Pittsburgh Penguins sign forward with just 14 career points to an 8-year, $32 million contract extension
The Pittsburgh Penguins made a very surprising move on Thursday.
The club announced that they have re-signed restricted free agent forward Ville Koivunen to an 8-year, $32 million contract extension ($4 million AAV). A deal of that length for any player tends to raise the eyebrows of the hockey world, but this one was even more unique in that regard because Koivunen has played just 47 career NHL games and recorded just 14 points (2g, 12a) in those contests.
Koivunen is now on the books with the Penguins through the 2033-34 season.
“There were many factors that led to us going down this path,” general manager Kyle Dubas said in a press release. “But the primary factor was watching the way the market evolved over the season and especially the summer and trying to best plan for the future of the Penguins. We view the contract as a bet – on Ville, his potential, and our belief that he is going to do the work to reach that potential.”
Koivunen, drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft, was traded to the Penguins in 2024 as part of Pittsburgh’s return for star winger Jake Guentzel. He has been a star-level producer in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, notching 41 points (13g, 28a) in 34 games during the 2025-26 campaign, but recorded only 7 points (2g, 5a) in 39 NHL games with the Penguins.
Despite spending much of the season in the NHL, the 23-year-old Finnish forward led the Baby Pens in assists (28), ranked second in points (41), and had the highest points-per-game average on the team (1.21). Koivunen added nine points (4g, 5a) in 15 games during this past spring’s postseason.
The #Pens signed 23 y/o F Ville Koivunen to an 8 year $4M cap hit contract
Yr 1 850K Salary, 2M Signing Bonus
Yr 2 900K/2M
Yr 3 4.25M
Yr 4 4.35M
Yr 5 4.4M
Yr 6-7 4.5M
Yr 8 4.25M
Deal covers 4 UFA seasons, does not include any trade clauses
Rep’d by Ian Pulver and @BackmanMika…
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) August 6, 2026
The Penguins still have over $10 million in cap space this offseason after finishing second in the Metropolitan Division last season. They have several important players entering the final seasons on their contracts, including star veterans like captain Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Erik Karlsson.
