Pettersson feeling right at home in Pittsburgh and on the Penguins blue line
In a few significant ways, Pittsburgh feels a lot like home to Marcus Pettersson.
While the 22-year-old defenseman’s Swedish hometown of Skellefteå is a fraction of the size of the Steel City and several time zones away, it is a historically industrial city that can get frigid this time of year and has a successful hockey club with fervent fans.
“It’s a big hockey town, for sure. There’s a lot of good players coming out of that town,” he said Saturday. “I grew up with winters, so I love it here, too. It’s a little bit smaller and tighter town, but they love their sports teams.”
In addition to Pettersson, Skellefteå’s hockey club has produced, among others, fellow NHLers Adam Larsson, Viktor Arvidsson and Tim Erixon, an American-born former Penguins minor leaguer who spent his formative years in his father’s hometown.
Pettersson’s father, Daniel, rose through the ranks with Skellefteå’s hockey club and spent several seasons with Skellefteå AK of the Swedish Hockey League. The 5-foot-11 forward wrapped up his pro career around the age of 30 and remained there.
Marcus has always been on the taller side, eventually sprouting to 6 feet 3. Asked where he got his height, he
shrugged. His mother, Catrine, is about 5-11, too.
Growing up, he played soccer during summer, hockey in winter. Early in his teenage years, Pettersson was forced to choose. He loved soccer, too, but given his size and his father’s history, he said, “It was pretty obvious that I’d take the hockey path.”
“The club in my hometown, they started to really pull for guys who wanted to be pros to work out a lot and practice a lot. So they gave us an option to play hockey or soccer,” Pettersson said. “If I wanted to be any good at hockey, I just needed to focus on that.”
It turned out to be a pretty good decision. Pettersson starred for the Skellefteå hockey club, held his own against grown men in the SHL for a few seasons and represented Sweden in international play, including the 2016 World Junior Championships.
The Anaheim Ducks, who drafted him with the 38th overall pick in 2014, brought him to California in 2017, when he debuted with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL.
He admits he didn’t know much about California then, other than its warm weather.
“You kind of don’t believe it,” he said. “But at the same time, I love it here, too.”
He made his NHL debut in February 2018 and scored his first and only NHL goal a couple of weeks later. He appeared in four playoff games with the Ducks last spring, too.
Pettersson was seemingly off to a good start this season, with six assists and a plus-4 rating in 27 games in Anaheim. But the Ducks, tantalized by the goal-scoring potential of Daniel Sprong, traded Pettersson to the Penguins in exchange for the winger.
While he was disappointed to be dealt away, he had nothing but praise for the Ducks.
“I loved my time there,” he said. “I’m super grateful for everything they did for me. I got drafted there. I got to play in the NHL, play playoffs with them. And I’m just really grateful for them essentially giving me an opportunity to play here in Pittsburgh, with the history here and the players that are here.”
All these wins probably help — and Pettersson’s presence has been a factor.
Pettersson was immediately paired with Jack Johnson, the veteran they signed last summer. They hit it off, allowing the Penguins to finally settle into a pretty consistent defensive lineup. In their 16 games since the trade, the team has allowed 33 goals.
Pettersson is a plus-7 over that span. In one game, a 2-1 loss in Ottawa last month, the Senators did not put a single puck on net while Pettersson was on at even strength.
“I’ve clicked with Jack very well,” he said. “I think I’ve started right, just not trying to do too much, just trying to play my game, play solid defense and let the rest come itself.”
While Johnson’s growing comfort level in the Penguins system and much-improved goaltending behind him shouldn’t be ignored when analyzing Johnson’s turnaround, Pettersson’s presence looms large. Johnson has posted a plus-8 rating alongside Pettersson after being a minus-13 prior to their pairing.
“He’s just a really reliable guy to play with. I trust him in every situation, which is huge,” Johnson said. “He handles the puck well. He’s smart. He gets us out of trouble.”
Plus, the Penguins feel Pettersson has an untapped offensive game as well. He has three assists in Pittsburgh and has time on their second power-play unit.
“He sees the ice really well. He makes good plays. He passes the puck well. He has good poise, both on the breakouts coming out of our end but also along the offensive blue line,” coach Mike Sullivan said.
Pettersson just got a place Downtown, and while the city is bigger and the buildings are taller and Pittsburghers have strange accents, the Steel City certainly feels like Skellefteå.
“The community really comes together around their sports teams,” he said.