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Valtteri Puustinen

Position	Right Wing / Left Wing	Current Team	Colorado Avalanche
Shoots	Right	Current Contract	2 years ($775.0K CapHit)
Height	5'11"	Expires	2025-26
Weight (lbs)	180	Expiry Age (Jun 30)	27
Age (DOB)	26 (June 4, 1999)	Expiry Status	UFA
Drafted	2019, Round 7, Overall 203 (PIT)

Date	Team	Transaction
Jan 20, 2026	Colorado Avalanche	Acquired from Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan 20, 2026	Pittsburgh Penguins	Traded to Colorado Avalanche
Oct 3, 2025	Pittsburgh Penguins	Cleared Waivers
Oct 2, 2025	Pittsburgh Penguins	Placed on Waivers
Apr 18, 2025	Pittsburgh Penguins	Assigned to AHL
Apr 10, 2025	Pittsburgh Penguins	Recalled from AHL
Nov 27, 2024	Pittsburgh Penguins	Assigned to AHL
Nov 27, 2024	Pittsburgh Penguins	Cleared Waivers
Nov 26, 2024	Pittsburgh Penguins	Placed on Waivers
May 10, 2024	Pittsburgh Penguins	Signed 2 years @ $775K AAV starting in 2024-25
Jun 20, 2023	Pittsburgh Penguins	Signed 1 year @ $775K AAV starting in 2023-24
May 6, 2021	Pittsburgh Penguins	Signed to an entry level contract.

Status History Coming Soon

URL: https://thestanleycap.com/cdn/player_cards/20242025/valtteri-puustinen-8481703.png

URL: https://thestanleycap.com/cdn/player_cards/20232024/valtteri-puustinen-8481703.png

About Player Cards

Player cards present an infographic of a players performance using a series of Player Archetypes developed for Puckalytics.com and TheStanleyCap.com. The boxes in the rink image show the archetype ratings for the season specified in the card while the graphs to the right show the five-year trends for those archetypes.

Except for Faceoffs, the values shown are the players z-score (standard deviation from the mean) for the specific metric used to calculate the archetype values. When calculating z-scores forwards were compared to forwards and defensemen were compared to defensemen. Positive values indicate the player is above average and shaded in blue, while negative values indicate the player is below average and shaded in punk. The five year trend charts show a range of -4.0 to 4.0.

The value shown for Faceoffs is the faceoff winning percentage rather than their z-score with winning percentages below 50 in pink shades and above 50 in blue shades.

All archetypes are 5v5 except 5v4 TOI, 4v5 TOI, Skating (even strength) and Faceoffs (all situations). Archetypes use regular season data only.

Archetypes Summary

Sniper - Measures the to score above the expected goal rate.
Rebound - Measures the percent of a players shot attempts that come from rebounds (forwards only).
5v4 TOI - Powerplay ice time, calculated as the percentage of his teams 5v4 ice time that the player was on the ice for.
Shooter - Measures whether a players points come from shots (goals or assists on rebounds from his shots).
Producer - Measures a players ability to produce goals and assists, adjusted for quality of teammates.
Playmaker - Measures whether a players points come from passes.
Drive - Measures a players ability to drive puck possession and generate shot attempts for his team.
Rush - Measures the percent of a players shot attempts that come from rush plays
Possession - An indicator of a players ability to improve his teams puck possession game.
Faceoffs - Faceoff Winning Percentage (min. 75 faceoffs taken).
5v5 TOI - The percentage of his teams 5v5 TOI that the player was on the ice for.
Suppress - Measures a players ability to suppress opponent puck possession and shot attempts against.
Skating - An indicator of a players skating ability, or speed bursts above 20mph per mile skated.
Defend - An indicator of a players ability to suppress shot quality against.
4v5 TOI - Penalty Kill ice time, calculated as the percentage of his teams 4v5 ice time that the player was on the ice for.

Data Sources

Salary data is from TheStanleyCap.com
Shooting and Skating (except Sh%AE) are from NHL Edge
Other statistics are from Puckalytics.com and derived from data from NHL.com

Terms of Use

You are free to use include player cards in written articles, share on social media, or on other public websites under the following conditions:

You credit TheStanleyCap.com as the source and provide a link back to TheStanleyCap.com or this player page.
You do not mass copy/duplicate/publish dozens or hundreds of player cards. A few, or a handful for a written article is fine. Be reasonable. Fair use rules apply.
If you are a high-traffic website you must download and host the image(s) on your site rather than overload TheStanleyCap servers with traffic.

