Were the Penguins doing the right thing by holding Jesse Puljujarvi - waived Monday - out of a fourth-line role? It seems that forward Jesse Puljujarvi's time with the Pittsburgh Penguins [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/] has come to an end. On Saturday, the Penguins placed Puljujarvi on unconditional waivers [https://thehockeynews.com/news/penguins-place-puljujarvi-on-unconditional-waivers] for the purpose of contract termination, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Contract termination happens when both sides mutually agree to part ways, which usually means that a player has an agreement in place to place overseas somewhere. After 24 hours, the Penguins will no longer have Puljujarvi's cap hit on the books, and he will be a free agent. Puljujarvi has had a tenure of ups and downs with Pittsburgh. After having double-hip surgery in the summer of 2023, Puljujarvi signed a PTO with the Penguins in January 2024 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/pittsburgh-penguins-sign-jesse-puljujarvi-two-year-deal], which resulted in a two-year contract worth $800,000 annually. He made the NHL club after a very strong training camp [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/penguins-announce-roster-cuts-waive-former-first-round-pick] - which included a pre-season hat trick against the Buffalo Sabres - and got some decent runway at the beginning of the season. He registered a goal and five points in his first six games, but after his production slowed and he was in and out of the lineup, he put up just two goals and four points in 20 games since. In the midst of those 20 games came healthy scratches and an eventual decision by the team to place him on waivers on Dec. 30 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/penguins-place-forward-jesse-puljujarvi-on-waivers]. He cleared waivers and was optioned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - Pittsburgh's AHL affiliate - two weeks later. He had one more brief stint in Pittsburgh during late January until being sent back to the AHL on Wednesday. His last NHL game with the Penguins came against the Utah Hockey Club on Jan. 29, which was a 3-2 overtime win [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/stars-lead-the-way-as-penguins-defeat-utah-in-overtime-thriller]. Puljujarvi registered two shots on goal and was a plus-1. In his brief Penguins' tenure, he put up six goals and 13 points in 48 games. Over the course of his NHL career - between the Edmonton Oilers, Carolina Hurricanes, and Penguins - the former fourth-overall pick has registered 57 goals and 127 points in 382 games. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjEyMTYyNzc0NjIzNTk0MDE5/thnpitnews.png] Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjEwNjYwNDIwMDI3OTUwOTI5/thnpitbanner.png]
