find their stride on a more competitive team, and the Penguins could provide that chance. 

The bottom six/depth forward group Pittsburgh currently has is quite crowded, but perhaps the addition of Comtois could only increase the competition in training camp and the preseason to find the best players for NHL jobs. 

Comtois is just 24 years old; he definitely has plenty of time to still prove he is a solid NHL forward, and if the Penguins wanted to bring in a young and hungry forward, this is your guy. 

Comtois’s 9 goals and 10 assists last season wasn’t spectacular, but he was also on a team that was 31st in the league in total goals, which has been a common theme for the Ducks in recent time. 

Anaheim was bottom ten in the entire league in terms of total goals every year Comtois played games for the Ducks. 

The Penguins, meanwhile, who did struggle with depth scoring last season, were a middle of the pack team in terms of total goals last season, which could help Comtois better succeed in a higher scoring team. 

He’s one of the youngest free agents on the market, and still being unsigned this late into the season, he’ll be looking for any offer he can get. 

Comtois is not Tomas Tatar, in that he doesn’t have the resumé (not yet anyways) to ask for the kind of money (and term) that Tatar is reportedly still looking for. He would be a very good low risk, high reward kind of free agent signing. 

Ultimately, the Penguins are going to have to move money out to bring anyone else in. They currently sit about $80,000 over the salary cap. Whether that means a trade at some point, or utilizing the waivers system to have another team claim a contract to take off some salary. 

But if they can find a way to make things work, Comtois could, I believe, have a real shot to unlock his full potential in the NHL.

(Featured photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)