Rarely, if ever, in hockey history has a season as disappointing as the one recently authored by Ville Koivunen resulted in lifetime wealth.But here we are.The deal, announced Thursday by the Pittsburgh Penguins and paying Koivunen $4 million per season for eight years, has triggered more questions than answers.Koivunen started last season on Sidney Crosby’s line, but that configuration lasted precisely two games because Koivunen looked utterly out of sorts playing with the Penguins captain.In fact, during his time in Pittsburgh, he’s looked out of sorts in general.Koivunen, 23, scored two goals in 39 NHL games last season. He finished with seven points. While he didn’t necessarily look out of place, he certainly wasn’t productive, nor did he look like a player who was on the verge of production.And production is everything with Koivunen. He’s unlikely to be a penalty killer; he isn’t physical, and his size — generously listed at 6 feet and 184 pounds — was a detriment last season. He’s a top-line style player who didn’t produce. In fact, he seemed to regress from his seven-point, eight-game cameo at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season.So, why on earth would the Penguins give him an eight-year contract? While $4 million annually isn’t what it once was because of the rising salary cap, I will defy the common standards of grammar by saying that it’s not nothing.Here is what Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas said in an email to local reporters on Thursday afternoon: “We view the contract as a bet — on Ville, his potential, and our belief that he is going to do the work to reach his potential.”Two team sources, speaking under condition of anonymity to detail private discussions, told me that Dubas views this as a “low risk, high reward” contract.In other words: If Koivunen is ultimately a bust, $4 million annually isn’t a big deal. Perhaps more to the point, because Koivunen is under 26, the Penguins can theoretically buy him out and only 33 percent of that money would count against their salary cap moving forward. If you look at it in those terms, the contract doesn’t seem quite as risky financially.The Penguins obviously like him. He’s a 2021 second-round pick and one of the key return pieces in the Jake Guentzel trade in 2024. In 97 career games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Koivunen has produced 97 points. He’s already proven himself to be a very good AHL player.