Penguins A to Z: Maxim Cajkovic’s future will likely unfold elsewhere
Share this post:
With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2023-24 season coming to an end without any postseason action, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 51 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from fourth-line center Noel Acciari to reserve winger Radim Zohorna.
This series is scheduled to be published every weekday leading into the second day of the NHL Draft on June 29.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)
Maxim Cajkovic
Position: Right winger
Shoots: Right
Age: 23
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 201 pounds
2023-24 AHL statistics: 10 games, five points (two goals, three assists)
2023-24 ECHL statistics: 33 games, 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists)
Contract: In the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $850,833. Pending restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
(Note: Cajkovic is exempt from waivers for any transaction to a minor league affiliate.)
Acquired: Trade, Jan 25, 2024
This season: Maxim Cajkovic entered the 2023-24 campaign in new surroundings.
A third-round pick (No. 89 overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Cajkovic was a spare part in a trade on July 2, 2023, as he went to the Minnesota Wild along with NHL forward Patrick Maroon.
His tenure with the Wild was unremarkable and brief. Spending most of his time with that organization at the ECHL level, he appeared in 20 contests for the Iowa Heartlanders and posted 18 points (12 goals, six assists).
????MAX CAJKOVIC SCORES???? pic.twitter.com/YWXM1CRlTu
— Iowa Heartlanders (@GoHeartlanders) December 16, 2023
Cajkovic also managed to play in five American Hockey League games with the Iowa Wild and scored three points (one goal, two assists) with that team before being traded to the Penguins almost a month into the 2024 calendar year.
From the Penguins’ perspective, the trade was primarily rooted in relieving a procedural problem as they dealt away defenseman Will Butcher, a regular healthy scratch due to the AHL’s limits on how many veterans are permitted to be in a lineup.
Cajkovic was brought in merely so the Wild could shed a contract, providing them some buffer space below the league limit of 50 contracts per season.
If there were any legitimate hopes that another change of scenery would benefit Cajkovic, they did not materialize.
Sidelined due to an undisclosed injury at the time of the trade, Cajkovic made his debut within the Penguins organization with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers on Feb. 6 and was promoted to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL 10 days later.
In five games with the AHL Penguins, he had two points (one goal, one assist) while exclusively deployed as a right winger on the fourth line.
FIRST TOMATOES GOAL FOR CAJKOVIC pic.twitter.com/qDCRs76kZz
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) February 18, 2024
By Feb. 28, he was sent back to Wheeling.
His final 10 games of the season came with the Nailers and he floated between that team’s top three lines. Ultimately, he recorded four assists in 13 games with the Nailers.
With his final game coming March 24, Cajkovic was loaned to the Slovakian national team April 10.
The future: There doesn’t appear to be a future of any sort for Cajkovic with the Penguins.
The expectations — if there were any — were very low for him upon arrival with the organization in January and he didn’t come close to suggesting he has any kind of hopes of being an NHL player despite some level of competent skills as a relatively high draft pick who was a prolific scorer on occasion at the junior level in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
A pending restricted free agent July 1, it seems likely that management will decline to tender a qualifying offer and allow him to become an unrestricted free agent with regard to his NHL status.
If Cajkovic has any kind of future in the NHL, it will likely unfold elsewhere.