Valtteri Puustinen is sticking around. The Penguins on Friday re-signed Puustinen to a two-year contract worth an average annual value of $775,000 at the NHL level.
Puustinen is the first of the Penguins' pending unrestricted free agents to re-sign. Typically, players are restricted free agents until age 27 or reaching seven years of experience -- whichever comes first -- but if a player has three years of professional experience in North America, is age 25 or 26, and has fewer than 80 total NHL games played, then they become what's called a Group 6 unrestricted free agent. Puustinen turns 25 in June and has appeared in 53 NHL games, so he would have been an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Puustinen requires waivers starting next season. The factors that determine a player's waivers eligibility are the age he signed his first NHL contract and his seasons and games played. Puustinen's signing age gave him three years of waivers-exempt status, so he will become waiver-eligible at the start of next season.
Puustinen started this past year in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and earned a recall to the NHL in December. Aside from a two-week stint in the minors that began during the Penguins' All-Star break and bye week, Puustinen was in the NHL the rest of the season. In total he played 52 games in the NHL, primarily on the third line, and scored five goals and 15 assists in 20 games. His first NHL goal game Dec. 27 on Long Island:
First NHL goal for Valtteri Puustinen! ๐จ pic.twitter.com/77YJAKsMpH
โ NHL (@NHL) December 28, 2023
Puustinen scored five goals and eight assists in 24 AHL games. He was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre for the Calder Cup playoffs after the Penguins failed to qualify for the NHL postseason, and he scored a goal and two assists in two games as Wilkes-Barre was swept in the best-of-three first round.
Puustinen is currently in Czechia, where he is representing Finland in the World Championship along with Jesse Puljujarvi. Finland opens the tournament Friday against Czechia.
