In now his second stint with the Pittsburgh Penguins, forward Radim Zohorna is hoping to make a solid impression this preseason as he fights for an NHL job this season.

Zohorna is returning to the organization where he first made his National Hockey League debut. Zohorna played 8 games for the Penguins during the 2020-21 season, and upped that to 17 games in 2021-22.

Since then, he’s had some trouble finding a permanent home.

Last season, the Czech forward was claimed off waivers by the Calgary Flames after Pittsburgh tried to send him down. Six days later, Zohorna would clear waivers after the Flames placed him there as well.

Over the course of the 2022-23 season, Zohorna played for four different teams across two leagues. He did appear in 8 games for Calgary, the bulk of his NHL action for the year, but he had 0 points. He also played 40 games for the Calgary’s AHL affiliate, the Wranglers, where he put up 29 points.

At the deadline, he was flipped in a one-for-one deal that sent Zohorna to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Dryden Hunt to the Flames.

Zohorna played 2 games for the Leafs, where he did score a goal, but played a majority time in the AHL with the Marlies, playing in 11 games and tallying 5 points.

Now, Big Z is returning back to the place where it all started, by a way of a general manager who already sought after him once before.

Pittsburgh is where Zohorna saw the majority of his NHL experience and success, albeit both have been brief up to this point.

Zohorna put up 4 points in 8 games in 2020-21 and 6 points in 17 games in 2021-22. The latter season was a career high in stats across the board.

But that raw, unrefined offensive potential isn’t the biggest intriguing factor with the 27 year old. It’s his size.

They didn’t just pull the nickname Big Z out of nowhere; the guy is 6′ 6 and weighs 220 pounds. He’s a physically gifted athlete, and his size has been a huge drawing factor in why teams keep taking him on.

When he was with the Penguins, he routinely provided a physical aspect that not many others on the team did. Zohorna racked up 30 hits in 25 Pens games, but his size also helped him on the defensive end as well.

His height grants him a really long reach, something that is incredibly valuable for any player, but especially one in a bottom six/checking role like Zohorna would be.

In the team’s first preseason game, he centered a line with Drew O’Connor and Alex Nylander as his wingers. That’s a legitimate fourth line in the NHL, and combines the physicality of Zohorna with the speed of O’Connor, and the shooting skill of Nylander.

Zohorna doesn’t have a ton of NHL experience at center (he’s taken just 61 faceoffs in his NHL career at a 49.2% clip), but he is an intimidating player at the center position with his size and reach.

Ultimately, his NHL status is still far from certain, but’s he looked good so far, and is going to be a very interesting name to keep an eye on.

(Featured photo by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)