Penguins' forward Sam Poulin: 'I don’t want to be anywhere else but here'

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the midst of a youth movement this season.

Part of that is by design, as they have integrated teenagers such as Harrison Brunicke and Ben Kindel into their lineup.

But a lot of it has been a blunt necessity as they currently have seven players on injured reserve.

And as a result, they have had to summon a coterie of reinforcements from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Bare/Scranton Penguins.

Their latest recall came Tuesday when rookie forward Sam Poulin was promoted as rookie forward Ville Koivunen was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed malady.

The team labeled Koivunen’s status as “week-to-week.”

As for Poulin, his pursuit of becoming a steady NHLer has been a year-to-year endeavor.

A first-round draft pick (No. 21 overall) in 2019, the 24-year-old Poulin has been with the organization for more than half a decade.

To put his service time in perspective, the team has had four different people sit in the general manager’s office — Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin (on an interim basis), Ron Hextall, and the current occupant, Kyle Dubas (who also holds the title of president of hockey operations) — over that span.

And through some modest highs (a career-best 43 points at the AHL level last season) and some gloomy lows (he has been waived twice), Poulin remains upbeat over still being a member of the only professional franchise he has ever known.

“It’s the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Poulin said with a smile after a practice session Tuesday in Cranberry. “There’s a lot of history here. I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else. I’m just really pumped to be back.”

The left-handed Poulin certainly did his part to get back to the NHL.

At the time of his recall, he had pieced together a five-game scoring streak and was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s leading scorer with 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in 16 games, starting 13 of those contests on the left wing.

“My consistency was much better this year,” said Poulin, who can play all three forward positions. “Game after game, I was playing some great hockey. The team has been winning. So, that was fun, too. Just got to keep doing what was working back (with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) up here.”

Poulin’s method of offensive production isn’t anything overly dynamic. It’s more a product of blunt force for the 6-foot-2, 213-pound power forward.

“He plays the game hard,” said defenseman Ryan Graves, who opened the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. “He scores a lot of his goals from the gritty areas. He’s not really scoring off the rush a ton. He’s scoring around the blue paint, rebounds, off (offensive) zone possession. He’s a big guy, plays hard.”

Poulin — who took a four-month leave of absence during 2022-23 campaign to address his mental health — has had a handful of appearances in the NHL earlier in his career. But in parts of three seasons, he has dressed for only 13 NHL contests and recorded two assists.

He understands, all too well, that there is a difference in getting to the NHL and staying in the NHL.

“I’ve worked pretty hard the past couple of years to be in a good head space mentally,” Poulin said. “Things have finally come together in the last year, I would say. It’s just a matter of keep doing the process that I’ve been doing, and things will go good.

“I’ve just got to keep doing it on a consistent basis, and I think I would like my chances of staying here.”

It was uncertain if Poulin would stay with the Penguins’ organization after he was waived — for the second consecutive year — on Oct. 4. After waiting for 24 hours to see if any other team would claim him, he cleared and was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

“It’s always weird to go through (waivers),” Poulin said. “There’s a bunch of emotions going on. You get sent down. Get cut from the (NHL) team. Then you’re in a gray area where you don’t really know where you’re going to be.

“I was just really glad to stay in (the) organization and to not be picked (up) by any other team. I don’t want to be anywhere else but here. Things worked out good, I think.”