Penguins abandon Puustinen as Lizotte nears her return

Injured forward Blake Lizotte worked with Michael Bunting and Drew O’Connor on the Penguins’ new third line in practice today.

In order to add Lizotte back to the 23-player roster, Pittsburgh would have to give up a player who is currently on it. That question was answered when the waiver list came out this afternoon.

Puustinen had to leave the Pens’ training camp, not least because of the injuries to Lizotte and Bryan Rust in the preseason. From then on, a rotating cast of forwards, including Lizotte, Rust, Kevin Hayes and Cody Glass, moved to injured reserve, allowing Puustinen to come over as the team’s 12th or 13th forward.

Puustinen played 10 games this season and failed to make much of an impact with one goal and one assist. He was part of the squad for a long time at the end of October and beginning of November, but hardly found a niche and only managed more than 10 minutes of ice time in three games.

The 25-year-old Puustinen was a draft pick by Pittsburgh in 2019. He has been with the organization since the start of the 2021-22 season and spent his first two years primarily as a productive forward in Wilkes-Barre (AHL). The small forward had the opportunity to play 52 NHL games last season, scoring 20 points (5G+15A). The details in his game and his lack of plus skating limited his NHL effectiveness and his ability to find a tight spot with the Pens.

Waivers may or may not mean the end of his journey in Pittsburgh, Puustinen is under contract through the 2025-26 season at an NHL minimum salary of $775,000. It’s possible he didn’t play his final game in an NHL uniform for the Pens, but currently the team is looking at other options like newly acquired Philip Tomasino to suit up with the club instead.

The NHL will announce whether a club has claimed Puustinen tomorrow at 2 p.m. If not, the Pens will likely reassign him to Wilkes and free up the roster spot for Lizotte to return to the lineup for tomorrow’s game against Vancouver.