Penguins sign Jesse Puljujarvi to a two-year contract

Puljujarvi, 25, signed a professional tryout with Pittsburgh on Dec. 10 and has played in 13 games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season, scoring four goals and five assists for nine points and a plus-eight.

The 6-foot-4 forward spent the 2022-23 season split between the Edmonton Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes, scoring five goals and 11 assists for 16 points in 75 games. Through his career, Puljujarvi scored 51 goals and 63 assists for 114 points in 334 NHL games.

He also has three goals and three assists for six points in 27 career playoff games.

Drafted No. 4 overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by the Oilers, Puljujarvi, born in Sweden but raised in Finland, has represented the latter in two World Junior Championships (2015 and 2016) and one World Championship (2017). In 2016, he was named the World Junior’s Most Valuable Player after leading the tournament in assists (12) and points (17), earning a gold medal.

The Penguins are 22-17-12 with 52 points this season, fifth in the Metropolitan Division and seven points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings for one of the Eastern Conference’s two Wild Card spots. Pittsburgh has the highest goal differential (plus-12) for a non-playoff team in the NHL.

In his 19th NHL season, captain Sidney Crosby leads the team in both goals (27) and points (50) this season.