2 Pittsburgh Penguins Prospects Who Could Get Called Up This Season

As the season gets underway, players will begin to suffer injuries as they sacrifice their bodies for the sake of their team, not to mention the ever-present concern of a positive Covid diagnosis. Eventually, there will be players who will need to miss games, and others will need to be called in to replace them in the lineup. Here are two such prospects who could see some playing time on the Pittsburgh Penguins this season.

Valtteri Puustinen

The Pens have a few 1st-round picks playing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL trying to win themselves a ticket to the NHL, but they're currently all being outplayed by a 7th-round pick from 2019. Valtteri Puustinen responded extremely well to being selected 203rd overall by the Penguins, following up his first season in the Finnish Liiga by finishing second on his team in scoring each of the following two years. It didn't take long for the Penguins to sign him to an ELC, and Puustinen has rewarded that decision as well. Since coming over for his first season in North American pro hockey, Puustinen has scored 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) in 10 games. He currently leads the AHL Pens in scoring and is tied for the team lead in goals. If the young Finn can keep playing this well, there are a lot of teams that will regret passing on him in the draft. The Pens are currently struggling through a mix of injuries and players in COVID protocol, and Puustinen is currently sitting at the top of their prospect pipeline. It shouldn't be long until he gets his first look on an NHL roster.

#wbspens Goal Video - Valtteri Puustinen does it all by himself to put the Penguins in front. pic.twitter.com/nTJoZQh7eB

— WBS Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 24, 2021

Filip Lindberg

The Pens' goaltending situation has been a question mark since last year's playoffs. Thankfully, Tristan Jarry has started the season with some strong play in the crease, showing that the Penguins can lean on him for heavy minutes. Casey DeSmith, on the other hand, has looked very pedestrian to start the year. If Jarry were to be injured, it's unlikely the Pens will want to rely on DeSmith. They picked up Louie Domingue in the summer, but he's currently being outplayed in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by this player, Filip Lindberg. Lindberg, another 7th-round pick from 2019, hasn't had a season save percentage below .900 since he was 15 years old, and the last couple of years he's put up some impressive numbers in the NCAA, including last season when his goals-against average was an astounding 1.21 in 15 games. He finished that season with only 1 regulation loss. Currently, he and Domingue have split the net evenly, 5 games apiece, but Lindberg has won 4 games to Domingue's 1. If the Penguins need to make a call-up in goal they could go with the veteran in Domingue, but the better player currently is Lindberg, and that may be enough for the team to give him a look.

Who do you think the Pens should call up from the AHL this season?

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports