The Pittsburgh Penguins are very a different looking team coming into this season.

The roster experienced a massive overhaul this summer, and many members of the 2022-23 Penguins have found themselves dispersed around the National Hockey League.

It’s always interesting, particularly as a fan, to see how players perform in new locations after leaving Pittsburgh. Some find a lot of success. Others, not so much.

But this year provides a large crop of ex-Penguins in new homes, and with that, several really intriguing names that I’m interested in keeping an eye on as the 2023-24 season rolls along.

So without further ado, here’s four recent ex-Pens I wanna watch:

Jason Zucker, Arizona Coyotes

I have a feeling that any Penguins fan who would make this kind of list would have Zucker on this list.

The definition of a heart-and-soul guy last year for this team, Zucker finally made everything click in Pittsburgh, putting up Penguin career highs in goals (27), assists (21), and points (48) last year.

He was a huge energy guy for the team, routinely providing jumpstarts to a team that had trouble getting going at several points in 2022-23. Unfortunately for the Pens, Zucker was able to finally showcase his potential in his contract year.

His performance had seemingly priced himself out of the cap-strapped Penguins’ budget, and both the player and the team gracefully parted ways.

The crazy part in all of this, however, is that Zucker ends up signing a deal lower than his last.

Zucker played the final three and a half of a five year contract he had signed with the Minnesota Wild out in Pittsburgh, where his cap hit (and AAV) was $5.5 million. A first a massive cap casualty, his cap hit grew from too much to a bargain deal last year.

In free agency, however, Zucker signed a one year deal with the Arizona Coyotes, for $5.3 million, a pay cut of $200K. Looking back, the Penguins may have been able to bring him back on a deal like that.

Either way, Zucker now finds himself in the desert, joining a very young Coyotes squad that finally looks ready to start competing.

For as bad as Arizona’s on ice product and arena situation has been for years now, they’ve done an incredible job building up draft capital and a prospect pool that will have them set once everything clicks.

However, is the time for good hockey in Arizona this season? Zucker’s one year deal leaves plenty of speculation that he could be dealt at the deadline for more futures.

While yes, I find myself curious if he can keep up his production from last year, I honestly am more curious about his future with the club.

Mikael Granlund, San Jose Sharks

Hate me all you want, you will never make me not feel bad for Mikael Granlund.

Traded to a team whose fan base didn’t want him, and brought in by a general manager who unknowingly was making him a public enemy in Pittsburgh, Granlund’s tenure with the Pens was one he would definitely like to move on from.

Granlund and his $5 million cap hit was simply never going to work here, and admittedly his play in black and yellow from last season was downright awful. Luckily, Kyle Dubas found a way to move on from his entire salary, as part of the deal to bring Erik Karlsson to Pittsburgh.

Granlund now finds himself in San Jose, but the trade to the Sharks is a double-edged sword for the Finnish forward.

He gets a chance to re-prove himself in San Jose, something he desperately needs. But he’s going to have to work hard at that chance.

The Sharks, mostly by design, are destined to be one of the league’s worst teams this season, as they grind through a rebuild. It’s gonna be hard for anyone to stand out in San Jose, especially someone who is coming off of a pretty rough swing in Pittsburgh.

I truly hope he bounces back, because he is a good player. It just really, really didn’t work out in Pittsburgh.

Ryan Poehling, Philadelphia Flyers

Ryan Poehling is fascinating to me for several reasons. He had injury troubles last year, but I thought he was a good member of the bottom six that, as a whole, often was a weakness of the team.

In 53 games for the Pens last year, Poehling recorded 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) and provided some speed and physicality.

Poehling was an RFA this summer, but the Penguins chose not to even qualify him, making him a UFA come July 1st. He didn’t have to go far, signing with Pittsburgh’s cross-state rival over in Philly, netting a one year, $1.4 million deal.

At just 24 years old, Poehling could be exactly the kind of player who becomes an integral part of the rebuilding Flyers. He’s old enough to maybe earn some extra minutes in the Flyer lineup, but also young enough that he could still be producing a few years down the road when Philly has assembled a more competitive roster.

I don’t like seeing an ex-Penguin in Flyers colors, but, I am quite interested to see what’s next for Poehling.

Philly will be the former first round pick’s third team since making his debut in 2018-19.

Casey DeSmith, Vancouver Canucks

Goaltending was a huge issue for the Penguins last season, and even though the returning Tristan Jarry (rightfully) takes the brunt of that, Casey DeSmith wasn’t of much help last year either.

The 32 year old put up by far the worst numbers of his NHL career last year, with a 3.17 goals against average and a .905 save percentage.

Hoping to shake up the goalie position this offseason, the Penguins signed Alex Nedeljkovic in free agency, and at one point had Jarry, DeSmith, and Nedeljkovic under contract.

The net wasn’t big enough for the three of them, and DeSmith initially found himself up north in Montreal by way of the Erik Karlsson deal.

Much like with Jeff Petry, who also ended up wuth the Canadiens, Montreal’s front office was incredibly candid with DeSmith, saying that they didn’t plan on keeping either and wanted to send both to other teams for a better shot. The Canadiens knew Petry didn’t want to be there, and they also knew that there was no room for DeSmith.

Despite giving up some leverage by openly saying they were looking to trade both players, Montreal waited to make deals that made sense for both the player and the club.

DeSmith, rather recently, found himself finally traded to the Vancouver Canucks, who were in the market for a netminder.

Prior to DeSmith’s arrival, the battle in Vancouver for the backup job was between Arturs Silovs and Spencer Martin, but DeSmith should be taking over that role now.

I’m very interested to see how DeSmith bounces back from a bad year in Pittsburgh. The Canucks, like every other year have playoff aspirations, and although starter Thatcher Demko (if healthy) will be taking the bulk of the starts, a good backup is needed for any push towards the postseason in Vancouver.

Can Casey rebound? His career numbers state he’s a lot better than last year let on, but only time can tell if DeSmith still has what it takes to be an NHLer.

(Featured image of Ryan Poehling by Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports)