The Penguins added a new/old face to their roster today, acquiring defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph from the Blues. The price? The ubiquitous “future considerations.”
Part of me is surprised as heck and another part…not so much.
In the wake of injuries to cornerstone defenseman Marcus Pettersson and, to a lesser degree, depth defenders Jack St. Ivany and Sebastian Aho, the Pens were/are thin on the blue line.
Joseph is a known quantity, good and bad. On the plus side, he’s a fluid skater who possesses some decent if underutilized offensive skills.
On the flip side, the closer the play gets to his own net, the more his defensive struggles intensify. Although never for a lack of effort, POJ gets outworked and outmuscled in traffic on a regular basis. It’s almost as if his rangy 6’2″ 185-pound physique and long stick work against him in tight quarters.
He’s a left shot, too, one I don’t recall playing his off-side. Which means another natural portsider, perhaps Matt Grzelcyk, will need to shift to starboard. Given that Grzelcyk played a decent game on his natural side while skating next to Erik Karlsson against the Kings, a bit counterintuitive. However, I doubt if we brought POJ back to sit in the press box.
Another possibility? We send rookie Owen Pickering, who may not be ready for top-pairing duty despite acquitting himself well, to the Baby Pens and replace him with Joseph. (I didn’t say it would make sense.)
Or Ryan Graves returns to healthy scratch status.
Back to our latest acquisition. Following a solid rookie season for the black-and-gold in 2022-23 (five goals, 21 points, decent underlying numbers) POJ endured a dreadful start to the ’23-24 campaign and was a frequent healthy scratch.
Following a season spent mostly in the shadows, he regained his footing and regular place in the lineup during the Pens’ season-ending surge. POJ tallied a pair of goals and six points in 14 games to go with a plus-7 while skating next to Kris Letang. Reinforcing his MO of playing well, albeit in spurts.
When GM Kyle Dubas elected not to re-sign POJ this summer, the Blues inked him to a one-year, prove-it deal at a cap hit of $950K. Things didn’t work out in the Gateway City, as the lanky defender put up poor numbers, underlying and otherwise, in a third-pairing role.
In his one moment in the sun, Joseph stood up for his team by taking on (and holding his own) against Utah defenseman Maveric Lamoureux after the towering 6’7” rearguard laid out teammate Alexey Toropchenko with a jarring check. Underscoring his rep as a good guy and good teammate.
Perhaps POJ will catch lightning in a bottle during his second black-and-gold go ‘round and display his first-round pedigree. We can only hope.
