On Tuesday, defenseman Egor Zamula officially cleared waivers and became a free agent. Minutes later, he had a new contract in the NHL with Columbus.

The “ex-Penguin” blue liner had his contract terminated not long before, ripping up his old contract just days after the Penguins had acquired him. He never appeared in a Pittsburgh uniform before he was on his way to a new organization.

But interestingly enough, Zamula is far from the only NHL-level defenseman the Penguins have acquired to have never played for the team. In fact, he’s the third player of that ilk to have cycled through Pittsburgh in the last four years.

So, seeing as how this is an oddly frequent occurrence with “ex-Penguin” defenseman, I figured I would take a look at some of the other names that Zamula is joining on one of the weirdest Penguins list.

Egor Zamula

We’ll start with the most recent defenseman to join this list, Egor Zamula.

The Penguins acquired Zamula last week from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward Philip Tomasino. It was a swap of players who had been waived earlier in the year and might benefit from a chance in a new organization.

However, just days after the trade, it was reported that the Penguins had suspended Zamula for failing to report to the team’s American Hockey League affiliate. Zamula, who wanted a chance to play in the NHL again, was not going to get that opportunity in Pittsburgh as soon as he would have liked.

Not long after, he and the team agreed to terminate his contract and allow him to walk. As explained by his agent, both the Penguins and Flyers organizations were aware of Zamula’s situation and wishes.

Zamula was placed on waivers for the purposes of contract termination on Tuesday, and within hours had a shiny new NHL contract with Columbus at a discounted rate. Zamula took a $700K pay cut to sign with the Blue Jackets, who inked him to a $1 million deal for the rest of the season.

In the end, Pittsburgh was willing to help Zamula terminate his contract. While they don’t get any player out of that arrangement, they do get out from Tomasino’s $1.75 million cap hit, and free up a contract slot. On the surface, it’s still a win for Philadelphia, but this trade did serve a purpose for Pittsburgh as well.