Kyle Dubas Provides Insight into Ville Koivunen Contract

At the draft, Kyle Dubas mentioned how the landscape has been shifting as player salaries rise with the cap, which is only going to go up each year.

From there, watching how older forwards with lower ceilings were paid as free agents, along with the shaping of the restricted free agent market, led the Penguins to take a different view on how they wanted to handle their own players.

So, the Penguins made the decision to sign restricted free agent forward Ville Koivunen – a young player with a lot of promise – to an eight-year contract extension with an average annual value of $4 million. 

“There were many factors that led to us going down this path. But the primary factor was watching the way the market evolved over the season and especially the summer and trying to best plan for the future of the Penguins,” Dubas told local outlets/reporters via email.

“We view the contract as a bet – on Ville, his potential, and our belief that he is going to do the work to reach that potential.”

Koivunen was originally acquired from Carolina in the Jake Guentzel trade. While the Hurricanes ended up drafting Koivunen in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft, Dubas, who was with Toronto at the time, had the forward rated highly. Dubas later jumped at the chance to add Koivunen to the fold, calling him a highly-skilled 

After a terrific run with Karpat of Liiga, Finland’s top professional league, Koivunen made the transition to North America for the 2024-25 season. He was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team and made his NHL debut with Pittsburgh in March, finishing the year strong with seven assists in eight games.

However, last season was more up and down. Koivunen made Pittsburgh's opening-night roster, but as Dubas said, “I think he would be the first to say he didn’t make the most of (his opportunity).”

Koivunen went to WBS in January and rediscovered his game, leading the entire AHL in scoring when he got called back up. He played games both there and in the AHL from March through the rest of the regular season before joining WBS for their Calder Cup playoff run. Dubas said Koivunen’s strength, speed and power improved, and that he was creating more.

Koivunen has got so much hockey sense and skill, along with a competitive fire that’s underrated. If Koivunen puts it all together, he can become a forward who plays higher in the lineup in Pittsburgh. If that happens, the Penguins will have Koivunen locked up for a long time at a steal. If it doesn’t work out for whatever reason, a buyout would not affect the cap much at all.

But getting back to the here and now, the Penguins have been impressed with Koivunen’s work behind the scenes on his growth and development.

“Over the course of the season, Ville showed excellent commitment in Wilkes-Barre to doing extra work, and he has doubled down on that this summer,” Dubas said. “He did not return to his home in Oulu, instead working to set up a new training program in Helsinki. He then informed us that he would be returning to Pittsburgh in mid-August to join the growing number of players we have training here in the summer. His actions gave us assurance, and our staff will continue to push him on and off the ice.”

And when camp opens in September, Dubas emphasized that Koivunen will not be handed anything despite signing a contract like this.

“He will still have to earn everything,” Dubas said. “As we have shown over the last few years, a long-term contract does not mean you are given anything in Pittsburgh. He will need to earn his roster spot and opportunity in training camp. He will need to finish the summer strong, show gains in power and speed on the ice in training camp and exhibition games.”