Penguins Potential Targets For Bottom Right Defenseman

For the Penguins fans who were hoping to get Right Defenseman, Cal Foote. Those hopes were dashed as he signed a one-year, Two-Way Deal with the Devils.

And the particular reason Pens fans wanted him? Well…he’s..uh…..big….and uhhh young. Apparently, those are the only requirements to be good for the Penguins.

I disagree…

Not much of a player here. Aka (He kind of stinks) no real upside, he’s a bottom pair guy and barely that. (Hence why he’s on a two-way deal.) He’s just “Okay”.

Nothing about this player has anything the Penguins want or need. It’s not like he’s super physical.

Cal Foote was on pace for fewer hits than Graves. So if you’re looking for a bruiser guy on the back end. This isn’t the guy. Not that he’s the worst player to ever hit the ice, but he’s not much of an upgrade over Chad Ruhwedel.

In fact, I’d say you’re better off with Chad Ruhwedel as he is much more physical. In 47 games last year Ruhwedel had 90 hits in 47 GP as opposed to Foote who had 64 hits in 50 GP.

Now I don’t think that Ruhwedel proved he can play a full 82-game season in the big leagues. He had what I thought to be, many crucial mistakes. I don’t believe that Dubas or Sullivan thinks he can hack it either.

Dubas could put in Ty Smith or Will Butcher, who usually play left. But honestly, I think they’d be okay playing on the right. If one doesn’t work out swap in the other, I think both are better options over Ruhwedel.

In the case that Dubas doesn’t want to go in-house just yet, then what are some options? Well, the free agent market at this point has dried up in terms of defensemen. So that leaves a trade.

We first have to think about what the Penguins want. I’d say they want someone more competent than ol’Chad obviously. He’ll need to either be a veteran or a younger guy with some upside, he’ll need to be good on the penalty kill, and he needs to be cheap in terms of cap hit and in acquisition, as our assets are low, and this is only a bottom pair defenseman.

They also won’t be playing very minutes with two right dmen who between the two will be taking up nearly 50 minutes a game, which means you don’t need anyone too costly to fill those other minutes.

We also need to account for the fact that Dubas will most likely need to look outside his division and conference. No one will be willing to improve the Penguins at this point after acquiring Erik Karlsson, no matter how small the improvement.

So when I went searching, the pool was very small, and I mean “very small“. But I came out with two potential candidates. One younger player and one veteran.

Let’s start with the younger player first.

Dante Fabbro, he’s 25 years old as of this year, he’s solid defensively, he’s decent on the PK and he’s a fairly solid finisher. He comes in at 6’0 and 189 lbs.

His stats this last season were 2(G)-9(A)-11(PITS) and 113 hits in 79(GP)

I wish to note that his 21-22 campaign was much better as he had 24 PTS in 66 GP, so he saw some regression.

The total cap hit is $2,500,000.

He might be on the cheaper side to acquire after a dip in points. He’s also cheap on the salary side. Now remember, we’re looking at players Kyle Dubas and Sullivan are looking for. We’re NOT looking for players YOU want or Pens fandom wants.

Keep that in mind as I go through these players.

I disagree that the Penguins need some big tough guy, basically a defensemen version of players as worthless as Ryan Reaves or Wayne Simmonds. Lots of GM’s thought they needed toughness and fell into the trap of adding those completely useless goons. Where did they end up? Eliminated.

(A lesson I think Kyle Dubas learned with Simmonds.)

Not that I don’t think physicality is important.

Guys who are tough, feisty, and spirited but also can contribute in scoring or in other ways are the ones that can get you to go far in the playoffs, maybe even help get you to a cup final. Examples are Tom Wilson, Pat Maroon, Corey Perry, Keegan Kolesar and none other than the latest Penguin Noel Accari.

I think that Kyle Dubas shares this view with me, which may help you into his thinking process when looking at players.

But that’s another article and I’ve already probably said too much, but I just wanted to get the point across.

Next up the veteran player.

Next up is Robert Bortuzzo. Now Jfresh hasn’t updated Bortuzzo so we will have to use his card from two years ago. (Not a big deal as not much has changed.)

He’s currently 34, and is 6’4 – 216 lbs. Now we don’t have to worry about speed quite as much, because whoever is chosen as that bottom right dmen will only be playing 10 minutes 5v5 or so a night

They also will be mostly used on the PK.

He had 2(G)-3(A)-5 PTS and 64 hits in 43 GP. So not going to be a big point producer, though that’s not his job. It must be noted in his 21-22 season he played 73 games and had 135 hits. The point total was about the same at 6 pts.

Bortuzzo is better on the penalty kill than Fabbro is, he’s also a veteran. The Blues also don’t seem to be competing this year, they’re in a soft retool/rebuild whereas Nashville thinks they can compete…for…some reason. Bortuzzo’s price tag comes in at a bargain $950,000 for two more years.

All this combined probably would make him a more likely target for the Penguins. He hits most of Sully’s checkboxes.

I could be wrong on both of these, I am simply trying to get inside the mind of Kyle Dubas. He could be looking for a cheap guy in his own conference who knows.

But I wouldn’t really mind either of these guys, but I can assure you, that whoever it is, I am almost certain that Chad Ruhwedel will not start the season.

All Player Cards via JFresh on Twitter/X.