Penguins A to Z: Xavier Ouellet moves on
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With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2023-24 season coming to an end without any postseason action, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 52 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.)
Xavier Ouellet
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Age: 30
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 200 pounds
2023-24 AHL statistics: 63 games, 25 points (two goals, 23 assists)
2023-24 AHL postseason statistics: Two games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists)
Contract: In the second year of a two-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $762,500. Pending unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July 13, 2022
This season: Seemingly, ever since the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins came into existence in 1999, they’ve always had a place for a veteran rearguard who could be that team’s top defenseman without being a serious threat to reach the NHL roster outside of extenuating circumstances.
The list is a who’s who of players who have found that pocket of being good but not too good.
John Slaney, Patrick Boileau, Alain Nasreddine, Micki DuPont, Andrew Hutchinson, Corey Potter, Alexandre Picard, Dylan Reese, Taylor Chorney, Will O’Neill, David Warsofsky, Cameron Gaunce, Kevin Czuczman, Zach Trotman, Chris Summer, Stefan Elliott, Taylor Fedun and Matt Bartkowski.
Xavier Ouellet is most certainly part of that motley crew.
Signed by former general manager Ron Hextall to a two-year contract in the 2022 offseason, Ouellet was selected as an AHL All-Star during the 2022-23 season but an injury limited him to 29 games that campaign.
This season, Ouellet was a pretty steady presence in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s lineup and helped that team return to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus.
After clearing waivers Oct. 29, Ouellet was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and remained there for the entire season.
Serving as an alternate captain for the second consecutive season, Ouellet opened the campaign in a variety of roles on the blue line, working on the left and right sides and on all three pairs.
In the season opener, a 4-2 road win against the Charlotte Checkers, Ouellet was deployed on the right side of the second pairing and wound up scoring the winning goal on an empty net.
X takes the long shot and absolutely nails it pic.twitter.com/2HIEDcfLWF
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 14, 2023
In total, Ouellet posted 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) in his first 22 games of the season before being moved in and out of the lineup by late December due to the American Hockey League’s rules for the number of veterans teams can dress.
After defenseman Will Butcher was traded to the Minnesota Wild in late January, Ouellet remained in the lineup for the bulk of the season.
His second — and final — goal of the season was another game-winner, coming in a 3-1 road win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on March 24.
The X-man strikes! pic.twitter.com/VlArzDR1ot
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 24, 2024
Finishing the season on the left side of the second pairing, Ouellet went scoreless in both of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s postseason games.
The future: Ouellet’s time with the Penguins unofficially came to an end Monday when it was announced he agreed to a contract with Dinamo Minsk, a team based in Belarus that competes in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Once upon a time, Ouellet was a fairly high draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings who selected him in the second round (No. 48 overall) in 2011. But that potential was never truly realized. In eight NHL seasons, he has played in only 178 games with the Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens. And the last came in May of 2021.
Since then, he has settled into a role as a reliable AHL defenseman.
With limited hopes of returning to the NHL, Ouellet, who turns 31 on July 29, has moved on.