One of Ron Hextall's goals this past offseason was to make the Penguins "heavier" on the backend. He made his first step toward doing so by signing Jan Rutta to a three-year, $8.25 million ($2.75 AAV) on the first day of free agency.
"We feel Jan is a really good penalty-killer," Hextall said after the signing. "He's a real solid guy to play with really any left-hander on our team. We feel like it's a good addition to our team, and we feel like we got better and added a little bit of the girth that we feel like we need in front of the net and penalty-killing situation.