- Penguins re-sign restricted free agent Ville Koivunen to an eight-year contract
- The deal runs through 2033-34 and carries a $4 million cap hit
- Read below for what Koivunen did in Wilkes-Barre to earn it
Kyle Dubas just handed out eight years to a forward with 14 career NHL points.
The Penguins announced Thursday that they re-signed restricted free agent Ville Koivunen to an eight-year contract. It runs through the 2033-34 season and carries a $4 million cap hit.
Koivunen turned 23 in June. He has 47 NHL games on his record across two seasons, with two goals and 12 assists in that stretch.
So this is a bet on the American Hockey League version of him, and that guy has been a problem for everybody who tried to check him.
Splitting last season between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Koivunen piled up 13 goals and 28 assists in 34 games with the AHL club. He led WBS in assists, finished second in points and owned the best points-per-game rate on the roster at 1.21.
February is when it got loud. Sixteen points in 11 games made him AHL Player of the Month, and he carried it into the Calder Cup Playoffs with nine points in 15 games as Wilkes-Barre reached the Conference Finals.
His longer résumé says the same thing. Koivunen has 98 points in 109 career AHL games and made the 2025 AHL All-Rookie Team, and before he came over he led Kärpät in scoring across three Liiga seasons with 113 points in 164 games.
Carolina drafted him 51st overall in 2021, and he landed in Pittsburgh as part of the Jake Guentzel trade in March 2024.
Check out Koivunen mic’d up for a night in St. Louis last season:
Dubas has now handed out two extensions inside a week, with Tommy Novak’s three-year deal landing on July 31.
Pittsburgh is paying for the player Koivunen has been in Wilkes-Barre, not the one who has scored twice in the NHL.
