Penguins recall trio of forwards from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins made a handful of transactions with their American Hockey League affiliate Thursday morning, recalling forwards Emil Bemstrom, Valtteri Puustinen and Vasily Ponomarev from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton under emergency roster conditions.

Bemstrom, an All-Star at the AHL level this season and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s third-leading scorer (21 goals, 25 assists), has appeared in 13 games for the NHL Penguins, recording one assist while averaging 8 minutes, 20 seconds of ice time.

Thursday marks his fourth NHL recall of the season, the first of which was Feb. 7.

The 25-year-old winger, signed through 2024-25 at an average annual value of $775,000, was most recently sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on April 3, a few days after the Penguins placed him on waivers at the end of March.

Puustinen, 25, rejoins the NHL club for the first time since Nov. 26, when he was placed on waivers.

In 10 appearances with the Penguins early in the season (Oct. 20-Nov. 15), he scored one goal with an assist, averaging 9:53 of nightly ice time.

With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Puustinen contributed 16 goals and 19 assists over 47 games.

He is signed through this season with a salary cap hit of $775,000.

Ponomarev, one of the prospects Pittsburgh received from the Carolina Hurricanes in March of 2024 in exchange for Jake Guentzel, earned his third NHL recall of the season, having been summoned from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for brief stretches in November and February.

He’s appeared in four games for the Penguins, averaging 9:13 per night with zero points.

In the AHL, the 23-year-old Ponomarev ranks fourth among Wilkes-Barre/Scranton players with 40 points (15 goals, 25 assists).

Ponomarev is signed through 2024-25 at $975,000 annually.