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Tom Sestito signs PTO with Penguins, looking to protect 'the 90,000 stars on the team'

Marilyn Indahl / USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Penguins will have some added grit at training camp this year.

The club has signed forward Tom Sestito to a professional tryout contract, general manager Jim Rutherford announced Wednesday.

Sestito will enter training camp next month with a clear goal in mind.

"I want to be a fourth-line guy, power forward," he said. "Hit as many bodies as I can and deter a guy from taking a run at the 90,000 stars on the team."

The Penguins are particularly loaded up front, with Phil Kessel brought in earlier this summer to complement Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Further forward depth was added, a reality that may prove to be a detriment to Sestito's ambitions of making the opening night roster.

The 27-year-old, drafted in the third round of the 2006 NHL Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, has appeared in 137 career games, recording 10 goals, eight assists, and 432 penalty minutes.

Sestito appeared in three games for the Vancouver Canucks last season and was dropped from their AHL club in late February. He did, however, rack up nine points and 213 minutes in penalties for the team in 2013-14.

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