The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Jay McClement to a professional tryout contract, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

McClement, 34, has played the last three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes. As a Hurricane, McClement tallied 15 goals and 40 points in 224 contests, while winning 53.7% of his faceoffs and logging the most cumulative shorthanded minutes of any Hurricanes forward.

A 12-year NHL veteran, McClement, who stands 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, has suited up for 906 career NHL games with Carolina, Toronto, Colorado and St. Louis, producing 244 points (90G-154A). He has been an alternate captain for his team on five different occasions.

McClement, a native of Kingston, Ontario, was originally drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the second round (57th overall) in the 2001 NHL Draft. Since breaking into the league with the Blues in 2005-06, McClement has been one of the top penalty-killing forwards in the NHL, averaging over two-plus shorthanded minutes per game nine times in 12 seasons.

McClement won a gold medal with Canada at the 2007 World Championship, and he won back-to-back silver medals with the Canadians at the 2002 and '03 World Junior Championships.