Zohorna thrilled to be back with Penguins, fighting for bottom-six spot

"He's just a fun guy to be around," Joseph said of Zohorna. "He just brings some joy in the locker room. These types of guys just bring such an energy that you want to be part of the team, it's exciting to have around. He's just a good person. I was able to play with him for a long time in Wilkes-Barre. So to see him back here, it's just really fun to have him."

That feeling goes both ways.

"Oh, it's so nice to be back," Zohorna told me after his first game back in a Penguins' uniform, a preseason 3-2 shootout win over the Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Zohorna said that it was especially happy to be back after a "tough year." Asked what made it a tough year for him, he paused, chuckled, and said that it's a "long story" before elaborating.

Zohorna became eligible for waivers last season for the first time. He was put on waivers in training camp with the intention of sending him down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but he was claimed by the Flames. He played in the preseason with Calgary, but didn't stick there, either. Sohorna was put on waivers again, a move that in most cases would have led to him going right to Wilkes-Barre. Because the Penguins had him first, had they put in a claim and been the only team to claim him, they would have been able to get Zohorna back and assign him right to the AHL. 

But the timing and the cap mess the Penguins were in made that too risky of a move. The Penguins wanted Zohorna back, Ron Hextall told me at the time. But there were three possible outcomes had the Penguins put in that claim to get Zohorna back:

• The Penguins are the only team to put in a claim. This would have resulted in the Penguins getting Zohorna back and having the ability to assign him directly to Wilkes-Barre. It would have been just as if he cleared the first time they waived him.

• The Penguins put in a claim, but a team worse than the Penguins in last season's standings also puts in a claim. This would have resulted in the other team getting Zohorna, because waiver claim priority is based on the previous season's standings in reverse order at this time of year. This would have had no effect on the Penguins.

• The Penguins put in a claim, but a team better than the Penguins in last season's standings also puts in a claim. This would have resulted in the Penguins being awarded Zohorna, because they were higher in the priority list. But because they were not the only claim, they would not have been able to send him down to Wilkes-Barre and would have been stuck with him on the NHL roster for at least 24 hours, until they could waive him again.

That last scenario, Hextall told me, was the concern that led to the Penguins deciding to not put in a waiver claim. This was the day before rosters were due, and they were $83,000 from the salary cap ceiling. They would have been screwed had the latter scenario panned out.

That meant that Zohorna ended up spending most of the year with the Calgary Wranglers in the AHL, where he scored 10 goals and 19 assists in 40 games. He did get called up to the Flames around midseason, and was scoreless in eight games.

At the trade deadline, he was on the move again. Kyle Dubas and the Maple Leafs sent forward Dryden Hunt to the Flames for Zohorna in a one-for-one deal.

"You’re always worried you’re never going to have enough centers, or D or goalies," Dubas said of the trade. "For us, it was being able to add a center to the mix, who is a non-veteran in the American League because that’ll help the Marlies as well."

Zohorna scored two goals and three assists in 11 games with the Marlies, and was recalled to the Maple Leafs for a two-game stint in the last week of the regular season, and scored one goal. 

"It was just a bit unlucky for me last year," Zohorna said.

So when the opportunity presented itself to sign with the Penguins on the second day of free agency, the excitement was two-fold for Zohorna. He could return to the team and the teammates with which he began his professional career in North America. It was also a huge boost to his confidence, because it was Dubas doing the signing. Dubas traded for him in Toronto, and liked what he saw enough to go out and target him in free agency.

"I like that he took me again like last year," Zohorna said of Dubas. "I'm happy to be here. I think (Dubas) is good, he's a great guy. He's a great GM."

This season isn't just a reunion tour for Zohorna, though. He's looking to make the NHL team.

Zohorna was one of many depth signings Dubas made this offseason, especially at forward. Between Zohorna, Jeff Carter, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto, Drew O'Connor, Rem Pitlick, Andreas Johnsson, Vinnie Hinostroza, Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen, Sam Poulin, and PTO forwards Austin Wagner and Colin White, there are 14 forwards fighting for six spots. Seven, if you count the extra forward the Penguins intend on carrying.

Nieto, Acciari and Carter have been skating as a unit throughout training camp and seem to be a likely third- or fourth-line. O'Connor has been skating with Eller and Rickard Rakell, though Rakell seems likely to start in the top six when the season starts. 

The competition in camp is more so for that last spot on the wing, and perhaps the extra forward spot. Zohorna is hoping to put himself in a good position to be in one of those spots.

"Competition is always good," Zohorna told me of the situation. "It's healthy, you know? I have to do everything that's best for me. It's very good."

It's way too early to make any calls on who sticks, but Zohorna has been great through the first three days of camp and the first preseason game. Zohorna's camp group had a full scrimmage on the second day of camp, and Zohorna played on the left side of a line with Poulin and Puustinen. Zohorna had two goals -- the first was a wrister that came off of a feed from Evgeni Malkin, and the second was a redirect after going to the net-front.

Zohorna was a factor in the Penguins' opening goal against the Blue Jackets on Sunday, showing off his hands in a tight area to set up Nylander for the goal:

"When I saw Z got it, I was yelling at him that I was open in the back door," Nylander recalled. "Then he gave it to me and it was just a tap-in. It was a nice pass by Z."

The goals and the assist are impressive. But the coaching staff has liked a whole lot more than those couple of goals from Zohorna so far.

"I actually loves Z's game," assistant coach Mike Vellucci said after Sunday's preseason game. "I love his conditioning. You know, these last three days, every time we've done the skates, he's gotten better from his previous two years that he was here. He was scoring in the the scrimmages, and then I just thought today he played a sound game defensively, was winning faceoffs. I just like his overall game, his conditioning, and I know he wants to be here."

That conditioning is the biggest thing for Zohorna, because it was something Mike Sullivan said he needed to work on to stick in the NHL in past years. Part of that is simply a result of Zohorna being a massive human at 6 foot 6 and 220 pounds, it doesn't come as easily for him. In Zohorna's last full season in Pittsburgh, though, it just wasn't his fault. He was sick for around three months around the time of training camp in 2021, and he never quite figured out what was wrong with him. He just knew that he didn't feel right for a long time, and it zapped his energy and conditioning. He spent much of the 2021-22 season just working to get his conditioning back to where it was. He felt back to normal by training camp time last season, but then was lost to waivers before the season even started.

Now, Zohorna is in better shape than ever. His overall two-way game looks strong, and he's putting up the points, too. He's hoping that allows him to stick around in Pittsburgh awhile longer.

"I'm happy to be here," Zohorna said. "I hope I get an opportunity to make the team."