2025-26 Season in Review: Blake Lizotte

Story of the Season

General manager Kyle Dubas described Lizotte as an “extraordinarily reliable player” when the Penguins re-signed him on Jan. 12 to a three-year extension. That was visible in the Penguins’ puck management with Lizotte on the ice throughout the season. The team had better possession metrics with Lizotte on the ice than with any other forward who spent the majority of the season with the team. Lizotte also played a key role on special teams, which was especially obvious when he missed the last 16 games of the regular season due to his right hand injury. The Penguins had the second-most effective penalty kill in the NHL (84.5 percent success rate) through the first 67 games of the season. During that season-ending stretch with Lizotte on the sideline, the Penguins ranked 30th with a 68.3 percent kill rate.

Regular season 5v5 advanced stats

**Data via Natural Stat Trick**. Ranking is out of 18 forwards on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes. Corsi For%: 52.84 percent (3rd) Goals For%: 48.84 percent (15th) xGF%: 52.42 percent (5th) Scoring Chance %: 54.75 percent (3rd) 5v5 on-ice shooting%: 7.92 percent (17th) On-ice save%: 91.37 (4th) Goals/60: 0.4 (16th) Assist/60: 0.99 (9th) Points/60: 1.39 (15th) The Penguins weren’t converting on a lot of the chances they got when Lizotte (and the rest of the fourth line, which when healthy mostly consisted of Noel Acciari and Connor Dewar) were on the ice. They also largely weren’t allowing goals. Also, despite missing 27 games, Lizotte ranked fourth only to Sidney Crosby, Acciari and rookie Ben Kindel for the fourth-most face-off wins on the team this season.

Highlights

Questions to ponder

The Penguins have already locked in another fourth-liner from this season by re-signing Dewar to a two-year extension, but Noel Acciari remains a pending free agent. Should Acciari walk this offseason, Dan Muse and the Penguins would be finding someone to slot in on Lizotte’s other side. A potential option could be Elmer Söderblom, who is currently signed through next season.

Ideal 2026-27

The Penguins will hope to see Lizotte remain healthy next season. The 28-year-old has missed at least 20 games in each of his last three campaigns, dating back to his final campaign with the Los Angeles Kings. Keeping him in the lineup will be key to the Penguins’ hopes of improving in the faceoff circle next season and could give Lizotte a chance to contribute more on the scoresheet.

Bottom Line

The Penguins went 10-13-4 without Lizotte in the lineup, and 31-12-12 with him on the ice. The team’s penalty kill and face-off percentage suffered during his absences. He has established himself as a strong penalty killer and a key part of what was regularly the Penguins’ most reliable line in terms of puck possession, if not production, last season.

Final Grade

A What did you think of Lizotte’s season?