Former Kings Center Signs Three-Year Contract Extension

Former Los Angeles Kings center and current member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Blake Lizotte, has signed a three-year contract extension.

Lizotte will earn a total of $6.75 million under this deal, averaging $2.25 million per season and against the Penguins’ salary cap, beginning next season.

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This new deal will expire following the 2028-29 campaign, and he’ll be 31 years old.

Lizotte has spent the past two seasons with the Penguins after his first six years were with the Kings.

The 28-year-old has spent nearly his entire career as a fourth-line center. This year, he’s averaged 13:57 of ice time. That’s just one second below his career-high of ice time that was set in 2019-20 with Los Angeles.

He’s featured in 35 of 44 games for Pittsburgh and has recorded five goals and five assists for 10 points on the year. With that, he has a respectable 51.4 faceoff percentage and a plus-six rating.

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Last season was his first in Pittsburgh. He ended that 2024-25 campaign with 59 games to his name, as well as 11 goals and 20 points.

Lizotte’s time with the Kings began when he signed in April 2019. He was an undrafted forward who joined Los Angeles following two seasons at St. Cloud State from 2017-18 to 2018-19.

He made his NHL debut in 2018-19, but played his first full season in 2019-20. Lizotte scored six goals and 17 assists for 23 points in his rookie season as a 21-year-old.

His best NHL season was in his fifth year with the Kings. In 81 appearances for Los Angeles, he scored 11 goals and recorded 23 assists for a total of 34 points. He averaged 12:57 of ice time that season and registered a plus-11 rating.

From Kopitar to Uncertainty: The Kings’ Center Crisis LOS ANGELES, CA — For two decades, the Los Angeles Kings have had the luxury franchises spend years chasing: a true number one centerman in Anze Kopitar. Alongside Jonathan Quick and Drew Doughty, the Kings formed Hockey’s Holy Trinity—three franchise-level pillars down the middle, on the back end, and in net. In their primes, all three ranked among the very best at their respective positions. That spine was the foundation of two Stanley Cups in three years, before the Mike Richards and Slava Voynov situations derailed the Lombardi administration.

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Lizotte also accumulated a whopping 70 penalty minutes that year. He never reached more than 28 in any other NHL campaign.

His tenure with Los Angeles ended in the 2023-24 off-season when he signed with the Penguins as a free agent. Lizotte inked a two-year contract at $1.85 million per season, the same deal that is set to expire at the end of this season.

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