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.
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Rick,
Lightning in a bottle? Ahh NO! This is more evidence for me that management hasn't a clue and explains why our Penguins are locked in their worst 33 game start since 05-06, Sid's first season.
Yep, Look it up. Sullivan has ground this team into dust. Our Penguins only have 14 Wins this season. You have to go all the way back to Sid's first season to find a team with less than 15 Wins by game 33; that team only had 8. Even Mike Johnston was capable better than this turning in 22 Ws in his first season and 16 in his second.
Just being honest here. My expectations of this team simply took another hit with this latest signing. I really am not expecting to see another Finals appearance in my life time. It is absolutely idiotic to bring back a player this pedestrian. Heaven forbid Dubas/Sullivan commit to changing the philosophy of opting for known, low level veterans who either are has been s or have never been s, as they keep posting lower and lower W - L records. We are now 7 years past the time they should have bitten the bullet and sold off instead of buying.
One last shot about the POJ signing, the team's pablum over the St. Ivany demotion was that he was regressing. Well, Sullivan has been digressing for 7 years now and still has a job and POJ is regressing with only 2 As in 23 GP and is a -7.
Hypocrisy?