Penguins set to terminate Jesse Puljujarvi's contract.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are officially done with former first round draft pick Jesse Puljujarvi.

According to multiple reports, the Penguins have placed Puljujarvi on waivers today for the purpose of mutually bringing an end to his current National Hockey League contract. Puljujarvi was in the second year of a 2 year contract with an average annual value and salary cap hit of $800,000 per season, which does make this a somewhat curious move.

Puljujarvi's contract will now be ripped up should he make it through the waiver process without being claimed, and it seems extremely likely that will in fact be the case here. Puljujarvi was already on a very affordable contract and it seems safe to suggest that the Penguins would have explored the possibility of moving him in a trade prior to taking this step.

Puljujarvi has simply never been able to translate his game fully to the National Hockey League and has largely turned out to be a bust as a result. Puljujarvi was selected 4th overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers but was never able to truly establish himself as a full time player on an NHL roster. He twice played 65 games as a member of the Edmonton Oilers but never got any closer than that to playing a full NHL season.

Puljujarvi had stints with multiple teams including the aforementined Penguins and Oilers as well as the Carolina Hurricanes, but was never truly able to find a role for himself regardless of what team he played for.

This most recent season saw him appear in 26 games for the Penguins in which he had 3 goals and 6 assists for a total of 9 points, picking up 10 penalty minutes along the way and boasting a plus minus rating of -1.

This contract termination is a mutual one which would suggest that Puljujarvi has a plan moving forward, and I look forward to seeing what comes next for him in his professional hockey career.