2024-25 Season in Review: Anthony Beauvillier

We hardly knew ye, Anthony.

Vitals

Player: Anthony Beauvillier
Born: June 8, 1997 (27 years old)
Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 180 pounds
Hometown: Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Canada
Shoots: Left
Draft: New York Islanders, 1st round (28th overall), 2015 NHL Draft
2024-25 Statistics: 81 games played; 15 goals; 10 assists; 25 points
-With Penguins: 63 games played; 13 goals; seven assists; 20 points
Contract Status: Signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract with the Penguins; will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2025.

Monthly Splits

Story of the Season

Kyle Dubas’ vision for the 2024-25 Pittsburgh Penguins could be best summed up by the acquisition of then-free agent forward Anthony Beauvillier.

Signed to a team-friendly, one-year deal, Dubas brought in players like Beauvillier, Cody Glass, and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to fill out a roster that was no real threat to make a push for a playoff spot. Dubas still needed to ice an NHL roster with NHL players, but not ones that have that “game-breaking” impact many fans in Pittsburgh have become accustomed to.

If Beauvillier could come in, record decent stats, and perform respectably as a plug-and-play forward and maybe bounce around the lineup from time to time, he could be flipped by the trade deadline for a draft pick.

And flipped he was.

At the deadline, Beauvillier was traded to the Washington Capitals for a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

He finished the season in the nation’s capital, registering five points in 18 games.

Regular season 5v5 advanced stats

Data via Natural Stat Trick. The ranking is out of 17 forwards on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes.

Corsi For%: 52.12 (6th)
Goals For%: 48.44 (4th)
xGF%: 53.15 (2nd)
Scoring Chance%: 52.31 (4th)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 51.57 (5th)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 8.73 (6th)
On-ice save%: 91.03 (3rd)
Goals/60: 0.93
Assists/60: 0.39
Points/60: 1.32

Natural Stat Trick’s data set paints a satisfactory picture for the former first-round pick. He saw the sixth-largest amount of ice time (minimum of 150 minutes) and finished in the top half in most of these rankings.

Charts n’at

Via Advanced Hockey Stats and NHL Edge

A mix of reds and blues shows why the former first-round pick was a member of three teams last season and something of a “bargain bin” signing for Dubas.

Not one metric stands out from the rest, but Beavillier did see a rebound of sorts with his defensive play. I’d be curious to see the year-to-year change in the projected WAR percentage after seemingly cratering during the 2023-24 campaign.

Beauvillier earned a reputation around these parts as something of a Penguin killer during his time on Long Island, but he never really killed anyone while with Pittsburgh.

Any way you slice the pizza, Beauvillier remains an inoffensive bottom-sixer who’s good for 20-25 points.

The skating ability has not diminished, as evident by the distance skated and 20-plus-mile-per-hour bursts, but by now, don’t anticipate loads of offense given his deployment.

Highlights

Questions to ponder

This question isn’t so much directed at Beauvillier as it is toward Kyle Dubas: Will Dubas acquire a Beauvillier-esque player(s) again for 2025-26?

The Penguins probably figure to float around 80-85 points again next season as the rebuild marches full steam ahead.

The general sense is that the Penguins are at least another season or two away from making a legitimate push back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, meaning it wouldn't be all that surprising to see Dubas acquire a few more sign-and-flip players to build next season’s roster.

Ideal 2025-26

Beauvillier’s tenure as a Penguin was short-lived, but the forward has said he would be in favor of returning to his current team, the Capitals, when the season concludes and free agency begins.

For his part, Beauvillier recorded two goals and six points in 10 playoff games for Washington, making any offseason negotiations that much more interesting for the player and team.

Bottom line