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Sam Poulin

Penguins Recall Sam Poulin On Emergency Basis

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As previously reported by Seth Rorabaugh of The Tribune-Review, the Pittsburgh Penguins have announced the emergency recall of forward Samuel Poulin from their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Poulin was considered one of the Penguins’ top prospects, and by some accounts, he still is. Pittsburgh selected Poulin with the 21st overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, and he scored 16 goals and 37 points in 72 games during his rookie AHL campaign in 2021-22.

Unfortunately, largely due to an extended leave of absence, Poulin didn’t take any developmental steps the following season. Still, he returned as a solid secondary scorer for the AHL Penguins in 2023-24, scoring 16 goals and 31 points in 41 contests.

This season has been his best in professional hockey by far. He’s fourth on WBS in scoring, managing 19 goals and 43 points in 56 games with a +5 rating. Meanwhile, he’s registered a career-record six appearances with Pittsburgh this season, notching one assist while averaging 10:06 of ice time per game.

Given the assumed roster turnover in Pittsburgh this summer, there’s a significant opportunity for Poulin to crack the 2025-26 opening night roster. He’s signed through next season on a league-minimum salary, and the Penguins have nothing to lose by allowing him a longer tryout than they’ve afforded in the past.

Penguins Sign Sam Poulin To Two-Year Extension

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed young forward Sam Poulin to a two-year two-way contract extension with an average annual value of $775K. The contract runs through the 2025-26 season and likely signals that the Penguins expect the 23-year-old to break the NHL roster next season after he played just six NHL games over the past two seasons including three games this past year in which he went scoreless. Thus far in his limited NHL action, Poulin has tallied a single assist.

Poulin would have become a restricted free agent on July 1st. His new contract will break down as follows (Figures courtesy of PuckPedia):

  • Year 1: $775K NHL/$100K AHL
  • Year 2: $775K NHL/$325K AHL

The Penguins 2019 first-round pick (21st overall) spent the bulk of the 2023-24 season with the Penguins American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton where he had an offensive breakthrough posting 16 goals and 15 assists in 41 games. Poulin’s 31 points ranked him fourth on the team in scoring and was his best offensive season in professional hockey despite dealing with injuries and illness for a big chunk of the year.

The Blainville, Quebec native likely would have seen more time at the NHL level but the timing of his injuries was unfortunate as he found himself hurt on several occasions when Pittsburgh needed to bring players up from the AHL. When he was eventually recalled after the NHL trade deadline, he was ill on multiple occasions which led to him being scratched for much of his stay on the NHL roster.

Poulin will have ample opportunities to make the Penguins out of training camp as the Penguins have been underwhelmed by the offensive output of their bottom six forwards for several seasons in a row.

Penguins Notes: Prospects, Injuries, Rebuild

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Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas had an eventful locker-room cleanout, sharing plenty of news, updates, and plans with the media following the end of the season. Most exciting of the bunch was Dubas’ support of the team’s young prospects, sharing that he expects forwards Brayden Yager, Vasili Ponomarev, and Sam Poulin; defenseman Owen Pickering; and goaltender Joel Blomqvist to each compete for NHL roles next season, shares Rob Rossi of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Penguins fans will hope that their GM is right as he alludes to young talents holding onto lineup roles. Pittsburgh carried the oldest roster in the NHL this season, with an average age of 29.78 per EliteProspects.

They’ll certainly get plenty of talent in the names Dubas mentioned. Both Yager and Pickering spent the season in the WHL. Yager had a career year, scoring 35 goals and 95 points and adding five points in five World Juniors games. Pickering also recorded career-high scoring – though not with as much of a jump as Yager – netting 46 points in 59 games to top his 45-point season last year. Meanwhile, Blomqvist served as the starter for the Wilkes-Barre/Scanton Penguins, recording a dazzling .921 save percentage in 44 games.

Other notes from Pittsburgh’s cleanout:

  • Dubas also shared that legacy defenseman Kris Letang will be getting a second opinion on if he needs surgery this summer to address an undisclosed injury, per Seth Rorabaugh of the Tribune-Review. Rorabaugh also mentioned that Matthew Nieto suffered another injury following his surgery in January, and will seek a second opinion on if surgery or rehab is the next step. Emil Bemstrom is also hurt, finishing the season with a concussion. Nothing was made about these injuries being alarming, though Penguins fans will want to keep a close eye on Letang’s recovery. The future Hall-of-Famer appeared in all 82 games this season, but reportedly played through injury down the stretch.
  • Dubas hinted at an interesting approach in his press conference, saying that the Penguins wanted to approach their rebuild similar to how the Los Angeles Kings have approached theirs, per The Athletic’s Josh Yohe (Twitter link). The Kings have managed a fairly quick rebuild – if this year’s postseason berth signifies success – while maintaining key veterans like Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. The Penguins will approach things similarly, looking to build around their long-time core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Letang. The Kings were aggressive in the open market, acquiring Phillip Danault, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kevin Fiala, and Vladislav Gavrikov. One has to think Michael Bunting and Erik Karlsson represent two of these impactful additions, though Pittsburgh will need to continue addding if they want to claw back into the postseason.

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