A lot has changed since the last time we saw the Penguins take the ice. There’s a new head coach, a new surrounding staff, and a new goal for the organization heading into this season. And even though the goal might not be to win the Stanley Cup this season, there is still a lot of opportunity to be had for players, both new and returning.

Training Camp Transcripts takes a look at the fringe NHLers, long shot candidates, and lesser known players who will battle for spots in the team’s lineup this fall. In today’s edition, Sam Poulin.

Last year, I wrote a piece and called the 2024-25 season a “make or break” year Poulin. The Laval, Quebec native was coming off a 41-game season in the AHL that saw him score 16 goals and add 15 assists (31 points) and had a chance to make the jump to a bigger NHL opportunity.

Unfortunately for him, it didn’t really pan out that way. Though he played a career-high NHL games last year, he only registered seven games. He recorded one assist (his second NHL point) while averaging 10:04 a night.

Even though he made strides with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, it was another year spent still being a phone call away from Pittsburgh.

Poulin spent most of the season still in the AHL, where he had 19 goals and 24 assists (43 points) in 57 games. It was objectively a pretty good season in the AHL, where he had his highest professional career point total , and an almost identical rate to what he did last year in the AHL (0.756 vs 0.754).

But still, the NHL success is not there yet, and he sticks out like a sore thumb among a draft class that has seen a lot of successful first rounders.

Of the 31 first round picks that season (Vegas was in by then, but Seattle was not), Poulin ranks 29th in games played. His 13 total games in the NHL places only better than Ryan Suzuki’s two and Brayden Tracey’s one. Obviously, he also ranks 29th in point totals among that class as well.

And if he’s going to finally start to rise up that list, the odds are not in his favor. The Penguins have a ton of depth forwards currently at their disposal: young and old, prospect and project, veteran and rookie.