Sheng Peng
The San Jose Sharks have added a defenseman.
And not just top prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin, who they assigned to the San Jose Barracuda today.
According to Ilta Sanomat, the San Jose Sharks have signed 22-year-old Valtteri Pulli to a two-year entry-level contract.
The 6-foot-6 Pulli has three goals and 14 assists in 53 games for TPS Turku this season.
The left-hander also had a contract with TPS next season, so according to NHL-IIHF rules, if he doesn’t make the San Jose Sharks this fall, he will go home.
Contract terms were not disclosed.
Pulli is a bit of a late-bloomer, a prospect who was not necessarily on NHL radars at the beginning of this season. But he made a big leap this year, we’ll see if he has another in him.
“Cleaning up his in-zone defence, becoming a more frequent scanner and executor on breakouts and retrievals and leveraging his physicality and reach further as a rush defender,” Elite Prospects’ Lasse Alanen wrote in a detailed Pulli profile, “could go a long way in making Pulli a worthwhile late-bloomer bet.”