Player: Tommy Novak
Born: April 28, 1997 (28 years old)
Height: 6’1
Weight: 190 pounds
Hometown: St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Shoots: Left
Draft: 2015, third round, No. 85 overall
2025-26 Statistics: 82 games, 16 goals, 26 assists, 42 total points, +1
Contract Status: Signed through 2026-27 season at $3.5 million against the salary cap
History:
Monthly Splits
via Yahoo!
Novak is the only Penguins player that appeared in every game this season, playing in all 82 regular season games and all six playoff games.
Story of the Season
The Penguins
acquired Novak from the Nashville Predators at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline but only had a chance to see him for two games before his season ended due to injury. The 2025-26 season was their first chance to get a look at him, and for the most part it went well.
He had a slow start in October and did not seem to adjust well to playoff hockey, but in the middle that all he proved to be a solid middle-six forward that could play up and down the lineup and in a lot of different roles. He was a constant in the lineup and proved to be one of the Penguins’ best possession-driving forwards.
Regular season 5v5 advanced stats
Data via Natural Stat Trick. Ranking is out of 18 forwards on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes.
Corsi For%: 50.9 (6th)
Goals For%: 52.9 (12th)
xGF%: 53.9 (3rd)
Scoring Chance %: 54.0 (4th)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 11.4 (12th)
On-ice save%: .892 (13th)
Goals/60: 0.59 (15th)
Assist/60: 1.35 (3rd)
Points/60: 1.94 (8th)
Novak had great possession numbers and was an excellent playmaker, but he got hurt a little bit on the percentages, both with his own shooting percentage, the team’s shooting percentage, and the goaltending performances when he was on the ice.
Charts n’at
WAR metrics love what Novak brings to the table. He is an effective offensive player and his defensive impacts flourished this season in his first full year in Pittsburgh. A little more finishing ability (Novak only scored 10 5v5 goals this season) would have kicked it up even higher.
Here’s a reason why Novak was a lineup staple even during his production cold streaks. Set aside counting stats like goals and assists and this look shows just what a master Novak is in the neutral zone. His ability to carry the puck with possession out of the defensive zone and into the offensive zone are first rate. Once in the offensive end, he’s a wizard at setting up teammates. He doesn’t hit, isn’t particularly speedy or have a lot of goal-scoring touch but otherwise there’s an awful lot to like in the microstats. That doesn’t always translate to goals or points but is a huge factor in helping fuel a line.
Novak doesn’t have a hard shot by NHL standards but he’s able to pop up all over the offensive zone as shown by the NHL Edge shot locations.
Novak isn’t a burner with impressive high-end speed but he does have a lot of power and burst to get in that 18-20mph zone and scoot off with the puck. This data tells the tale that his game is more acceleration and quickness based rather than long-flight top speed.
Highlights
Questions to ponder
The biggest question is what sort of future does he have with the Penguins, and does he help them accomplish whatever their short-term and long-term goals are?
He is signed for one more season at $3.5 million, which is a completely fair price for his level of production and versatility throughout the lineup. There is value in that if you are anticipating a return to the playoffs next season. But his career playoff performance, and especially this past spring, has left a lot to be desired. Does that sour the Penguins on him at all? Is he a player you want to re-sign? Does he have enough trade value to get you a decent asset back in return?
Ideal 2026-27
Assuming he is in Pittsburgh, it would probably look a lot like what he did during the 2025-26 season with maybe a few more goals and a little better shooting luck, for both himself and his linemates. Novak was a solid possession driver but finished with a 12.4 percent shooting percentage that was a little below his prior career numbers while his on-ice shooting percentage was one of the lowest on the team.
Bottom Line
Novak can be a frustrating player because he has enough talent to keep you interested and make you pay attention to him, but not enough to be a constant difference-maker. He is a good player and a productive middle-six player on most teams, but there is a part of you that still comes away wanting a little more. Even if that is an unrealistic expectation. Not everybody is going to be a star or a top-line player. Sometimes a player is just a solid second-or third-line tweener. That is what Novak is.
Final Grade
B-. Solid grade for a solid season. Were there better players on the Penguins roster? Definitely. Were there worse players on the Penguins roster? Definitely. I won’t say he exceeded expectations, and I won’t say he failed to meet expectations. If you were to map out what his 2025-26 season would have looked like from the start, you probably would have ended up here. The only thing that makes it a B-minus instead of a flat B is I would have liked to have seen more from him in the playoffs. But the 82-game sampling is strong enough that it still starts with a B grade.