Note: Player cards will update daily throughout the season so if you want to include snapshot then you must download the image.

If you have any questions, send an e-mail to the e-mail address at the top of this page.

Read Introducing Player Archetypes on HockeyAnalysis.com for more details on archetype calculations.

Core Archetypes

Season	Team(s)	GP	Producer	Playmaker	Shooter	Sniper	Rebound	Rush	Skating	Defend
2021-22	PIT	1	4.46	15.86	-1.54	-	-2.34	-2.04	6.75	2.14
2023-24	PIT	52	0.94	1.97	-0.53	-0.30	0.25	-0.28	0.69	1.44
2024-25	PIT	13	-1.78	-0.21	-1.58	-2.32	3.28	-1.59	2.47	0.88

Situational and Secondary Archetypes

Season	Team(s)	GP	5v5 TOI	5v4 TOI	4v5 TOI	Possession	Drive	Suppress	Faceoffs
2021-22	PIT	1	-2.12	-0.82	-2.02	2.64	0.76	-4.18	-
2023-24	PIT	52	-1.07	-0.63	-2.02	0.67	-0.21	-1.55	-
2024-25	PIT	13	-2.20	-0.84	-2.15	-2.89	-3.68	-0.93	-

About Archetypes

Player archetypes are a look at a players strengths and weaknesses in his game when compared to other players around the leeague. Except for Faceoffs, the values shown are the players z-score (standard deviation from the mean) for the specific metric used to calculate the archetype values. When calculating z-scores forwards were compared to forwards and defensemen were compared to defensemen. Positive values indicate the player is above average and shaded in blue, while negative values indicate the player is below average and shaded in punk. The five year trend charts show a range of -4.0 to 4.0.

The value shown for Faceoffs is the faceoff winning percentage rather than their z-score with winning percentages below 50 in pink shades and above 50 in blue shades.

All archetypes are 5v5 except 5v4 TOI, 4v5 TOI and Faceoffs (all situations). Archetypes use regular season data only.

Archetypes Summary

Producer - Measures a players ability to produce goals and assists, adjusted for quality of teammates.
Playmaker - Measures whether a players points come from passes.
Shooter - Measures whether a players points come from shots (goals or assists on rebounds from his shots).
Sniper - Measures the to score above the expected goal rate.
Rebound - Measures the percent of a players shot attempts that come from rebounds (forwards only).
Rush - Measures the percent of a players shot attempts that come from rush plays
Skating - An indicator of a players skating ability, or speed bursts above 20mph per mile skated.
Defend - An indicator of a players ability to suppress shot quality against.
5v5 TOI - The percentage of his teams 5v5 TOI that the player was on the ice for.
5v4 TOI - Powerplay ice time, calculated as the percentage of his teams 5v4 ice time that the player was on the ice for.
4v5 TOI - Penalty Kill ice time, calculated as the percentage of his teams 4v5 ice time that the player was on the ice for.
Possession - An indicator of a players ability to improve his teams puck possession game.
Drive - Measures a players ability to drive puck possession and generate shot attempts for his team.
Suppress - Measures a players ability to suppress opponent puck possession and shot attempts against.
Faceoffs - Faceoff Winning Percentage (min. 75 faceoffs taken).

Read Introducing Player Archetypes on HockeyAnalysis.com for more details on archetype calculations.

