With the Pittsburgh Penguins entering the offseason after a brief return to the postseason, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 53 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until future seasons — with the organization.

Starting with veteran Noel Acciari and going on through to prospect Bill Zonnon, every player will be profiled in alphabetical order.

This series is scheduled to be published every day until June 24, two days before the start of the NHL Draft. In the event of a transaction, that schedule will be altered as necessary.

(Note: All contract information courtesy of Puckpedia.)

Ville Koivunen

Position: Right winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 22

Height: 6-foot

Weight: 184 pounds

2025-26 NHL regular season statistics: 39 games, seven points (two goals, five assists), 12:44 of average ice time per contest

2025-26 AHL regular season statistics: 34 games, 41 points (13 goals, 28 assists)

2025-26 AHL postseason statistics: 11 games, seven points (three goals, four assists)

Contract: In the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $805,833. Pending restricted free agent on July 1.

(Koivunen does not require waivers to be assigned to a minor league affiliate.)

Acquired: Trade, March 7, 2024

This season: Perhaps few players in the Penguins’ realm provided more optimism than Ville Koivunen entering the 2025-26 campaign. After he offered a strong showing at the end of the previous season by posting seven assists in eight NHL games, there was ample hope that Koivunen would be the face of a long-awaited youth movement for the club.

Those hopes will have to keep waiting, at least for Koivunen.

Koivunen opened the season on the left wing of the top line, but was so unimpressive, management sent him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after only two games.

After a highly productive stint in the American Hockey League in which he posted 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in six games, Koivunen was recalled Oct. 26 and found himself deployed on the right wing of the third line.

Offense was difficult for Koivunen to find at the NHL level over the course of the season. He did not score his first career NHL goal until a 4-3 road win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 4.

By Jan. 8, Koivunen was returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and largely remained there for the remainder of the season, with the exception of a handful of brief recalls to the NHL roster.

In his final 28 games of the AHL’s regular season, Koivunen posted 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists).

During the Calder Cup playoffs, Koivunen has largely played on the right wing of either the second or third line and is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s third-leading scorer.

The future: In the immediate, Koivunen and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton are in a 2-0 hole against the Toronto Marlies in the Eastern Conference final and will search for a way to get past that deficit.

Koivunen’s contact is up on July 1 and presumably, re-signing the pending restricted free agent will not be a complicated matter.

Getting him to realize his NHL potential could be a bit more complex, however.

A highly productive entity at the AHL level, Koivunen rarely looked like a threat to generate offense in the NHL this season. Granted, most of his ice time in the NHL came on the third line, but he has enough talent to produce points from just about any station.

The opportunity for Koivunen, who turns 23 on June 13, to become a reliable producer in the NHL is still very wide open. But more is needed from him to realize that potential.

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