Penguins A to Z: Emil Pieniniemi is a long-term project
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With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2023-24 season coming to an end without any postseason action, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 52 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from fourth-line center Noel Acciari to reserve winger Radim Zohorna.
This series is scheduled to be published every weekday leading into the second day of the NHL Draft on June 29.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)
Emil Pieniniemi
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Age: 19
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 176 pounds
2023-24 Liiga statistics: 38 games, six points (two goals, four assists), 13:25 of average ice time per contest
2023-24 Liiga postseason statistics: 10 games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists), 10:50 of average ice time
2023-24 Mestis statistics: Four games, two points (one goal, one assist), 20:56 of average ice time
2023-24 U20 SM-sarja statistics: One game, zero points (zero goals, zero assist), 25:36 of ice time
2023-24 IIHF World Junior Championship statistics: Seven games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists)
Contract: Entering the first year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $838,333. Pending restricted free agent in 2027
(Note: Pieniniemi is exempt from waivers for any assignment to a minor league affiliate. Additionally, his contract is eligible for an entry-level slide, allowing it to begin in 2025.)
Acquired: Third-round draft pick (No. 91 overall), June 29, 2023
This season: The Penguins didn’t waste much time bringing Emil Pieniniemi into their nest.
To be clear, they wasted about 15 days.
Just over two weeks after drafting him, they signed him to an entry-level contract, making him the first (and still only) member of their 2023 draft class to agree to a deal.
Despite that eagerness to get his signature on a contract, Pieniniemi, as planned, opened the season in his native Finland with Karpat of the Liiga. As a teenager playing against grown men in that country’s top league, Pieniniemi served as Karpat’s seventh defenseman for most of 2023-24.
(Note: Liiga teams typically dress 21 players.)
Aside from one game on Oct. 10 with Karpat’s team in the U20 SM-sarja, Finland’s top junior league, Pieniniemi remained in the Liiga until mid-November when he suited up for Finland’s junior national team for some preliminary games prior to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championship tournament.
After bouncing between Karpat’s Liiga roster and Hermes of the Mestis, Finland’s second-tier league, Pieniniemi then skated for Finland in the World Junior Championships. Primarily deployed on the second pairing, Pieniniemi was held without a point while helping Finland finish in fourth place.
Following the tournament, Pieniniemi remained with Karpat’s Liiga team for the remainder of that squad’s regular season, occasionally rising to the third defensive pairing.
Pieniniemi reached a milestone Jan. 20 during a 3-2 road win against HPK when he scored his first career goal.
After Karpat’s season season concluded, Pieniniemi joined Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League after signing an amateur tryout contract April 22. During Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s brief two-game run in the AHL postseason, Pieniniemi was scratched for each contest.
The future: Given his age and that he rarely played at a station higher than the third pairing, it’s safe to say Pieniniemi still needs plenty of development. He’s a very raw but intriguing future asset.
He won’t light up the scoreboard but has the necessary base skills to get the puck up ice on the attack. And blessed with a long frame, he has the attributes to be an impediment defensively to attacking opposition.
The main question about him is if his development will unfold in North America or Finland next season.
Regardless of his immediate geography, Pieniniemi is a long-term project even if the Penguins were quick to sign him.