Penguins A to Z: Can Radim Zohorna fill a big void on the bottom 2 lines?

With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 47 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Radim Zohorna

Position: Left winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 25

Height: 6-foot-6

Weight: 220 pounds

2020-21 NHL statistics: Eight games, four points (two goals, two assists)

2020-21 AHL statistics: 12 games, 11 points (three goals, eight assists)

2020-21 ELH statistics: 21 games, 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists)

Contract: One-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $792,500. Pending unrestricted free agent this offseason

(Note: According to Cap Friendly, Zohorna is still exempt from waivers in the event he is sent to the American Hockey League.)

Acquired: Unrestricted free-agent signing, April 29, 2020

2020-21 season: Like a lot of teams this past fall, the Penguins sought avenues to find playing time and further the development of their prospects while most leagues in North America were on hiatus due to the pandemic. That meant lending a lot of them to teams in Europe as leagues on that continent had forged ahead despite the logistical challenges of dealing with covid-19.

In Radim Zohorna’s case, there wasn’t really much of an adjustment as was loaned on Aug. 10 to BK Mlada Boleslav in the Extraliga ledního hokeje (ELH), the top-tier league in his native Czech Republic. He had played for that team the previous two seasons.

Primarily deployed as a top center for Mlada Boleslav, Zohorna was a dominant force. Despite having the ELH season disrupted at various times due to covid-19 related issues, Zohorna averaged more than a point per game.

Before his loan was terminated Dec. 21, Zohorna had scored in seven of his final 10 ELH games in the ELH.

Invited to the Penguins’ NHL training camp, Zohorna primarily skated with other prospects before being assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.

Playing in North America for the first time, Zohorna appeared to need little time to adjust to skating on a smaller rink as he collected five points (two goals, three assists) in his first five AHL contests.

Shuffled between the AHL roster and the taxi squad a handful of times throughout the season, Zohorna made his NHL debut on March 25 and merely scored a goal on his first career shot during a 4-0 home win against the Buffalo Sabres.

Zohorna was in and out of the lineup sporadically over the next month, filling in as the Penguins weathered an outbreak of injuries to their forward ranks.

Perhaps the best goal scored by a member of the Penguins last season was tallied by Zohorna. During a 5-2 road win against the New York Rangers, Zohorna opened the scoring with a dazzling power move off the right wing to open the scoring.

Once other forwards recovered from their maladies, Zohorna finished the season on the taxi squad. During the postseason, he was a healthy scratch for all six games of the Penguins’ first-round loss to the New York Islanders.

The future: As a pending restricted free agent, Zohorna is on the back burner as far as the Penguins’ priorities are concerned. They have contract control and it should be easy to reach an agreement on a new multi-year contract.

As far as where he fits in with the team? That’s a good question.

There’s a lot of intrigue with him. While he is the largest player in the organization, he’s not an overly physical entity. At the same time, he skates like Johann Olav Koss.

He possesses a clear scoring touch as evidenced by the numbers he posted in the AHL as well as the visual evidence he provided in limited games as an NHLer.

With forwards Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev now members of the expansion Seattle Kraken, the Penguins have some holes on the wings in their bottom two lines and they have limited salary cap space to fill them.

Zohorna can be an affordable option to help fill a big void among the bottom six forwards.

Follow the Penguins all season long.