It wasn’t the big time, franchise altering move that some fans hoped to see after the Penguins dropped back to back games in the state of Florida, but the team did make an addition to the roster in the hopes of kickstarting their depth.

Jesse Puljujärvi was signed to a professional tryout with the team, and the hope is he can provide something new and unique for Pittsburgh.

A former fourth overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers, the 25 year old’s NHL career has not exactly panned out to plan.

During his first three years with Edmonton after turning pro, Puljujärvi had a only 37 points in 139 games. That’s not nothing, but hopes were higher for a player with his draft status.

He bounced back and forth between Edmonton and their AHL affiliate during all three years of his entry level contract. When that expired, he held out for a better deal from the Oilers, which did not appear.

In the meantime, Puljujärvi signed with Oulun Kärpät of the Finnish league, where he was near a point a game with 53 in 56. Edmonton held his NHL rights still, and after a year apart, Puljujärvi and the Oilers reunited when he signed a two year, $2.35 million dollar deal.

In the first season of his deal, the 2020-21 season, he put up 25 points in 55 games, and in the second, he tallied an NHL career best 36 points in 55 games.

Last season, he re-upped with the team, but his pace slowed, and at the trade deadline, he was sent to the Carolina Hurricanes.

While his career to this point has had some underwhelming stretches, Puljujärvi has show flashes over his career, and his skill set could compliment the Penguins nicely.

For starters, he provides some size when in the lineup. A 6′ 4 winger, Puljujärvi recorded 139 hits last year.

He has experience playing in top sixes, and the Penguins seemed very interested in trying him out on their top line. Puljujärvi rotated in with Drew O’Connor on the top line alongside Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel.

On what he saw of Puljujärvi, Crosby said “Just a big guy that can skate, and strong on pucks and in front of the net. That’s what I remember playing against him, and that’s what I saw today.”

While I think it would be fun to see what Puljujärvi can do on the top line, and we’ll circle back to that, I wanna zero in on what Crosby said about him being in front of the net.

We’ve talked about this before, about how the Penguins desperately need somebody to get in front of the net on the power play. They won’t be able to find someone who was as good at that as Patric Hornqvist was when he was here, but the Penguins don’t even have anyone trying it right now.

Puljujärvi might not be the perfect solution to a power play that is actively costing the team games, but it’s sure worth a shot to help do something, anything for that unit.

As for where he slots in within the lineup, there’s a few different places he could go. The Penguins have been throwing their third and fourth lines in a blender these last few weeks (with the exception of Lars Eller, who has stayed at third line center).

Names have come and gone, and Puljujärvi might bump any one of Jonathan Gruden, Vinnie Hinostroza, Marc Johnstone, or Valterri Puustinen out of the lineup.

He could even see some shifts on the top line. With Bryan Rust still out (part of the reason the Pens could make this move), Drew O’Connor has found himself in that top line role. In workflow today, Puljujärvi spent some time in O’Connor’s spot alongside Sid and Jake.

There should be some hesitation about thinking he could instantly produce on that line, however. Puljujärvi had trouble cutting it in Edmonton alongside Connor McDavid, and he was given opportunities to play with some phenomenal players in Edmonton, where he had some rough patches.

Nevertheless, how many times have we seen Sid be able to elevate a winger alongside him? Maybe Puljujärvi is the latest name to be on that list.

Kyle Dubas is really good at finding players who can contribute a handful of games for a club. He found guys like that all the time in Toronto, who even if they did not stick around all that long, could plug into the lineup and sometimes even produce.

I, for one, am excited to see what Puljujärvi can do as a Penguin. He’s a player still looking to prove himself in this league, and show that he can be a productive and useful player. His motivation is sky high, and it should be really interesting to watch his story continue in Pittsburgh.

(Featured photo by Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)