Penguins Update: Can Ryan Graves (and His Game) Be Rebuilt?

I was thinking about our Penguins this morning, mind wandering about rather aimlessly, when it settled on defenseman Ryan Graves.

Immediately, I was reminded of the opening monologue to The Six Million Dollar Man, a popular ’70s TV show about an astronaut who was critically injured in a spaceship crash.

“Steve Austin. Astronaut, a man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man… Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster.”

Can we, or more specifically our brand-new coaching staff, rebuild Graves, our version of the six million dollar man? (Okay, $4.5 million.)

The rangy, 30-year-old native of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, hasn’t looked comfortable from the moment he took his first tentative stride onto the PPG Paints Arena ice. He didn’t look comfortable paired with Kris Letang. He certainly didn’t look comfortable paired with Erik Karlsson (dear Lord). Heck, he didn’t look comfortable paired with anyone, except maybe the nachos vendor in the press box.

To my admittedly untrained eye, Graves appeared to be almost perpetually on the wrong skate, not to mention awkward and not the least bit clumsy. If the situation called for him to exit our zone, he fell back. If needed to guard the net front, he strayed to the corner. A wrong read waiting to happen.

Just totally out of sync.

All the while his game, shaky to begin with, crashed and burned like Steve Austin’s spaceship. Resulting in a pile of healthy-scratch rubble this past season.

How could a player who led the NHL with a plus-40 in 2019-20 and who subsequently finished tied for ninth in the same category with a plus-34 as recently as ’22-23 dissolve so completely? Granted, there’s some smoke and mirrors involved with plus/minus, but still…

Perhaps the root of Graves’ problems was fit, or in his case, an abject lack of. Former coach Mike Sullivan insisted his defensemen join the attack and pinch. Elements that despite decent production in the past, don’t seem to come naturally to Graves. Indeed, at times he looked as comfortable joining the rush as the proverbial fish out of water.

Sullivan’s philosophy provided plenty of options for his players, d-men included. Lifeblood for more creative types. But a death sentence for a player like Graves who apparently craves structure.

Can the 6’5” 222-pounder be rebuilt? Is there enough left of the player who shone when paired with ex-Pen John Marino as recently as three seasons ago to graft on a bionic limb or two and make him fully functional again?

Remarkably, his WAR chart, courtesy of JFresh, would seem to suggest yes.

I also took a glance at Ryan’s underlying 5v5 metrics from this past season. According to Natural Stat Trick, some such as goals for percentage (38.18) and high-danger goals for percentage (34.48) were abysmal. Others, such as expected goals for percentage (51.07), on-ice save percentage (90.29) and even Corsi (49.86) weren’t so bad.

Perhaps there are still some bones for rookie head coach Dan Muse and his staff, specifically defensive coach Mike Stothers, to work with. After all, Stothers was a player of similar dimensions (6’4” 212) and playing style.

With four seasons remaining on his contract and a dearth of quality on the left side of our defense, it would be a boon if Graves could be salvaged from the scrap heap, even to an extent.