Is Ville Koivunen Turning A Corner?

It's no secret that the Ville Koivunen contract took basically everybody by surprise this summer. 

Heck, fans had to read the Pittsburgh Penguins' announcement of the eight-year contract multiple times to make sure it wasn't coming from a fake account.

The deal showed that the team believed in him, and after an up-and-down first few games, Koivunen has been really good for the last week and a half. It looked like he was going to be scratched during the Penguins' recent four-game road trip until Egor Chinakhov got banged up. 

From then on, Koivunen has looked confident every time he's stepped onto the ice and has been a great fit in the top six.

He had a great assist on Evgeni Malkin's opening goal against the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 16, then got a couple of quality chances against the Vegas Golden Knights the following night. Even though most Penguins players looked dreadful in that game, Koivunen was one of the bright spots. 

Koivunen then carried that play over into the first two games of this three-game home stand. It started on Thursday against the Florida Panthers when he delivered a perfect pass to Hendrix Lapierre, who made it 2-0 in the second period. 

He continued his strong play against the Nashville Predators on Saturday, scoring his first overtime goal to lift the Penguins to a 3-2 win. With less than 1:30 to go in OT, Koivunen corralled a puck from Lapierre at the right circle, lost it for a split second, then regained control, stepped into the slot, and fired a great shot to win the game.

He's more of a playmaker and has shown great vision lately, but he's also made nice strides with his release. He's also been better along the walls and around the net. 

Penguins head coach Dan Muse spoke glowingly about Koivunen's performance after Saturday's game. 

"Koivy's playing really good hockey," Muse said. "I think we've seen that from him, you know, for a number of games. I think his game's just continuing to take steps. So, I think, sometimes with guys, too, it's just a matter of getting, you know, the more time that you get, you need those opportunities to be able to stack some things and stack some games. I think you've seen that now with Koivy."

I know Malkin didn't play on Saturday because of an illness, but when he's played with Koivunen this year, things have gone pretty well. Koivunen has skated with Malkin in nine games this season, and when they're on the ice together, the Penguins are controlling 57% of the shot attempts, 52.5% of the scoring chances, and 65% of the high-danger chances. 

Once Malkin is back from his illness, I'd give Koivunen more minutes with him to see what he does. Yes, other injured players are set to return soon, but Koivunen deserves more runway in the top six with the way he's playing. 

If he keeps it up, it will likely only mean good things for the Penguins. 

(Data via Natural Stat Trick). 

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