Six Penguins Players Re-Assigned to the AHL

The Pittsburgh Penguins' 2024-25 season sadly ended after Thursday night's victory over the Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena.

However, the same could not be said for their American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs and are looking to make a deep run.

Beginning Friday against the Hershey Bears, two regular-season contests remain for the AHL Penguins, with postseason seeding implications very much on the line.

With that and the upcoming playoffs in mind, the Penguins' GM, Kyle Dubas, reassigned a multitude of players back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton today.

Forwards Vasily Ponomarev, Joona Koppanen, Sam Poulin, Ville Koivunen, and Valtteri Puustinen have been sent down, in addition to defenseman Filip Kral.

Ponomarev, 23, appeared in seven NHL games for Pittsburgh this season in three call-ups, without scoring in a bottom-six role. He scored 15 goals and added 25 assists in 54 AHL games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Koppanen, 27, played in 11 NHL games and notched his first NHL goal on March 18 after being recalled. He scored seven goals and added 15 assists in 55 AHL games.

Poulin recorded 19 goals and 24 assists in 56 AHL games and was recalled for the last game of Pittsburgh's regular season. He concluded the NHL season with one assist in seven games.

Koivunen, 21, made quite the impression in his NHL debut, notching seven assists in eight games since March 30. He played on a line with Malkin, then Crosby, before being returned to the AHL.

He leads the team with 55 points (21 goals, 34 assists) in 62 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and was an AHL All-Star.

After playing in a 52-game stretch in the AHL during the 2023-24 season, Puustinen spent most of this season playing in the AHL as well, with 16 goals and 19 assists. He had two goals and an assist in 13 games in the NHL.