The Pittsburgh Penguins officially relinquished the NHL rights to defensive prospects Nolan Collins and Thimo Nickl on Saturday as a result of not signing them before a league deadline of 5 p.m. Saturday.

A team spokesperson confirmed neither player was signed to an entry-level contract.

Both were part of a group of 46 players around the league who were subject to the NHL’s deadline.

Collins, 20, was a sixth-round pick (No. 167) overall in the 2022 NHL draft. A right-handed shot, Collins (6-foot-4, 205 points) appeared in 65 games this season for the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League and scored 26 points (six goals, 20 assists).

A wrist injury sidelined him for all of the Penguins’ 2023 training camp.

Nickl, 22, spent the 2023-24 season with the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. The right-hander played in 66 games and scored 21 points (two goals, 19 assists). After the Nailers’ postseason was completed last month, Nickl joined Austria for the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) World Championship tournament, appearing in five games and scoring two points.

On Feb. 16, Nickl (6-foot-3, 196) signed a future contract with EC-KAC, an Austrian team that competes in the International Central European Hockey League (ICEHL).

The Penguins, under former general manager Ron Hextall, acquired Nickl’s NHL rights from the Anaheim Ducks in March of 2023 via a trade that sent forward prospect Judd Caulfield, a fifth-round pick (No. 145 overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft, to the Ducks.

Nickl was a fourth-round draft pick (No. 104 overall) of the Ducks in 2020.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)