Data Sources

Salary data is from TheStanleyCap.com
Shooting and Skating (except Sh%AE) are from NHL Edge
Other statistics are from Puckalytics.com and derived from data from NHL.com

5v5 Individual Stats

Season	Team(s)	GP	TOI	G/60	A/60	Pts/60	xG/60	GAE/60	Sh%	xSh%	Sh%AE	%SA Rush	%SA Reb.
2021-22	PIT	1	8:42	0.00	6.90	6.90	0.78	-0.78	-	-	-	0.00	0.00
2023-24	PIT	52	529:13	0.57	1.47	2.04	0.65	-0.08	7.25	8.31	-1.06	3.30	8.79
2024-25	PIT	13	111:23	0.00	0.54	0.54	0.24	-0.24	0.00	8.83	-8.83	0.00	16.67

5v5 On Ice Stats

Season	Team(s)	GP	TOI	SAF/60	GF/60	xGF/60	SAA/60	GA/60	xGA/60	GF%	xGF%	xGF Rel	xGA Rel	xGF% Rel
2021-22	PIT	1	8:42	34.48	13.79	4.43	41.38	0.00	1.82	100.00	70.91	2.72	-1.29	35.33
2023-24	PIT	52	529:13	43.31	2.72	2.60	39.23	2.04	2.09	57.14	55.44	-0.04	-0.58	5.68
2024-25	PIT	13	111:23	29.09	1.08	2.15	40.94	2.69	2.15	28.57	49.99	-0.74	-0.61	-1.18

NHL Edge Stats

		Skating				Shooting					Zone Time
Season	GP	Top Speed	Bursts>20/mi	Avg. Speed	ES Avg. Speed	Top Speed	Avg. Speed	%Long Range	%Mid Range	%High Danger	ES DZ%	ES NZ%	ES OZ%
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Legend

Percentile 0-25

Percentile 25-50

Percentile 50-75

Percentile 75-100

Forwards are compared with forwards and Defensemen are are compared with Defensemen.

5v5 Lines

Season

Season	Teammate	Teammate	Team	TOI	GF/60	GA/60	GF%	xGF/60	xGA/60	xGF%	xGF Rel	xGA Rel	xGF% Rel
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Glossary

Type	Statistic	Definition
Individual	G/60	Goals Against per 60 minutes.
Individual	A/60	Assists per 60 minutes.
Individual	Pts/60	Points per 60 minutes.
Individual	xG/60	Expected Goals per 60 minutes.
Individual	GAE/60	Goals Above Expected (G/60 - xG/60).
Individual	Sh%	Shooting Percentage.
Individual	xSh%	Expected Shooting Percentage.
Individual	Sh%AE	Shooting percentage above expected (Sh% - xSh%).
Individual	%SA Rush	Percentage of shot attempts determined to be on the rush.
Individual	%SA Reb.	Percentage of shot attempts determined to be from rebounds.
On Ice	SAF/60	Shot Attempts For per 60 minutes.
On Ice	GF/60	Goals For per 60 minutes.
On Ice	xGF/60	Expected Goals For per 60 minutes.
On Ice	SAA/60	Shot Attempts Against per 60 minutes (lower is better).
On Ice	GA/60	Goals Against per 60 minutes (lower is better).
On Ice	xGA/60	Expected Goals Against per 60 minutes (lower is better).
On Ice	GF%	Goals For Percentage = Goals For / (Goals For + Goals Against)
On Ice	xGF%	Expected Goals For Percentage = Expected Goals For / (Expected Goals For + Expected Goals Against)
On Ice	xGF Rel	xGF/60 when On Ice - xGF/60 when not On Ice.
On Ice	xGA Rel	xGA/60 when On Ice - xGA/60 when not On Ice (lower is better).
On Ice	xGF% Rel	xGF% when On Ice - xGF% when not On Ice.

Individual and On-Ice stats from Puckalytics.com (starting in 2015-16). NHL Edge Stats from edge.nhl.com (starting in 2021-22). Edge statistic definitions can be found at the Edge Stats Glossary.

News and Opinions

A Quiet Addition Could Be a Game-Changer for the Avalanche at Yahoo Sports NHL (Wed Feb 25, 2026)
What does Colorado Avalanche’s trade of Solovyov for Puustinen mean? at Mile High Sticking (Tue Jan 20, 2026)
Wilkes Weekly: Murashov bounces back at Pens Burgh (Wed Jan 14, 2026)

Current Contract

Valtteri Puustinen signed a $1,550,000 2-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins and General Manager Kyle Dubas on May 10, 2024 with an AAV of $775,000. This contract will start in 2024-25 and end after the 2025-26 season. In the first season of the contract the cap hit was equivalent to 0.88% of the salary cap.

