Given the Penguins cap situation there are not a ton of splashy moves they can make. Trading a bunch of their below average players for Erik Karlsson was their splashy deal in the summer. Their strategy at this point needs to be throwing darts at the wall and seeing what sticks. They’ve thrown their latest dart
Forward Jesse Puljujarvi has joined the Penguins as a free agent tryout.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 10, 2023
Defenseman P.O Joseph has been recalled from his conditioning loan to the @WBSPenguins. pic.twitter.com/yXN3n2eGSl
Puljujarvi is a former fourth overall pick who has had solid underlying numbers in his career. He has also struggled to score goals and is coming off of double hip surgery. You can see the hip struggles were heavily impacting his ability to perform with diminishing returns the past couple seasons.
This wasn’t his first double hip procedure. He also had double hip surgery after the 2018-19 season. He was able to string together some decent seasons after the first surgery. He is only 25 years old. While there are no guarantees coming off of a second double hip procedure I see no reason for the Penguins to not take a chance like this.
After the surgery he went back to the SM-liiga instead of Edmonton because he wanted a change of scenery. Playing for Karpat he put up 24 goals and 53 points in 54 games. Eventually he made his way back to Edmonton and in 2020-21 and 2021-22 he put up 15 and 14 goals respectively. They aren’t lights out goal totals you might expect from a fourth overall pick, but if you’ve looked around the Penguins bottom six or players masquerading in the top six the pickings are slim. Lars Eller and Radim Zohorna have three goals each. Drew O’Connor, despite playing sizeable chunks in the top six has only two goals. Noel Acciari for his 2M cap hit has two goals. While Matt Nieto, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Jeff Carter have accounted for a single goal.
Beggars can’t be choosers and if there is a chance Puljujarvi can bounce back from another double hip surgery the risk reward on this signing is very favorable for the Penguins. This is a solid dart throw and at this point a necessary one.
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