After the NHL All-Star break, the well-rested Penguins were back on the ice yesterday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, and they had a new teammate with them.
Jesse Puljujarvi signed a two-year contract with the Pens with a salary cap hit of $800,000. The 25-year-old former 4th overall selection in the NHL Draft had off-season surgery on both hips and, after a tryout with the Penguins and a minor league professional tryout contract with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he could make his debut as a Penguin tomorrow night against Winnipeg. He had four goals and five assists in thirteen games in the AHL.
Also returning to the ice yesterday and skating at full strength were forward Reilly Smith, who last played January 11th, and defenseman Jon Ludvig, who’s been out since December 31st.
Coach Mike Sullivan said afterward that Puljujarvi, Smith, and Ludvig would all be game-time decisions tomorrow night against the Jets.
The Penguins are tenth in the race for the eight playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. They are in fifth place in the Metro Division, a point behind the Islanders.
Sullivan says the Penguins can get back into the playoff picture.
In their last game before the All-Star break, the Penguins beat Montreal, 3-2 in overtime. Sullivan says it was good to go into the break with a win but it’s behind them now.
Sullivan admires the work that Puljujarvi has done to get back to the NHL.
NHL players will return to the Olympics in 2026 and Sidney Crosby says he’d love to be playing for Team Canada again, but, he says, he’d have to earn a spot on the team. He’ll be 38 years old then, but Crosby is playing at as high a level now as ever.
The Olympics will be held in Italy in ’26. The last time NHL players were in the Olympics was in 2014 and Crosby led Team Canada to their second straight gold medal. He scored the gold medal-clinching goal for the Canadian team in 2010.
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