PENGUINS

Ville Koivunen admits that he didn't do enough over last summer to set himself up for success coming into this season.

After a great finish to the 2024-25 season in which he had seven assists in eight games, he seemed primed to push for full-time NHL action coming into this year's training camp.

It didn't work out as Koivunen -- or the Penguins -- had hoped, and the minimal strength he added over the offseason was a factor, as the Penguins' management made clear to him.

"I probably -- actually, not 'probably,' I should have done better," he said. "But you just learn that and try to get better. It's good that (management) talked to me and was honest with me. So, yeah, I got feedback there, and just tried to learn from that, and do something in the season, hard work, and just keep doing the summer too."

Kyle Dubas said in his season-ending media availability earlier this month that he thinks Koivunen "got a lot better at (strength) as (the season) went on," and going into the first round of the playoffs, they implored Koivunen to use his physicality more, and he was "at his best" when he was able to do that.

Coming into the Eastern Conference final series against Toronto, Koivunen's physicality and chippiness was hard to miss. He was getting under the skin of Marlies players and making an impact.

I asked Koivunen about that element of his game, and he broke into a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, I don't hate it," he said. "I think that gets me in the game too."

Koivunen has four goals and four assists in 12 playoff games, after putting up 41 points (13 goals, 28 assists) in 34 regular-season games. Koivunen was tepid when describing his performance in these playoffs after Game 1 of this series, describing it as "probably not the best, but not the worst, either."

"I think my line has had a lot of scoring chances," he said. "But we haven't capitalized too much. We've just got to play a little better and try to capitalize on those chances when we can."

Koivunen gets those chances at this level, and they often go in for him. But in the NHL this season, he was rarely getting chances. Of the 25 forwards to play a game for Pittsburgh this season, Koivunen's rate of 4.39 shots per 60 minutes at five-on-five ranked 22nd, besting only Blake Lizotte, Joona Koppanen and Sam Poulin. His rate of shot attempts of 10.52 per 60 minutes also ranked 22nd, better than only Tristan Broz in his lone game, Lizotte and Koppanen. That all amounted to only two goals and five assists in 39 games at the NHL level this season.

Obviously, the NHL is a much better league. Offense, chances are going to be much harder to come by. But I asked Koivunen what is happening to make the drop-off so steep.

"Probably, there's something in the mind," he said. "Of course, when it takes so long to score the first and it's not going in, that comes to mind. I've just got to get the confidence from getting those scoring chances and playing well, doing the little things well, and that kind of thing. I have to work more, not always just thinking about producing, also thinking about the small things on the ice."

Wilkes-Barre's offseason is ideally still awhile off. But Koivunen already knows that when the summer comes, his focus needs to be "physically, getting stronger," and having the kind of summer he and the Penguins wish he had last year.

"I want to focus on skating, getting faster too," he added. "Shooting, get better shooting, so I score more goals and not miss so many chances. Those are going to be the biggest things."

Koivunen is only 22. He's young. As Dubas frequently says, "development isn't always linear." This year was a down year for Koivunen, at least compared to the way he finished the prior season. 

But after a good summer? He could absolutely push for more NHL time out of camp next season.