Penguins agree to one-year deal with C Cullen

Cullen signed a one-year, $800,000 contract with the Penguins on Thursday. He played the past two seasons with the Nashville Predators.

The 6 foot 1 inch, 200-pound native of Virginia, Minnesota, also has skated for Anaheim, Florida, the New York Rangers, Ottawa and Minnesota in an National Hockey League career that began in 1997.

Cullen also played for Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford when he was with the Carolina Hurricanes, winning a Stanley Cup there in 2006. He has topped 20 goals twice in his career and has hovered around half a point-per-game for a good portion of his career. But like last year, with a little bit of change, you really have to focus on that and be aware of it. It’s not easy just to bring in new guys and have everything be smooth. The biggest splash came with the acquisition of Phil Kessel from Toronto, but Rutherford made other savvy moves as well – Nick Bonino and Eric Fehr were acquired in late July, while Sergei Plotnokov and Dominik Simon were signed out of the KHL and Czech League, respectively.

Cullen will be 39 in November and projects to be slotted into a bottom-six role, most likely centering the fourth line for the Penguins.

This might actually end up being Cullen’s last kick at the can, as he has discussed retiring after next season. Many questions remain about the Penguins’ ability to contend for a title in 2015-16, but they’re shaping up pretty nicely on paper right now.