Former Penguins defenseman Nathan Beaulieu joins Ducks on tryout

With NHL training camps approaching, former Penguins defenseman Nathan Beaulieu has joined the Anaheim Ducks on a professional tryout contract (PTO).

Cap Friendly, a website that tracks any and all contractual information throughout the NHL, reported the transaction.

Beaulieu joined the Penguins via a trade with the Winnipeg Jets on March 21 but he never appeared in a game for the franchise. At the time he joined the Penguins, Beaulieu was on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) due to an undisclosed ailment. Despite that injury, the Penguins acquired Beaulieu as he would not count against their salary cap figure due to his LTIR designation.

Management saw Beaulieu as a competent reserve who could step into the lineup in the event other defensemen higher on the depth chart were not available during the postseason.

Once the NHL’s postseason began — and the league’s salary cap was no longer enforced — Beaulieu was activated from long-term injured reserve May 5 and was a healthy scratch for the Penguins’ final six games of their first-round loss to the New York Rangers.

Aside from a handful of pre-game warmups, Beaulieu (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) never wore a Penguins jersey. Last season, various ailments limited the 29-year-old right-hander to 24 games and four assists, all with the Jets.

Beaulieu just completed a two-year contract that carried a salary cap hit of $1.25 million.

Players on PTO contracts must be signed to regular contracts before the regular season begins, provided they impress management enough during the preseason to merit a place on the roster.

With Beaulieu off to Anaheim, five players who finished the 2021-22 season under an NHL contract with the Penguins remain unsigned with any league in North America or Europe:

Forwards: Justin Almeida, Brian Boyle, Michael Chaput, Jan Drozg, Evan Rodrigues

Defenseman: Will Reilly

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