The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Jesse Puljujarvi to a two-year contract, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.
The two-year contract runs through the end of the 2024-25 season and carries an average annual value of $800,000.
Puljujarvi, 25, signed a professional tryout with Pittsburgh on December 10 and has played in 13 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League this season, tallying four goals, five assists, nine points and a plus-8.
The 6-foot-4, 201-pound forward spent the 2022-23 season split between the Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes, tallying five goals, 11 assists and 16 points in 75 games. In total, he has recorded 51 goals, 63 assists and 114 career points in 334 NHL games with Edmonton and Carolina. Puljujarvi has also registered three goals, three assists and six points in 27 career NHL playoff games.
Puljujarvi set his career offensive highs in 2021-22 with the Oilers when he tallied 14 goals and career-high assist (22) and point (36) totals in 65 games.
The Finnish forward played parts of four seasons with Karpat of Liiga, Finland’s top professional league, from 2014-16 and 2019-21. In 143 career Liiga games, he has tallied 48 goals, 56 assists and 104 points and won the league championship in 2015.
Puljujarvi, who was born in Alvkarleby, Sweden but raised in Finland, has represented Team Finland at two World Under-18 Championships (2015 & ’16), two World Junior Championships (2015 & ’16) and one World Championship (2017). In 2016, he was named the World Junior Championship’s Most Valuable Player after leading the tournament in assists (12) and points (17) en route to the gold medal. Puljujarvi also helped Team Finland to silver and gold medals at the 2015 and ’16 Under-18 tournaments, respectively.
Puljujarvi was originally drafted in the first round (4th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft by the Edmonton Oilers.
