Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins complete first trade of offseason

On the surface, this looks like a minor roster-cleanup transaction. A young Finnish defenseman moves south while the Pittsburgh Penguins collect the NHL rights to a Slovak forward.

Simple enough.

Except Okuliar left North America last summer. The undrafted forward played for Charlotte in the AHL during the 2024-25 season - posting 19 goals and 41 points in 69 games - then signed a two-year deal with Skellefteå AIK in the Swedish Hockey League instead of returning.

His NHL rights technically remained Florida's property, but they were already depreciating.

Each month Okuliar stays in Sweden makes convincing him to return harder, not easier.

GM Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins are betting they can eventually lure him back to North America.

That is a real possibility. But Bill Zito and the Florida Panthers turned those quietly expiring rights into a signed NHL defenseman with two years left on his deal.

Pieniniemi is a 2023 third-round pick from Kuopio, Finland, taken 91st overall. He spent the 2025-26 season climbing through Pittsburgh's system, posting strong numbers in both the ECHL and AHL.

He led Wheeling defensemen in scoring during the Kelly Cup Playoffs before being reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for their Calder Cup run.

He is not a finished NHL product. But he is under contract, trending upward, and Florida just acquired him for a player who chose Sweden.

Teams quietly let player rights expire every offseason. Florida found a team willing to exchange an actual NHL asset for those rights before the window closed entirely.

Zito converted a depreciating chip into a legitimate blue-line prospect. That is front-office efficiency, and not many GMs make that move.

Also read on House Of Hockey :
Two NHL sources publicly discuss Martin St-Louis' firing information