Injuries to blue line affecting ‘D’ struggles
Sullivan has been forced to use 15 different lineups in past 35 games
The Penguins anticipated that Mike Sullivan would need to do some tinkering on the blue line after they overhauled their defensive corps last offseason with a trio of moves. But they probably didn’t envision it would be to this degree.
Due to injuries, Kris Letang’s hardships off the ice and roster restrictions that keep occurring because of questionable salary cap management from the front office, Sullivan has used 21 different defensive lineups through 67 games.
We have seen the Penguins deploy seven defensemen three times. They at one point had current minor leaguer Mark Friedman skating on their top pair. Ty Smith and Chad Ruhwedel at times were asked to play on their weak sides. And that stat doesn’t even include the night that Jeff Carter briefly played D.
They might need to come up with yet another unique combination for Thursday’s rematch against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, depending on what the medical staff has learned about Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta.
The veteran defensemen were both injured in Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Rutta was drilled in the left knee by a wrist shot in the third period. It is not known when Petry was injured. He sat out the final period. Afterward, Sullivan provided no updates, saying both were still being evaluated.
Throw in Sunday’s injury to recent trade pickup Dmitry Kulikov, out week to week, and the recent facial fracture suffered by Smith, their top American Hockey League prospect, and the Penguins are severely shorthanded there again.
Friedman and Taylor Fedun, both righties, are the obvious call-up candidates. But complicating matters is a lack of cap space. Unless the Penguins place someone such as Nick Bonino on longterm injured reserve, shelving him into April, they will be unable to bring up a defenseman for Thursday’s game.
Having only five defensemen at his disposal would be a new one for Sullivan, who has been forced to shuffle his defensive lineup time and time again since Letang suffered his stroke in late November. Of the 21 unique lineup combinations he has come up with, 15 were used in these past 35 games.
The Penguins have actually been fortunate when it comes to total man games lost this season. But clusters of injuries have hindered them on the back end.
That lack of continuity overall and chemistry within certain pairs is one of the main reasons why the Penguins have performed poorly defensively in 2023.
Since Jan. 1, they are giving up 3.42 goals per game, eighth-most in the NHL over that span. None of the seven teams faring worse are in playoff position.
Sure, poor goaltending has contributed to that. But this season the Penguins rank in the league’s bottom 10 in shot attempts allowed, shots from the slot for opponents and rush chances against, per Sportlogiq. They were one of the league’s stingiest teams last season in many of the stats Sportlogiq tracks.
The Penguins have killed just 75% of their penalties this calendar year, as well.
It hasn’t been all bad. With Letang leading the way, the Penguins have gotten 16 goals from their defensemen since Jan. 1, which ranks ninth in the NHL over that span. Letang and Marcus Pettersson have reached a lofty level together that they had not previously hit. And Pittsburgh has won seven of 10.
But with the start of the postseason one month away, it is safe to say that Sullivan and the Penguins aren’t comfortable with their combinations. Why else would they trade for Kulikov and break up Letang and Brian Dumoulin again?
And now the Penguins might have to head into the final 15 games of the regular season without Petry or Rutta – or potentially both veterans. Not ideal.
The Penguins had an eye on a deeper playoff run last summer when they traded away Mike Matheson and John Marino and added bigger, more rugged defenders in Petry and Rutta. They also acquired a young puckmover in Smith.
But as injury issues persist, that group is running out of time to come together.