With the NHL offseason beginning to wind down and prospect tournaments on the horizon, that means the 2025-26 regular season is approaching quickly. The Pittsburgh Penguins, after a bit of a busy offseason, are in search of a return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and have a handful of new players and coaches, led by head coach Dan Muse. The roster may look a bit different from last season, so who should fans get to know, and what should they expect from these players? In a new series, I will look at numerous players that Penguins fans will certainly get accustomed to hearing about and watching this season. Up first is one of their prospects who should be making an impact full-time this season, Ville Koivunen.
Get to Know Ville Koivunen
Acquired: Acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade with the Carolina Hurricanes on March 8, 2024
Draft: 2021, Second round, 51st overall by the Hurricanes
2024-25 Season Stats: American Hockey League (AHL): 63 games played, 21 goals, 35 assists, 56 points; NHL (Pittsburgh Penguins): Eight games played, zero goals, seven assists, seven points
Contract Status: Entering third year of his three-year entry-level contract signed with the Hurricanes (three years, $2.775 million with an average annual value of $805,000)
After coming to the Penguins organization in the Guentzel trade, Koivunen made his debut in the organization last season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) and made an immediate impact at the AHL level. His all-around play has developed at a great rate, and he has become one of the organization’s top prospects. He had a strong offensive season, tallying the third-most points amongst AHL rookies with 56, and was the “baby Pens'” second leading goal-scorer. He showed the ability to take over a game with his goal-scoring ability, led by two hat tricks last season.
The production he had helped lead to him earning a call-up to the NHL toward the end of the season. He showed that he is more than ready to make a full-time impact in the Penguins’ lineup, displaying strong chemistry with Sidney Crosby in the limited games he played in. In the eight games he played in at the NHL level, he put up a strong seven assists while averaging just over 18 minutes of ice time per game. He showed he has the ability to be an asset on special teams as well, with three of his seven points coming on the man-advantage.
2025-26 Outlook
After making his NHL debut last season, Koivunen should be expected to make the opening night roster for the Penguins this season and be a solid contributor in the top-six of the forward grouping. As mentioned before, he showed strong chemistry alongside Crosby on the top line, and if he can have a strong enough training camp and preseason, he could very easily find himself slotting in on that top line once again with Crosby and Bryan Rust.
Related: 4 Predictions for the Penguins’ 2025-26 Season
The best-case scenario for Koivunen this season would be supplanting himself in the top-six of the lineup and reaching the 40-50 point mark as a rookie. If he can produce on the second power play unit, that would be a huge plus for the team. The worst-case scenario is that he finds himself in a middle-to-bottom-six role and is more of a secondary offensive producer. The most realistic expectation, given how he looked in the eight games he played last season and what the Penguins have at their disposal player-wise, is that he does find himself in the top six and produces in the 35-45 point range.
