from Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Patric Hornqvist will make at least $6 million per season on his next contract.

Count on it: Hornqvist is one of the most consistent goal scorers in the league, playing the type of hard-nosed, straight-ahead game that doesn't fluctuate much from year to year. He's one of only 24 players to score at least 20 goals in each of the past four seasons, and that's a list that is populated with some of the game's brightest stars.

Plenty of players with similar if not somewhat inferior numbers have received $6 million or more in recent negotiations, from Patrick Marleau and Alexander Radulov at $6.25 million to Milan Lucic and Loui Eriksson at $6 million....

The most likely scenario is Hornqvist gets between $6 and $7 million on the open market and the Penguins hope Zach Aston-Reese or Daniel Sprong is ready for full-time top-six duty a year from now.

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