The Ville Koivunen 8 Year Extension is still sending shockwaves among fan base, league observers

The Pittsburgh Penguins last week truly stunned their fan base with an 8 year, $32 million contract for 23 year old winger Ville Koivunen, which goes down as one of the longest contracts ever given out by the franchise.

Koivunen joins quite the Group:

The deal is still sending shockwaves days later. Although there were rumors among agents and executives that Pittsburgh and Koivunen were talking about a four to five year deal a few weeks ago, the maximum eight-year deal caught just about anyone off-guard; Stunned, shocked, you name it.

SURE FIRE NHL’er?

One reason for that is there’s not a universal feeling among NHL types that Koivunen is a sure-fire NHL’er long-term. Some scouts question his shot ever translating to an NHL caliber level, lack of separating foot speed is a concern for others, and a growing consensus outside of Pittsburgh on Koivunen is a feeling he’s going to need the perfect situation/role to succeed.

The Penguins, though, don’t have that view at all. When acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade, Koivunen was the key prospect Pittsburgh was fixated on, as a few teams, including Colorado and the New York Rangers believed their offers far succeeded Carolina’s on Guentzel. It was a matter of Pittsburgh being higher on Koivunen than the rest of the league and a little over two years later, they still have that view. Pittsburgh believes Koivunen can think the game like a star player that long-term will hide warts in his game and their advanced modeling continues to scream a German Titov style of player in his prime years, team sources say.

The Penguins privately all summer had sent out word of how they remained extremely high on Koivunen who struggled in finding a proper role with 2 goals and 7 assists in 39 NHL games last season. Yet, there was a lot of skeptics growing by the day and mainly because of the Penguins actions. Pittsburgh has made move-after-move that has essentially blocked Koivunen from having a guaranteed top-9 role, let alone a roster spot to start next season in the NHL with a clouded roster at the forward position. Spots for middle tier prospects like a Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes, Tristan Broz and others are also getting murky with higher-end prospects humming along who are going to be pushing for regular roles within the next year, most notably Bill Zonnon and Mikhail Ilyin who some teams regard as Pittsburgh’s best forward prospect.

$4 Million in Signing Bonuses

Another fascinating sidebar to the Koivunen surprising extension is Pittsburgh being a team that’s not giving out signing bonuses with ease. No Penguins 2026 UFA free agent signee received a signing bonus, nor did the likes of established forwards Tommy Novak, Egor Chinakhov, Connor Dewar or Blake Lizotte on their extensions, yet, Koivunen receives a $2 million signing bonus in Year One and a $2 million signing bonus in Year Two. This is a clear move to make him waiver proof if he starts the season in the minors. HAve the Penguins potentially started a precedent with young players that could backfire in negotiations? If anything, the signing bonus money has certainly got the attention of agents with young Penguins clients coming up. Among the two most notable being To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

As for the player and person, what an amazing moment last week for Ville with the contract. Life changing money and security. And now comes the pressure for the player and immediately with such an obstacle to make the team out of camp. Koivunen’s going to be a lightning rod for criticism from the fan base with the heavy expectations this eight-year term has brought. As for the risk/reward on the Penguins front: Some keep saying the Penguins have no risk, hence, can buy him out after two seasons and will only be on the hook for little over $8 million of the remaining 26 million+ salary if things implode and they buy him out after the 2027-2028 season. True, but you think they’re paying out $4 million in signing bonuses over the next two years to buy him out after two seasons. Highly doubtful. With the roster jam this season, Koivunen is likely looking at least a three-year window to prove himself in Pittsburgh and after year two, he becomes a .67% multiplier on any buyout. He’s going to see most of this money, no matter how things pan out in Pittsburgh or whether he emerges as a sure-fire NHL’er or not. [/hide]

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