With Free Agency just around the corner, the Pittsburgh Penguins have announced the new contracts of several players - including a seven-year commitment to new star defenseman Seth Jones and 2020 5th overall pick Cole Perfetti signing his 3-year entry-level contract.

Jones, acquired in a summer blockbuster with the New York Rangers, was brought in to be the #1 guy for a defense that has seen a big revamp this summer. He had 31 points with the Rangers last year, with 203 hits and 87 blocked shots as well. Jones signed a seven-year extension worth $35 million.

The long-term commitment to Jones is the only such one the Penguins were comfortable with, already owing young studs Andrei Svechnikov and Jack Hughes contract extensions in the next couple of seasons. "We've definitely been trying to keep everything open beyond the next two seasons as much as possible, but we believe Seth is our #1 guy for the forseeable future," said GM Trevor Cook. "There was some talk on a short-term deal with a little lower AAV but the last thing we wanted to do was walk Seth straight to his UFA years. He wants to be here, we want him here and we're happy to get this deal done."

The Penguins also surprised many by re-signing Patrick Sharp to a one-year, $5.2 million extension. It was speculated that Sharp wanted out after he saw a drastic decrease in playing time after the trade deadline last year. "Look, last year we were in a rebuild and we tried to flip him near the trade deadline and maybe had a bit of a fractured relationship after that. But he brings so much to this young group and we had a good chat with him after the season. We think he compliments Jack (Hughes) really well, we think he's a great PKer, and he's a leader with a ton of experience. He liked the direction we were heading after this summer, and he really bought in. We're happy to have him back."

Recent acquisitions Sean Monahan ($9 million, 2 years) and Mika Zibanejad ($9.1 million, 2 years) signed new deals, along with goaltender Ben Bishop ($1.5 million, 1 year).

David Cotton also signed a 2-year, $5.6 million contract with the team but was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Vitaly Anikeyenko to facilitate the contract extension for Mika Zibanejad. "David is a player who brought a lot of skills that we liked to the table but when we were able to acquire Mika, we had to free up some space. Vitaly is a mean, nasty depth defenseman, no fun to play against at all, he fits in with what we've been trying to do on our blueline this summer."

The Penguins issued qualifying offers to Zach Sanford, Anthony DeAngelo, and Kristians Rubins. They also extended Vyacheslav Osnovin, Pavel Jenys, and Robin Lehner on minimum-salary contracts and assigned the three of them to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Additionally, the Penguins signed 3-year entry-level contracts at their draft slot salaries with #5 overall pick Cole Perfetti, 2018 2nd rounder Filip Hallander, 2019 2nd rounder Patrik Puistola, 2018 3rd rounder Johnny Tychonick, 2019 3rd rounder Anttoni Honka, 2019 5th rounder Jeremie Bucheler, and this season's fourth-rounder Carter Savoie.

Hallander, Tychonick, and Bucheler have been assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and it's expected that Perfetti will also be assigned there after the Penguins officially name him their 2020 draft AHL underager. The Penguins will be able to declare a 2019 draft underager as well, which could be Puistola or Honka, but the team is considering their options.