Penguins Terminating Contract Of Newly Acquired Zamula

The Pittsburgh Penguins clearly didn't do their research on Yegor Zamula as once the team acquired him in a one-for-one swap with the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Philip Tomasino, Zamula failed to report to the AHL and his contract is being terminated.

Egor Zamula (PIT) is on unconditional waivers for a contract termination -- he'll become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow if unclaimed, and has multiple interested NHL suitors
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) January 5, 2026

Zamula first has to pass through waivers, which may not happen as Chris Johnston describes him as having multiple NHL teams interested. One thing is for certain, Zamula can and feels like he can play in the NHL, so he will be looking for an opportunity where that is given to him.

The Flyers, after seeing two solid seasons from him, have re-signed and brought in too many other options, which ended up pushing Zamula out. As for the Penguins, there is far less space for another defenseman on the roster it seems as players like Ryan Graves, Matt Dumba, Owen Pickering, and Alexander Alexeyev are all in the AHL at the moment.

Zamula should be able to fit in as a third-pairing defenseman on a team, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a non-contender either. It would make sense if his opportunity came from a team with more than injury issues right now as then this cycle will just repeat.

Zamula, who is 25 years old, has only played 13 games this season, averaging 14 minutes per game. That is way down from his 16-16.5 minutes per game over his first two "full" seasons where he played above 60 games for the Flyers. He isn't elite offensively, but has chipped in and will block shots. We await if he gets claimed or who he signs with thereafter.