Penguins re-sign forward Valtteri Puustinen to 1-year contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed forward Valtteri Puustinen to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000.
Puustinen, 24, was scheduled to become a restricted free agent July 1.
A seventh-round pick (No. 203 overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft, Puustinen is about to complete the final year of a two-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $842,500.
The Finnish-born Puustinen (5-foot-9, 183 pounds) has spent most of the past two seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL and has been that team’s leading scorer during both campaigns.
During the 2022-23 season, Puustinen, a right-handed shot, was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s only player to appear in all 72 games and scored 59 points (24 goals, 39 assists).
His only NHL action came in the form of a single game during the 2020-21 season. During a 5-2 home win against the Vegas Golden Knights on March 11, 2022, Puustinen recorded one assist while logging 10 minutes, 14 seconds of ice time on 14 shifts.
According to Cap Friendly, Puustinen was eligible for arbitration before re-signing. He is scheduled to be a restricted free agent in the 2024 offseason.
With Puustinen re-signed, the Penguins now have nine players scheduled to become restricted free agents July 1:
Forwards: Jonathan Gruden, Filip Hallander, Drew O’Connor, Ryan Poehling
Defensemen: Peter DiLiberatore, Josh Maniscalco, Ty Smith, Colin Swoyer
Goaltender: Filip Lindberg
Hallander and Lindberg signed with teams in Europe last month, but the Penguins could retain their NHL rights by extending qualifying offers.
As far as unrestricted free agents are concerned, the Penguins have nine players who are scheduled to go to the open market July 1:
Forwards: Josh Archibald, Nick Bonino, Drake Caggiula, Danton Heinen, Jason Zucker
Defensemen: Brian Dumoulin, Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders: Tristan Jarry, Dustin Tokarski
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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