“I think that's a huge weight off of his shoulders,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “And I think this will also allow him just to focus on playing, and you're not thinking about, when am I gonna get the first one? Like, it's done, you got it. And now, keep putting yourself in areas there where you're going to get the types of chances he's been getting.”
The Penguins acquired Koivunen from Carolina at the deadline in 2024 as part of the trade package for Jake Guentzel, who is now with the Lightning.
Last year, in his first full season in North America, Koivunen made the All-Rookie Team with 21 goals and 34 assists for 55 points, fifth-most by a WBS rookie in team history.
Towards the end of the season, the Oulu, Finland native earned a call-up alongside Rutger McGroarty for eight NHL games down the stretch, and picked up seven assists.
“I think Ville is just an incredible hockey player, I feel like his hockey IQ is great,” McGroarty has said. “He makes some incredible plays, like sauce passes cross seam, little five-foot area passes. He's been awesome.”
While McGroarty was sidelined during training camp and the first month-plus of the season due to injury, Koivunen made Pittsburgh’s opening-night roster and played in the first two games before getting re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
At the time of his recall back to the big club, Koivunen ranked 2nd in the entire American Hockey League with 11 points (4G-7A) in six games.
He wasn’t able to translate that production at first, and then missed three straight games due to injury from Nov. 16-22. But the sentiment across the organization was that if Koivunen kept putting himself in the right spots, the offense would start to come.
“Though the production hadn't been there, I think he was certainly getting a ton of chances every game, and the puck just wasn't falling for him,” President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas said recently. “Creating chances for others, they weren't falling. But I just felt like he was right on the cusp of really starting to pop.”
Playing on a line alongside his fellow rookies McGroarty and Ben Kindel these last couple of games has helped, but it was the veteran franchise blueliner Kris Letang who found Koivunen on the power play.
After the puck finally went in, not only was Koivunen overcome with emotion, but his teammates were thrilled for him.
“I think the whole bench just roared,” Assistant Coach Todd Nelson said. “He’s been working really hard, and he’s been having some really good chances, he just has not been able to finish. It was a big goal for our team, and we’re happy for him.”
