The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Tommy Novak from the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline, reuniting him with former teammate Philip Tomasino.
The 27-year-old from St. Paul, MN, was drafted in the third round (85th overall) by the Predators at the 2015 Draft. During his Penguins’ debut on Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights, Novak skated in his 202nd NHL game.
He’s scored 49 goals with 68 assists for 117 points. Meanwhile, in the AHL, Novak has 37 goals, 98 assists, and 135 points in 157 games.
Here are three interesting things to know about the newest Penguins’ forward.
In 2014, Novak participated at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, now the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He helped the United States to a Bronze Medal at that season’s event.
In addition to winning a medal, Novak led the tournament in assists (six) and points (11). It was a great season, and he was also named to the USHL All-Rookie Second Team.
After parts of two seasons in the USHL, Novak skated at the University of Minnesota. In 129 games, he tallied 18 goals and 88 points while helping his school to back-to-back NCAA (B1G) regular season championships in 2016 and 2017.
His best NCAA season came in 2016, when he scored six goals and 27 points in 37 games.
In four seasons, Novak has played at least three games against every NHL team and is still looking for his first goal against the Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Toronto Maple Leafs.
However, he is still searching for a point versus the Rangers, the only NHL club against which he has not scored a goal or earned an assist in six games.
Considering he’s spent his entire career in the Western Conference, Novak has scored six goals and five assists for 11 points in seven games against the Sharks, his best statistic against any opponent in the league.
