Penguins Positional Overview: Defense

A lot happened this offseason, with Penguins President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas making plenty of moves to put the team in a position to compete for the Stanley Cup.

So, with that, we’re going to take a look at where each position stands heading into Penguins Training Camp presented by UPMC, scheduled to begin next week … starting with the forwards and now, moving onto the defense.

NOTABLE OFFSEASON ADDITIONS: Erik Karlsson, Ryan Graves, Libor Hajek, Mark Pysyk, Will Butcher

NOTABLE OFFSEASON DEPARTURES: Brian Dumoulin, Jeff Petry, Jan Rutta

Over the past few months, Dubas has heard from a lot of people skeptical of Pittsburgh’s ability to contend. But as he put it early into his tenure, “the way I view it is if people want to bet against Mike Sullivan, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and others, they can go ahead and do so. But I'm going to bet on them, and go with them.”

Well, ‘others’ now includes Erik Karlsson, as Dubas pulled off a true blockbuster deal by acquiring the reigning Norris Trophy winner in a three-team trade to give the Penguins the same one-two punch on the blue line that they have up top with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Karlsson and Letang are both elite talents who are in excellent shape, and the Penguins could legitimately have one of them on the ice for at least 50 minutes a night. They’ll make up the right side of the top four, with Marcus Pettersson and Ryan Graves penciled in to make up the left – with exact combinations to be determined – as those two should be terrific complements for their superstar teammates.

Graves, 28, plays a style similar to Letang’s longtime D partner Brian Dumoulin. Graves, who inked a six-year contract with Pittsburgh, said he tries to be a low-risk, steady force – focusing on shutting down other team’s top lines, playing on the penalty kill, and being reliable defensively. Meanwhile, Pettersson, 27, is one of those players who’s got a strong all-around game. He can help drive offense, is good in his own zone, and is coming off one of his best seasons yet.

The third pairing is where things get interesting. Dubas has repeatedly mentioned giving the younger guys a chance to push for spots there, with P.O Joseph being the first name that comes to mind.

The 24-year-old took some huge strides last year, his first full season in the NHL. Joseph made the opening-night roster and started to hit his stride around December, putting together a great stretch of play around the holidays, and stepping up while Letang was out for injury and personal reasons. However, as Joseph grinded through the demands of an 82-game season at the highest level, he hit a bit of a wall in March. That led to Joseph being a healthy scratch for the first time all year, sitting out three games in a row. He finished with 5 goals and 21 points in 75 games during a great learning experience of a season.

“I just want to come back and keep improving every day, and help the team win as much as possible,” Joseph told me earlier this summer. “As a young guy you still want to prove that you belong in the NHL, and especially in a big organization like the Pittsburgh Penguins. We all still have that sour taste in our mouth from last season, so I just want to jump in that boat as fast as possible to go and have a rebound year with the guys!”

Another younger player Dubas mentioned is 23-year-old Ty Smith. The 2018 first-round pick came to Pittsburgh in the summer of 2022 with a lot of potential, having put together a great rookie season in New Jersey before experiencing a sophomore slump in his second. His third NHL season was spent mostly in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which got derailed by injury starting in early February. After missing time with an upper-body injury, Smith took a puck to the face upon his return, suffering facial fractures and missing five-and-a-half weeks. We’ll see how Smith factors in now that he’s healthy.

Moving into the veterans of the group, Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman are a couple of familiar faces who are in the mix. Ruhwedel defines professionalism, always ready to step into the lineup when called upon. He appeared in 47 games last season after establishing a new career-high with 78 in 2021-22, and could be a stable presence on that third pairing. Friedman is someone else who’s used to going long stretches between playing, and typically makes quite an impact whenever he slots in with his skating ability and feisty personality.

In terms of new faces apart from Karlsson, Will Butcher – who had a decorated college career at Denver, winning the Hobey Baker Award and an NCAA championship – brings 275 games of NHL experience and adds to Pittsburgh’s depth. He signed a one-year deal during free agency, while Mark Pysyk and Libor Hajek recently signed Professional Tryout contracts.

Pysyk missed all of last season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon, but is now ready to compete for a contract. The 2010 first-round pick, who had a career-high 9 goals in 2019-20 with Florida, has played parts of 10 seasons with the Panthers, Sabres and Stars. Hajek is younger at 25 years old, and has spent his entire pro career to date with the New York Rangers organization – splitting time between the Blueshirts and their American Hockey League affiliate.

We’ll see what happens with the fifth and sixth spots, but with Karlsson and Letang anchoring the top four, this blue line should be a force.