It’s official, Sam Poulin is back. The Penguins announced today that the club has re-signed him to a two year deal worth $775K at the NHL level.

There was little doubt about Poulin’s return to Pittsburgh, given that he was a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights. But it is nice to see this deal get done very early on in the offseason.

Poulin was a first round pick by the Penguins in 2019, a very rare first round pick kept and made by Jim Rutherford when he was running the show here. The 23-year old played 41 games in the American Hockey League for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, recording 16 goals and 15 assists. In their abbreviated playoff run, he had 1 assist in 2 games.

Poulin briefly played in the NHL with Pittsburgh this year, but only in 3 games averaging 7:47 of ice time a night.

The Penguins did originally have bigger plans for Poulin. As outlined by Kyle Dubas in his end of year press conference a few weeks back, Poulin was supposed to get a good stretch of games towards the end of the year to showcase his game at the NHL level.

Unfortunately for him, however, Poulin was one of many Penguins to contract an illness that had ravaged the locker room, and by the time he had fully recovered, the Penguins were on a hot streak, and the goal down the stretch became less talent and player evaluation and more of a last ditch effort to make the playoffs.

Inserting Poulin and other young players into the lineup could have disjointed the momentum of the team, which had gone 8-2-3 down the stretch.

In the end, however, neither goal was accomplished. The Penguins still missed the playoffs, and in the flurry of a good finish, failed to be able to evaluate somebody like Poulin.

Poulin has never been given a good run of games at the NHL level. He has just 6 NHL contests to his name, split evenly between this season and last.

This is not to suggest that a showing down the stretch would have created a unanimous answer on where Poulin deserves to be for 2024-25, but it certainly would have helped. Now, that decision must be made in training camp and the preseason.

Kyle Dubas stated that he fully expects Poulin to push for a roster spot next season, and for the player, it might be do or die.

Poulin will turn 24 in February of next season. Of course, there are always late bloomers (and some of those players over the years have been my favorites), but the reality is beginning to set in that Poulin is running out of time.

That’s not all his fault, NHL chances have been limited and a needed break from hockey two years ago also cut development time, but Poulin is quickly falling behind in his draft class.

In terms of games played, Poulin is 29th out of 31 players taken in the first round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. He is ahead of only Brayden Tracey (selected by Anaheim, 1 NHL game) and Ryan Suzuki (selected by Carolina, yet to make the NHL).

Of that draft class as a whole, 86 players have played at least one NHL game. Poulin ranks 75th in games played, and 69th in points.

While we obviously don’t know what the offseason holds, and how much reworking of the forward core Kyle Dubas is planning on doing, it’s probable that a few roster spots will be determined by training camp standouts by the young guys.

Dubas has emphasized the need to get younger and infuse youth into the lineup, although that effort has been somewhat hampered by the work of head coach Mike Sullivan, who has instead decided to play veterans rather than unproven youth.

But how much of an impact Sullivan will have (or if he’ll even be here, after that New Jersey report) are conversations for different articles.

Poulin is far from the only player who is expected to compete, whether that expectation comes from fans or Dubas himself.

In that same press conference, Dubas listed forward prospects like Vasili Ponomarev and Brayden Yager as guys he wants to see push for NHL gigs.

In my article on the players he named in that presser (ignore the shameless self promotions here), I said that expecting Yager to start the year in the NHL next season is definitely a stretch. I’m not doubting his skill level or his ability, but he does not have any professional experience to date.

Ponomarev, acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade, is a much more likely candidate to make the team. He has played many AHL games and did see NHL time with Carolina before the trade.

But even besides those guys, familiar faces like Jonathan Gruden and Jesse Puljujärvi will also be competing. The former of those spent all his free time on the highway driving between Pittsburgh and WBS, and the latter, though staying on the NHL roster after being signed, still has some things to prove after a whole offseason of rest and recovery.

And speaking of that Guentzel trade as well, Ville Koivunen could be another name to keep an eye on if he comes over to North America full time.

That, plus any other depth that Dubas acquires.

It becomes a daunting task in a hurry for Sam Poulin. To make this team out of training camp, he is going to need to completely show out in September in the hopes he’s still around come October.

Poulin can provide some offense, but we have set to see that in Pittsburgh. His NHL game has represented much more of a checking style, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. But the Penguins cannot have Poulin turn into the next Jansen Harkins, he has to put up points too.

Last season in the AHL was his first real showing of that, with his aforementioned 31 points in 41 games. Prior to that, his AHL numbers were a little bleak.

In his first year going pro, Poulin recorded 16 goals and 21 assists in 72 games. Last season, he had 4 goals (no assists) in 15 games before stepping aside to deal with his health.

That is the trajectory of a late bloomer, but if Poulin is going to make an NHL impact, he needs to start sooner rather than later.

(Featured photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)