The Pittsburgh Penguins have given a two-year extension to one of their depth forwards. Valtteri Puustinen is going to be sticking around. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent.

The Penguins have re-signed forward Valtteri Puustinen to a two-year contract.

The contract runs through the 2025.26 season and carries an average annual value of $775,000 at the NHL level.

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) May 10, 2024

Puustinen will come in at only 775k which is exactly the kind of contract the team desperately needs more of. Puustinen showed he was an NHL caliber player this past season when he received his first extended look in the league. He isn’t going to be a huge difference maker. He also isn’t a liability. Here’s what his sample looked like

His lack of finishing isn’t going to help the overall depth scoring issues. His even strength offensive and defensive impacts are both solid. I think his overall finishing will go up a tick now that he is heading into his first season as a pro with solid NHL experience in his back pocket. He has a great one-timer off the weak side. His playmaking is above average.

All in all for 775k this is a pretty straight forward signing. If the wheels fall off the solution would be pretty simplistic. He would go back to the AHL and the cap hit would be 100% buried. This is a no risk deal and a logical piece of business.

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