The Penguins have summoned 24-year-old defenseman Jack St. Ivany from their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club on an emergency recall, the team announced today. Ryan Shea, recalled on a similar basis on Tuesday, was returned to the Baby Pens.
A rangy 6’3” 198-pounder, St. Ivany was drafted in the fourth round by the Flyers back in 2018 when Ron Hextall was the GM in Philly. The Manhattan Beach, California native never signed with the Flyers, but instead was inked to a two-year deal with the Pens (by Hextall) following his senior year at Boston University.
Following a rough rookie pro season with the Baby Pens in 2022-23 (eight assists, minus-17 in 63 games), St. Ivany has made significant strides this season. In addition to upping his production (a modest four goals and 12 points in 52 games) he leads the Baby Pens with a plus-14.
In terms of the details of his game, I’ll let Pens coach Mike Sullivan fill in the blanks.
“He’s been very good on the penalty kill,” Sullivan said. “He’s a solid defending defenseman. Fairly mobile, good size.”
He’s also somewhat of an anomaly…at least in black-and-gold terms…a right-shot defenseman. A rarity now that Chad Ruhwedel and before him Jan Rutta and Mark Friedman have departed.
Whether St. Ivany will play remains to be seen. The third pairing of Pierre-Olivier Joseph and rookie John Ludvig combined for a goal and four points (and a plus-3) in the win over the Sharks, although POJ’s underlying numbers were bad.
Hey Rick,
I am not necessarily a St. Ivany fan, but he can do no worse than the parade some of the stumbling, bumbling players that made the opening night roster ahead of him. The team may only be 5 points from a playoff berth but they are ranked 23rd in the league in terms of Points%, 23rd – they currently hold the 9th pick in the draft, if it were held today. (for me that would mean either Eiserman, a LW, or Iginla’s kid a C. I Have watch video of Eiserman and like what I have seen. Although I haven’t seen any video of Iginla, I like his blood line)
However, as for Ludvig and POJ, last game, the game against the Sharks, before erecting a statue to these to defenseman, remember the Sharks are the worst team in the league, worse than our Penguins. They have given up the most GA of any team in the league. In Ludvig’s case, I do like his sand, but there is little else in his game that is showing anything; he does have 2 G but is -11 in 27 GP. As for POJ, from all accounts he is a good guy off the ice, but there is nothing about his on-ice game I like. He has 0 G and 5 A, only 3 of which are primary A, which means he contributes almost nothing offensively and he is -10, so he is contributing nothing on D either.
It is past time to move on from at least POJ. He is RFA this off season, let him walk (and another Penguins’ trade – Kessell – leaves no assets left in the Org)