Avalanche, Penguins Swap Ilya Solovyov, Valtteri Puustinen

The Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins have rearranged some of their depth pieces. According to an announcement from the Penguins, the Avalanche have traded defenseman Ilya Solovyov to Pittsburgh for forward Valtteri Puustinen and a 2026 seventh-round pick.

Solovyov, 26, will see his tenure in Colorado end after half a season. He was claimed off waivers before the regular season from the Calgary Flames to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman. The Mogilev, Belarus native was coming off a promising season in the AHL, scoring six goals and 28 points in 59 games for the Calgary Wranglers.

As the team’s seventh defenseman, and without any significant injuries to Colorado’s defensive core, Solovyov didn’t earn much playing time through his first few months with the team. At the end of November, Solovyov had only appeared in nine games for the Avalanche, going scoreless with a -4 rating while averaging 12:33 of ice time.

The Avalanche briefly sent Solovyov back to the AHL on a conditioning loan, simply to allow him more ice time. Since the calendar flipped to 2026, and likely to showcase his playing style to interested teams, Solovyov played in seven games with Colorado, scoring one goal and three points, with a +3 rating.

Meanwhile, Puustinen will move to Colorado after nearly five years with the Penguins organization. He, like Solovyov, was drafted in the seventh round of the NHL Draft, albeit a year earlier. He’s been a remarkably consistent scorer at the AHL level, tallying 72 goals and 175 points in 252 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Unlike Solovyov, Puustinen has already had a fairly promising NHL campaign under his belt. During the 2023-24 season, Puustinen earned an extended look in the sport’s highest league, scoring five goals and 20 points in 52 games with the Penguins, averaging 11:45 of ice time per game. Additionally, his possession metrics were solid, finishing with a 52.3% CorsiFor% and 91.9% on-ice SV% at even strength.

Given his offensive talent, Pittsburgh’s treatment of Puustinen the last few years has been perplexing. The team has had a top-down mandate to get younger, but apparently were not willing to give Puustinen another opportunity at the NHL level. The Penguins went as far as to place Puustinen on waivers last season, though he went unclaimed at the time.

Nonetheless, the trade won’t significantly alter the complexity of either team for now. Solovyov will take Joona Koppanen‘s spot on the roster for the time being, who the Penguins reassigned earlier today. Meanwhile, the Avalanche are expected to make another recall on the blue line, given that they are down to five healthy defensemen.