With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 50 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Justin Almeida

Position: Left winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 22

Height: 5-foot-11

Weight: 165 pounds

2020-21 AHL statistics: 11 games, four points (two goals, two assists)

Contract: Entering the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $809,166. Pending restricted free agent in 2022

Acquired: Fifth-round draft pick (No. 129 overall), June 23, 2018

2020-21 season: Almeida’s second professional season was much better than his first professional season in one sense.

He did not spend any time in the ECHL.

But that was primarily due to the unique nature of the 2020-21 American Hockey League campaign. Due to the pandemic, NHL teams maintained a taxi squad of players that would typically be among the best on most AHL squads. As a result, mid-level prospects such as Almeida were never in danger of being sent to the ECHL.

Regardless, Almeida did little of note in 2020-21, even after recording a goal in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s season opener, a 4-3 overtime home loss to the Binghamton Devils on Feb. 8. On the sequence, a Devils player inadvertently played a puck into his own net and Almeida was credited with the score.

After two games, Almeida suffered an undisclosed injury and would be sidelined for nearly six weeks from mid-February to late March, hardly an ideal development for a player who had his 2019-20 season partially stunted by offseason shoulder surgery during the summer of 2019.

After he recovered and appeared in one game on March 21, Almeida was shuffled between the AHL roster and taxi squad on two separate occasions in transactions that were geared toward the NHL club maximizing the salary cap space it could recoup with other players on long-term injured reserve.

By April 4, Almeida was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for good. In his final eight games of the season, he recorded a mere three points (one goal, two assists).

During the final days of the season, Almeida was typically deployed on the fourth line and was even scratched in favor of players on AHL contracts.

The future: Things just don’t look good for Almeida after two seasons. Granted, the pandemic has hindered the development of prospects of every kind of pedigree. But Almeida has been limited to 20 of a possible 95 AHL games over the past two seasons.

In contrast, he appeared in 37 ECHL games for Wheeling during the 2019-20 campaign.

All isn’t lost for Almeida. He clearly has talent as evidenced by his final season (2018-19) at the junior level when he put up 111 points (33 goals, 78 assists) in 64 games for Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League.

If things go well for him, he’s a hiccup-quick and intelligent winger who can create offense for his linemates. If things don’t go well — and they largely haven’t for two seasons — he’s barely a viable option for an AHL lineup.

Few players in the Penguins’ organization need a big 2021-22 season more than Almeida. He has one more year on his entry-level contract and probably one more chance to show he has some future with the organization.

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