The Pittsburgh Penguins offseason sort of began on Saturday with a minor trade that saw them send forward prospect Emil Pieniniemi to the Florida Panthers in exchange for forward Oliver Okuliar.
The most significant element of this trade is what it means for Pieniniemi and how things just simply did not work out between him and the Penguins.
He was drafted in the third-round (No. 91 overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft (Kyle Dubas’ first with the Penguins) and his development just never seemed to make major
strides with the Penguins. Things turned rocky early this season when he refused an assignment to Wheeling of the ECHL and was suspended for the first two months of the season.
He ended up eventually playing 35 games between Wheeling and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, scoring seven goals with seven assists and 14 total points between the two levels.
He is still only 21 years old, but seems like a major long-shot to make it in the NHL. But now he gets a fresh start with a new organization with a clean slate.
As for what the Penguins are getting in Okuliar, he is a 26-year-old forward that has spent the bulk of professional hockey career playing overseas in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden. He spent the 2025-26 season with Skelleftea AIK in Sweden, scoring 15 goals with 14 assists and 29 total points in 46 games.
His only experience in North America came during the 2024-25 season when he appeared in 69 games with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL, scoring 19 goals with 22 assists and 41 total points. He also added four goals, four assists and eight total points in 18 playoff games to help Charlotte reach the Calder Cup Finals that season.
The most likely outcome here: It’s a shuffling of minor league players and to give a prospect a fresh start. Set your expectations accordingly.
