The Pittsburgh Penguins have been impressive over the past
few weeks with a record of 12-2, and the team may get even better as The
Athletic’s Josh Yohe (subscription required) reports that defenseman Justin
Schultz, who has missed all but four games this season with a broken
leg, has been skating regularly with the team.
While it’s too early for a specific timetable, Schultz could
conceivably be back in early to mid-February. However, Schultz’s return will
only create more of a defensive logjam for Pittsburgh, which may be forced to
make a move soon.
Yohe writes that once Schultz returns, the Pens are likely
to match Brian
Dumoulin and Kris Letang,
Schultz with Olli Maatta and Jack Johnson with Marcus
Pettersson. This could leave several players out of the lineup,
including 6-foot-6, 256-pound Jamie Oleksiak,
promising Juuso Riikola and
depth defenseman Chad Ruhwedel —
far too many players to keep on their roster which, barring injury, will likely
prompt a trade.
Surprisingly, the team is solid in that top six as Yohe adds
the Pens are devoted to playing Pettersson, who has been incredibly reliable
since they acquired the blueliner from Anaheim back on Dec. 3 for Daniel Sprong.
In fact, Pittsburgh is 14-3-1 when he’s playing, and while Pettersson can’t
take all the credit, he is a significant defensive presence, many believing he
will make up the left side of the defense with Dumoulin and Maatta for the next
few years.
Pettersson is only averaging 14:54 of ATOI this season, yet
he has seen a recent spike since arriving in Pittsburgh, averaging 16:09 and
continuing to increase. He played 18:05 on Friday against his former team, the
Ducks. His offense is also starting to come around as he has a five-game point
streak with six assists in the last five games.
That might suggest the team’s best trade asset would likely
be the 26-year-old Oleksiak, despite being the second-biggest player in the
NHL, next to Winnipeg’s Dustin
Byfuglien. Oleksiak has developed into a solid player in Pittsburgh
after several years of struggling to break into the Dallas Stars’ lineup. He
just recently returned from injury after suffering a concussion in a fight with
Washington’s Tom Wilson and
may be best known for a collision with Byfuglien earlier this season.
Byfuglien came away with the worst of it as he suffered a
concussion. Regardless, a player with Oleksiak’s size could stir quite a bit of
interest if Pittsburgh is ready to move on from him. Although he is returning
from injury, he has seen a decrease in playing time since his return.
If the team does opt to move Oleksiak, that could leave
Riikola as the team’s seventh defenseman and Ruhwedel as the team’s eighth
defenseman if the team chooses to hold onto eight, although that could be at
the cost of another forward.
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