Penguins A to Z: Valtteri Puustinen remains an intriguing enigma

With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2022-23 season coming to an end without any postseason action, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 49 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Corey Andonovski to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

This series will publish every weekday leading into the NHL Draft on June 28-29.

(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)

Valtteri Puustinen

Position: Right winger

Shoots: Right

Age: 24

Height: 5-foot-9

Weight: 183 pounds

2022-23 AHL statistics: 72 games, 59 points (24 goals, 35 assists)

Contract: In the final year of a two-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $842,500. Pending restricted free agent this offseason.

(Note: Puustinen is exempt from waivers involving any transactions with a minor league affiliate and is eligible for arbitration.)

Acquired: Seventh-round draft pick (No. 203 overall), June 22, 2019

Last season: Things seemed primed for Valtteri Puustinen to take a significant step forward in his trek towards being a regular NHLer in 2022-23.

After all, he led the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in scoring during the 2021-22 campaign and even played in one game (and recorded an assist) in his lone NHL contest that season.

And during the early days of the Penguins’ 2022 training camp, Puustinen skated on the team’s top line next to Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel.

But once he was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Oct. 2, he never came back.

That’s not to say the Finnish-born Puustinen didn’t have a marvelous second season in North America. He was the only member of the AHL Penguins to appear in all 72 games and led the team in scoring for the second consecutive campaign.

Opening the season on the team’s second line with Sam Poulin and Filip Hallander, Puustinen got off to something of a slow start with only one assist in his first four games but by Oct. 23, he got in a groove with goals in three consecutive games.

While other forwards such as Poulin, Hallander, Drake Caggiula, Jonathan Gruden, Drew O’Connor and Alex Nylander garnered recalls to the NHL roster, Puustinen remained stationed in Northeast Pennsylvania and was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s most prolific driver of offense, including on the power play, where he led the team with 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists).

By the end of the season, as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton slipped out of playoff contention, Puustinen was entrenched on the team’s top line but struggled to consistently find the back of the net as he was limited to three goals in his final 21 games.

The future: Puustinen is a pending restricted free agent and presumably, the Penguins will, at the very least, extend a qualifying offer to him.

As far as where he fits into their NHL mix, that’s a big question mark.

He is clearly talented and has made the adjustment to North America as he has paced Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring two consecutive seasons.

The offense is there, particularly with regard to his willingness to shoot as well as his slick skating abilities.

The defense? That’s another matter and it will always be his biggest impediment to establishing himself as a steady NHLer. While he seems a logical candidate for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ woeful group of bottom-six forwards, no coach, particularly Mike Sullivan, is going to give any prospect, no matter the talent, much trust when the commitment to defense is spotty.

And while he is listed as a left winger, he has primarily been deployed as a right winger with the organization. With Rickard Rakell as well as Bryan Rust signed to long-term contracts, there isn’t much hope for Puustinen to find a role on the top two lines.

A late-round pick who surprised even Penguins management a bit, Puustinen remains highly intriguing. But at the same time, he’s still an enigma.

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