Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan announced after practice on Monday that defenseman Marcus Pettersson will be week-to-week with a lower-body injury. The blueliner left late in the first period of Saturday’s game in Ottawa and did not return after going awkwardly into the boards.
The 28-year-old has become a reliable and consistent presence for the Penguins since being acquired from Anaheim in 2018, playing a critical role in the top four.
“He’s a tough guy to replace on our group at defense back there. He’s a stabilizing defenseman no matter what pair we put him with,” Sullivan said. “He just has a real conscientious game on both sides of the puck.”
When the play first happened, Sidney Crosby was hoping for the best at first, considering Pettersson had put together a bit of an ironman streak – with his last game missed due to injury back on April 11, 2023, against Chicago.
“Petey, I feel like, always finds a way to come out of those OK. He bends so many different ways, he’s crazy,” Crosby said, smiling and shaking his head. “But that one, obviously it’s always scary when you see that, whoever it is. But, he’s been in a few of those and found a way to get through it. So, hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”
This season, Pettersson ranks third on the team in time on ice, averaging 21:47 minutes per game while also leading all skaters in shorthanded time on ice per game with 2:49 minutes for the NHL’s ninth-ranked penalty kill.
Sullivan noted at the start of the season how Pettersson “continues to grow his offensive game,” as was evident when he scored a goal scorer’s goal against the Florida Panthers on Dec. 3. Pettersson is also just a tremendous teammate and competitor who’s popular in the locker room, so he’ll be missed for however long his absence ends up being.
“He's an unbelievable teammate. First and foremost, he's just a great person,” said Sullivan. “He's one of the more well-liked guys in our dressing room. He's a fierce competitor. And I think our players, and certainly our coaching staff, we've got a ton of respect for what he brings to our team.”
As Crosby said, everyone will have to chip in for those minutes.
“It’s never fun to see a guy go down. But, just try to have that next-man-up mentality and we know we're going to play a little bit more than normal. So, be conscious of your shift length, especially on the road, and try to compete. I think we did a pretty good job of that,” said Matt Grzelcyk, part of the group of five who played two-plus periods in Ottawa after Pettersson left the game.
Grzelcyk stepped up onto a pairing with Erik Karlsson at Monday's practice.
“Karl's so offensively gifted and such a good skater,” Grzelcyk said. “So, just trying to complement him as much as I can. Maybe if he's going to get involved a little bit, I'll be able to hang back a little bit more than usual. He's such a special player, and another guy that it's really special to be his teammate."
Ryan Shea then slotted in on the third pair with Ryan Graves at practice on Monday. Shea – who’s dressed in 13 of 32 games for Pittsburgh so far this year – called Pettersson “kind of a teacher back there for all of us,” saying he’s the guy they go to with questions about the penalty kill. If Shea re-enters the lineup, he’ll look to contribute there and more.
“Just breaking pucks out, defending the rush... and like I said to mostly everyone when I started the year in training camp, I want to be more involved offensively, but I can't let the defensive side slip. So, I gotta do a good job at balancing that,” Shea said.
Overall, Sullivan and the coaching staff are looking for players like Shea to seize their opportunity in the foreseeable future.
“I do think we have capable guys that can step in and help us, and guys will get an opportunity here,” Sullivan said. “We’ll see how it goes, but we’ll try to put defense pairs together that we think will give us the balance that we need and put people in certain roles that set them up for success.”
This is how the lines and pairs looked at practice:
Rakell—Crosby—Rust
Bunting—Malkin—Tomasino
O’Connor—Glass—Beauvillier
Nieto—Lizotte—Acciari
Pickering—Letang
Grzelcyk—Karlsson
Graves—Shea
(Puljujarvi—Hayes)
