Penguins’ Ville Koivunen out week-to-week with lower-body injury

On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that forward Ville Koivunen is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury and has been placed on injured reserve.

In response, the team has called up forward Sam Poulin from its American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

It isn’t quite known how or when Koivunen suffered the injury. He was held out of the lineup this past Sunday when the Penguins faced the Nashville Predators in the second game of the NHL Global Series in Sweden, and was initially listed as day-to-day.

The Penguins won Game 2 in Stockholm, earning a split of the two games overseas. Koivunen did play in the first game in Sweden last Friday, a 2-1 overtime loss for Pittsburgh. He registered 13:46 of ice time, the second-highest total of the season.

Per the NHL’s IR rules, Koivunen could return as soon as this Saturday, when Pittsburgh takes on the Seattle Kraken. However, due to his recent diagnosis, he might be out a little bit longer.

It has not been a good start for the 22-year-old this year. Despite the team around him doing well, Koivunen has just two assists in 11 games. He has a plus/minus of -1, while averaging 12:34 of ice time. The Finnish winger entered the 2025-26 campaign after making his NHL debut last season, appearing in eight games and totaling seven assists for the Pens.

Poulin has played a handful of games with Pittsburgh over his career, but has never been good enough to stay up with the big club. He played a career-high seven games last season, posting an assist. With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he has been exceptional. After scoring a career-high 19 goals and 43 points in 57 games during the 2024-25 campaign, the 24-year-old has had a hot start to the new year. In 16 games, Poulin has scored seven goals and eight assists for 15 points, leading the Baby Pens in scoring.

Pittsburgh (10-5-4) returns to action in North America this Friday against the Minnesota Wild.