Penguins Place Ludvig on Long-Term IR

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.