The Penguins have placed defenseman John Ludvig on long-term injured reserve today with an undisclosed injury. Although this is pure speculation, it’s possible the injury…upper-body in nature…occurred during the rookie’s game-opening scrap with Islanders heavyweight Matt Martin on Sunday night.
Although Ludvig’s had his struggles (a team-worst minus-7), the 23-year-old hard rock brings a physical element and edge that no other black-and-gold defenseman possesses other than Kris Letang when the veteran gets fired up.
In a corresponding move, the Pens recalled Ryan Shea from the Baby Pens. In 22 games with the Pens, Shea recorded 14 blocked shots, 13 hits and a minus-2 while displaying a penchant for making the smart, safe play.
At first blush, however, it appears Pierre-Olivier Joseph will get first crack at plugging the gap.
In a way, Joseph’s metrics kind of tell his story to a T. His 5v5 Corsi for percentage (57.99) and expected goals for percentage (61.52) are tops among black-and-gold defensemen, even better than Erik Karlsson’s and Letang’s. Yet POJ’s been on the ice for 7 goals against and only 4 for in 5v5 play.
A direct reflection of the enigmatic talent the former first-round pick’s been…and is.
I was reading some recent comments from long-time PenguinPoop reader Mike about the state of…
In their second player move of the off-season, both involving young’uns, the Penguins re-signed pending…
One of my favorite rock ballads is Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Till It’s Gone)…
I was working out at the gym Wednesday morning, minding my own business, when PenguinPoop…
The Penguins entered last night’s NHL draft lottery with an infinitesimal 1.5 percent chance of…
In the wake of the Penguins cutting ties with associate coach Todd Reirden yesterday, the…