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.
The Penguins came up a cropper last night in their third game of the young…
Fans who attended last night’s home opener at PPG Paints Arena were treated (if that’s…
On several occasions over the summer, I took a poke at Penguins POHO/GM Kyle Dubas…
I’m not gonna’ lie. I was sure the Flyers would have their way with the…
On the eve of the new season, Toronto and Columbus swung a blockbuster trade yesterday…
A month ago, I wrote an article pondering the Penguins playoff worthiness. With the start…