Standard Contract (UFA) ( ) (0 ratings)

Season	Age*	Cap Hit	AAV	Perf. Bonus	Sign. Bonus	Salary	Compensation	Minors Salary	Status
2024-25	25	$775,000	$775,000	-	-	$775,000	$775,000	$775,000	UFA-Grp6
2025-26	26	$775,000	$775,000	-	-	$775,000	$775,000	$775,000	RFA-arb
Total				-	-	$1,550,000	$1,550,000	$1,550,000

Signed: May 10, 2024

Team: Pittsburgh Penguins

GM: Kyle Dubas

Exp. Status: UFA

Cap %: 0.88

Previous Contracts (show) (hide)

Valtteri Puustinen signed a $775,000 1-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins and General Manager Kyle Dubas on June 20, 2023 with an AAV of $775,000. This contract will start in 2023-24 and end after the 2023-24 season. In the first season of the contract the cap hit was equivalent to 0.93% of the salary cap.

Standard Contract (RFA) ( ) (0 ratings)

Season	Age*	Clause	Cap Hit	AAV	Perf. Bonus	Sign. Bonus	Salary	Compensation	Minors Salary	Status
2023-24	24		$775,000	$775,000	-	-	$775,000	$775,000	$385,000	RFA-arb
Total					-	-	$775,000	$775,000	$385,000

Signed: June 20, 2023

Team: Pittsburgh Penguins

GM: Kyle Dubas

Exp. Status: UFA-Grp6

Cap %: 0.93

Valtteri Puustinen signed a $1,685,000 2-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins and General Manager Ron Hextall on May 6, 2021 with an AAV of $842,500. This contract will start in 2021-22 and end after the 2022-23 season. In the first season of the contract the cap hit was equivalent to 1.03% of the salary cap.

Entry Level Contract ( ) (0 ratings)

Season	Age*	Cap Hit	AAV	Perf. Bonus	Sign. Bonus	Salary	Compensation	Minors Salary	Status
2021-22	22	$842,500	$925,000	$82,500	$92,500	$750,000	$842,500	$70,000	ELC
2022-23	23	$842,500	$925,000	$82,500	$92,500	$750,000	$842,500	$70,000	ELC
Total				$165,000	$185,000	$1,500,000	$1,685,000	$140,000

Signed: May 6, 2021

Team: Pittsburgh Penguins

GM: Ron Hextall

Exp. Status: RFA-arb

Career Statistics

			Regular Season									Playoffs
Season	League	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Shots	Sh%	TOI/G	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Shots	Sh%	TOI/G
2014-15	Jr. C SM-sarja	KalPa U16	32	10	14	24		10
2015-16	U17 SM-sarja	KalPa U17	38	15	27	42		26				5					2
2016-17	U18 SM-sarja	HPK U18	44	8	25	33		33				2
2017-18	U20 SM-liiga	HPK U20	52	15	19	34	+13	14				5	1	3	4		4
2018-19	U20 SM-liiga	HPK U20	11	3	6	9	-1	6
2018-19	WJC-20	Finland U20	6	0	3	3	+2	4
2018-19	Liiga	HPK	47	10	3	13	+8	14				16	2	3	5	+5	4
2019-20	Liiga	HPK	54	17	23	40		22
2019-20	Champions HL	HPK	4	0	1	1	-2	2
2019-20	EHT	Finland	3	1	0	1
2020-21	Liiga	HPK	51	21	20	41	+11	14
2020-21	WC	Finland	2	0	0	0	+1
2020-21	EHT	Finland	2	0	1	1	-1
2021-22	NHL	Pittsburgh Penguins	1	0	1	1	+2		1	0.0	10:14
2021-22	AHL	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	73	20	22	42	-15	14				6		3	3	-3
2022-23	AHL	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	72	24	35	59	-9	22
2023-24	NHL	Pittsburgh Penguins	52	5	15	20	+4	6	86	5.8	11:45
2023-24	AHL	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	24	5	8	13	-6	4				2	1	2	3	+1	2
2024-25	NHL	Pittsburgh Penguins	13	2	1	3	-4	4	8	25.0	9:54
2024-25	AHL	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	48	16	19	35	-3	6				2				-1
2025-26	AHL	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	35	7	19	26	+7	6
NHL Career			66	7	17	24	+2	10	95	7.4	11:22