Puustinen had gotten recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League a few days before Kyle Dubas held a general media availability. That afternoon, Pittsburgh’s President of Hockey Operations and GM said they wanted players who were finally getting the opportunity they’ve always wanted due to injuries and performance to run right through the door, take it and go.
Puustinen has done just that, with the Finnish forward becoming a breakout star in this current stint with Pittsburgh.
“It's great to see him have almost instant success,” Reilly Smith said. “It's tough to do in this league, especially when you're kind of just jumping into a lot of different schemes as well as different players. So, he's done a great job. He does have more confidence every game on the puck, and I think that's very noticeable.”
The Penguins drafted Puustinen in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Draft, with Patrik Allvin – then Pittsburgh’s director of amateur scouting, now Vancouver’s GM – saying they liked his performance at that year’s World Junior Championship and during his team’s championship run in the Finnish League (SM-liiga), calling him a late bloomer.
Puustinen spent two more years in his home country before coming to North America for the 2021-22 season, playing 73 games with WBS and making his NHL debut on March 11 against Vegas, picking up his first career point, an assist.
Puustinen didn’t see any action with Pittsburgh last year while continuing to develop in the AHL, but remained patient – finally getting another chance on Dec. 8 under this new management group.
Right away, the Penguins put Puustinen in the top-six, slotting him in on a line with Smith and Evgeni Malkin. They also tried him on the top power-play unit, hoping Puustinen could add a spark to a group that had been struggling for a full calendar month. He wasn’t daunted whatsoever and completely embraced the situation, calling it “awesome” and “a really, really good chance for me.”
“Puusty’s a guy that has a high hockey IQ,” Sullivan said. “He can think the game on a high level very much like some of the guys that he's playing with here. That's one of the reasons why we had him on our first power play, for example. So, we really like his game. He's a good offensive player, he sees the ice pretty well, and he can score.”
Puustinen has certainly been producing, as he has six points (1G-5A) in eight games, tied for the third most in the NHL among rookies in scoring since his season debut.
Going back to his NHL debut, Puustinen now has seven points (1G-6A) in his first nine career games, which includes two multi-point outings. Only six players in Penguins history have recorded more points in their first nine career games, and only three players – Malkin, Crosby and Mario Lemieux – have registered more multi-point games.
Dubas said what has separated Puustinen from others who come in and get a similar chance is that he hasn’t been afraid to make plays or hold onto the puck. “Valtteri has that confidence in himself, and it’s been very fun to see him play the way that he has,” Dubas said.
Dubas also likes that when Puustinen’s performances weren’t as strong in Montreal and Toronto, which happens with young players in this league, he responded by raising his level against Minnesota – picking up two primary helpers on beautiful setups in a 4-3 overtime win.
“Points to the job I think that (director of player development) Tom Kostopoulos and our development staff have done, and (WBS head coach J.D. Forrest) and the staff in Wilkes-Barre have done, to make sure that he's ready to come up and roll,” Dubas said.
