Penguins place Valtteri Puustinen on waivers

On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Valtteri Puustinen on waivers.

If the 25-year-old were to clear on Wednesday, he would be eligible to be optioned to their Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

So far in the 2024-25 season, Puustinen has appeared in 10 games with Pittsburgh. He scored a goal in the Pens’ 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 29, before registering an assist on his team’s lone goal in a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars on Nov. 11.

Puustinen has been averaging just 10 minutes of ice time per game with Pittsburgh thus far, with a plus/minus of -4.

Puustinen came into this season after making a solid impressing with the Penguins last year. The Kuopio, Finland native spent most of the season in the NHL, playing 52 games. He ended up scoring five goals and 15 assists for 20 points, registering a +4 rating while averaging 11:45 of ice time. Puustinen’s efforts earned him a two-year contract extension to stay in Pittsburgh. The deal carries a $775,000 cap hit through the 2025-26 campaign.

Puustinen had a chance to represent his country on the international stage last spring at the IIHF Men’s World Championship, his second rodeo in the tournament. He scored a goal and an assist in seven games. Puustinen also played for the Finns at the 2021 World Championship, in which Suomi took home silver.

Puustinen was originally selected by the Penguins in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Draft, shortly after winning the Liiga with HPK in Finland, and helping his country win the gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship. He made the jump to North America in 2021, making his NHL debut on March 11, 2022. Puustinen spent the entirety of the 2022-23 campaign and the first two months of last year with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.