Penguins waive Jesse Puljujarvi

Roster movement incoming..

The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed Jesse Puljujarvi on waivers today.

This could be good news for the team, they’re sitting at 23 players and would need to remove one in order to get Marcus Pettersson off of the injured reserve. Pettersson was cleared for contact in practice by Saturday but was not able to play last night.

As far as Puljujarvi goes, it’s the latest twist in a saga filled with them.

Puljujarvi initially signed an AHL deal with the Penguins in December 2023 as he worked his way back from double hip surgery in the summer of that year. Puljujarvi played 13 games in Wilkes-Barre and eventually was signed to an NHL contract in February of 2024.

Puljujarvi played 23 games down the stretch last season in Pittsburgh, scoring three goals and adding an assist.

The off-season changes had Puljujarvi on the outside looking in for the roster at the start of training camp, but a very strong preseason (and a couple of forward injuries) saw Puljujarvi play his way onto the team.

However, as soon as the team got healthy, they started making Puljujarvi a healthy scratch. That happened first as quickly as the third game of the regular season, starting the in and out nature of his usage. That mounted lately, Puljujarvi has been a healthy scratch every game except one since November 23rd.

Puljujarvi did continue his preseason hot run into the regular season, scoring five points (1G+4A) in the first six games he appeared in. Since then, he only has three points (2G+1A) in the last 15 games he has played since October 20th.

Going off of rates, Puljujarvi did stand out a little bit in positive ways.

When asked recently why Puljujarvi wasn’t playing, coach Mike Sullivan talked about focus issues like play away from the puck, attention to detail and defensive awareness. Those traits have been filled on the fourth line lately by a return to health from Matt Nieto and Noel Acciari on the fourth line, two players who play in regular penalty killing roles that Puljujarvi did not fill.

The Penguins have also added Phil Tomasino in a trade and seen forwards like Nieto, Cody Glass and Blake Lizotte return to health and stay in the lineup in recent weeks, developments that served to further push Puljuarvi to the fringes of the roster.

Those two factors (not trusted defensively or seen as an effective all-around player by the coaches, general current health among forwards) added up to make waivers an inevitability for Puljujarvi, much like it did earlier for Valtteri Puustinen. The Pens like what they’re getting from guys like Nieto and Acciari for one of the NHL’s best penalty kills and the opportunities for Puljujarvi to play have otherwise dried up in the last month given the health developments.

We will find out shortly after 2:00pm tomorrow if another team has opted to claim Puljujarvi or if he will remain in the Pens’ organization for likely reassignment to the AHL. He does have the size, draft pedigree and some NHL experience that should be appealing to other NHL clubs should they want to provide him with the opportunity. Despite a strong preseason and beginning of the season, Puljujarvi was unable to carve out a niche in Pittsburgh once the team returned to health within the ranks of their forwards.