Gabriel D'Aigle: Photo by Dan Kingerski. All Rights Reserved Late Friday afternoon, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins signed goalie Cam Johnson to an AHL contract, but the move could prove to be interesting, if not a little source of trouble for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. Johnson is a 32-year-old goalie who has played for the Penguins’ new ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades, for the past seven seasons.
He’s well entrenched as the No. 1 goalie for the franchise, helping them to win four of the last five Kelly Cups. Florida is also owned by the Hoffman Family of Companies, who acquired the Penguins last month. At their introductory press conference on June 25, chairman of the board David Hoffman said “100%” that Florida would be the Penguins’ new affiliate, thus dumping the 29-year relationship with the Wheeling Nailers.
However, the move did not happen until July 16, well into the offseason and player movement period. With the Penguins’ change in ECHL affiliation, there is one potential problem: goalie prospect Gabriel D’Aigle. D’Aigle, 19, expects to turn pro this season, as he has completed four years of junior hockey and finished last season with Wheeling, posting a healthy .925 save percentage in three games and played in one playoff game.
The 6-foot-4, 213-pound goalie is a tantalizing combination of size and athleticism, but is still quite raw. He was one of three Penguins third-round choices in the 2025 NHL Draft and has solid potential. But here’s where the story turns and the Penguins’ changed affiliation could create a problem.
Wheeling put D’Aigle on their eight-player qualified list, meaning they retain his rights at the ECHL level. Undrafted depth prospect Logan Pietila, who played a handful of games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season, also finds himself in the same situation. Since the Penguins had five goalies under contract, including previous ECHL netminder Taylor Gauthier, whom general manager Kyle Dubas indicated would get a promotion to the AHL this season, Johnson returning to Florida makes a full-boat six.
“Our goal is to always have at least 6 goalies under contract going into the year NHL/AHL, and Johnson is one of them. Just like how we had (Gauthier) and (Maxim) Pavlenko in years past,” a team source told Pittsburgh Hockey Now. But two large questions emerge.
Will Wheeling trade D’Aigle so that he may join the Penguins prospects in Florida, and if they do, will he be stuck as a second fiddle on a veteran ECHL team built to win a Kelly Cup rather than develop players? The latter is certainly a departure from the way the Penguins’ relationship with Wheeling worked, in which Wheeling was used primarily as a feeder in the Penguins’ organization with numerous prospects being stationed there.
“For D’Aigle, our focus is making sure he’s having a good offseason and that he’s ready to come into training camp and have a good year,” the team source said before putting the larger issue of trading D’Aigle onto the Wheeling organization. Presumably, Wheeling will trade D’Aigle to Florida. However, in the mad scramble to replace so many lost players so deep into the summer, in theory, they could also hold onto D’Aigle.
It’s within their rights to do so. And if they do not trade D’Aigle to Florida, it would create an awkward situation in which the goalie is isolated from the Penguins’ handpicked coaches and player development staff. Since the Penguins organization ran the hockey operations in Wheeling, that team is currently without a traditional management structure, including a GM.
Their website lists new president Brian Komorowski, in addition to C-level operations. The team recently named Nate DiCasmirro as its new head coach after Ryan Papaioannou was named the Abbotsford Canucks head coach. Since Johnson signed late Friday afternoon, exposing the potential issue, PHN attempted to contact the Wheeling organization Friday after business hours, but did not receive a response.
We will update the story as more information becomes available.