One of the Golden Knights’ expansion draftees has signed on the dotted line.
Teemu Pulkkinen, the RFA forward taken from Arizona two weeks ago, has signed a one-year, $700,000 deal, the club announced on Thursday.
Pulkkinen, 25, takes a pay cut from $812,500 with this deal. It comes on the heels of a rocky ’16-17 campaign in which he started the year with Detroit, was waived and picked up by Minnesota, then was traded to Arizona.
All told, Pulkinnen played for four different teams last season -- the Red Wings (preseason), the Wild, the Iowa Wild and the Coyotes.
The Finnish winger is a curious entity. He’s been a dynamite scorer at the AHL level, and Detroit GM Ken Holland compared his shot to Brett Hull’s. Pulkkinen netted back-to-back 30-goal campaigns in Grand Rapids, and made the American League All-Star Game with Iowa last year.
The problem? His game hasn’t translated well to the NHL level. It’ll be interesting to see if that changes in Vegas.