Pittsburgh Penguins Place Forward on Waivers

This season hasn't panned out the way that the Pittsburgh Penguins would have liked, but late in the season they're still making moves, as they recalled a very intriguing name from the AHL earlier on Monday.

In a corresponding move, the team has now officially announced that they have waived former fifth-round pick Joona Koppanen, who has played in 10 games with the team at the NHL level this season.

In those 10 games, he's managed just 1 goal, meaning that he'll likely pass through waivers and be back on the AHL roster ahead of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Calder Cup Playoffs push this season.

For WBS this season, Koppanen has tallied 7 goals and 22 points in 55 games played, and at 25-years of age, despite several shots at making the NHL on a consistent basis, it appears that he'll be an AHL caliber player moving forward.

Originally drafted by the Bruins back in 2016, Koppnanen waited until 2022/23 to get his first taste of NHL action, and since that point he's appeared in a total of 19 games across three seasons, but with very little production to show for his time, it's clear that he's finding his level.

Ultimately, this is the right move to make for Pittsburgh as it gets Koppanen back into the AHL team ahead of the post-season while also giving a younger name a taste of NHL action before the end of the year, and with Koppanen's lack of production at the top level, this may have been his last chance to make it.