Forward Joona Koppanen, who spent the past three seasons under contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, has signed with Lulea of the Swedish Hockey League.
That transaction was announced on Monday, one day after Koppanen and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were eliminated from the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Calder Cup playoffs.
A native of Finland, Koppanen had an agreement to sign with Lulea in place for several weeks.
Initially joining the Penguins as an unrestricted free agent signing in 2023, Koppanen re-signed with the Penguins last offseason, agreeing to a one-year, two-way deal with a salary cap hit of $775,000. With regards to his NHL status, Koppanen is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1.
A left-handed shot, the 28-year-old Koppanen appeared in 13 NHL games this season and recorded one assist while averaging 12:08 of ice time per contest. At the AHL level, Koppanen appeared in 44 games and posted 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists).
During the Calder Cup playoffs, Koppanen primarily served as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top-line center, recording four points (two goals, two assists) in 15 games.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s season came to an end on Sunday with a 2-1 overtime home loss to the Toronto Marlies in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final.
Following this transaction, the Penguins now have 15 remaining players who finished the 2025-26 season under contract with the club and are scheduled to become unrestricted or restricted free agents July 1 (and have not yet signed with a European team):
Unrestricted
Forwards — Noel Acciari, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Kevin Hayes, Boko Imama, Anthony Mantha
Defensemen — Sebastian Aho, Connor Clifton, Ryan Shea
Goaltenders — Taylor Gauthier, Stuart Skinner
Restricted
Forwards — Egor Chinakhov, Ville Koivunen
Defenseman — Alex Alexeyev
Goaltenders — Joel Blomqvist, Arturs Silovs