Seventh round excitement: Pittsburgh Penguins add RW Valtteri Puustinen and D Santeri Airola

The Pittsburgh Penguins wrapped up their player picking in the 2019 draft with a bit of excitement. First, with the 203rd overall pick in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. The Pens selected Finnish over-age winger Valtteri Puustinen.

The over-age trend continues! In the recent past the Pens have nabbed Dominik Simon and Justin Alemeida in the past and now goes again with Puustinen.

There’s not a ton out there about Puustinen, who did play on the Finland U-20 World Championship team. He played in the top league against men over there, and made this beauty of a sliding assist.

Late round guys are always gambles, but hey sometimes it pays off. Patric Hornqvist was “Mr. Irrelevant” in 2005, drafted dead last and he turned out OK. Draft day is just a beginning on the path to the NHL, not the end.

And right before the draft ended, the Pens decided they weren’t done. They traded their seventh rounder next year (2020) for a pick San Jose owned at 211th overall. With that pick, Pittsburgh went back to the Finnish ranks to add their first defensemen of the draft in Santeri Airola

Airola looks like a bit of a reach, ranked the 130th European skater in the draft but he did make his way up to the Liiga at a young age (18) as a right shot defenseman.

So this is the end for the Pens selections. They ended up through trades only adding five players and prospects to the fold this weekend. It will take years to see what they can or can’t add to the organization. Now comes the fun part to wait and see how it goes.