Penguins forward prospect Valtteri Puustinen will play for the Finnish men's national team in the upcoming Channel One Cup, the Russian leg of the Euro Hockey Tour, the Finnish national team announced this week.
The Euro Hockey Tour is an annual series of tournaments between the Czech, Russian, Swedish, and Finnish senior men's national teams. The Tour is comprised of four tournaments throughout the year -- the Karjala Cup in Finland, the Sweden Hockey Games in Sweden, the Czech Hockey Games in the Czech Republic, and the Channel One Cup in Russia. Each tournament is comprised of a three-game schedule.
The Channel One Cup will take place on Dec. 12, 14, and 15, with games being held in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The Euro Hockey Tour functions as evaluation and preparation for the World Championship in the spring.
Puustinen, 20, was the Penguins' seventh-round pick in 2019. He's playing for HPK in the Finnish Liiga, the former team of current Penguins prospects Emil Larmi, Niclas Almari, and Oula Palve. He ranks No. 3 on HPK with 19 points in 26 games and leads the team with nine goals. The most impressive of which was this between-the-legs move last month:
I asked Larmi last month about what he saw from Puustinen during their time together.
"He's a good player, he's like a young (Phil) Kessel," said Larmi. "He looks like him. He's a really good player. I don't know if you saw that one goal, between the legs? Yeah, it was okay. (laughs) He's a good guy."
Puustinen's nickname in Finland is "Kuopion Phil Kessel" for similarities in physical appearance as well as play on the ice, notably Puustinen's hard shot.
