Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan shared that defenseman Marcus Pettersson will likely be out week-to-week with an undisclosed harm, per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. Pettersson left the crew’s Saturday loss to Ottawa late within the first interval after a collision with Senators ahead Drake Batherson despatched him awkwardly into the boards. He solely performed in six minutes of ice time.
Pettersson has continued to function a core piece of the Penguins lineup this season. He’s recorded 11 assists and 13 factors in 32 video games this season whereas averaging 22 minutes of ice time — making him the third-most utilized participant on the Penguins roster. Pettersson additionally leads Pittsburgh in blocked photographs (56) and ranks third amongst defenders in hits (36). He’s a top-unit, shutdown defender — a job he stamped when he performed in all 82 of Pittsburgh’s video games final season. A full yr helped Pettersson solidify his spot on the highest pair — averaging practically 23 minutes of ice time — and led him to career-highs in assists (26) and factors (30). Together with his momentum carrying into this season, Pettersson has develop into an unquestioned piece of the day by day lineup — and one which will likely be robust to exchange for an prolonged time.
Pittsburgh is presently carrying prime prospect Owen Pickering and depth possibility Ryan Shea as their further defenders. The previous appears finest set for a lift in ice time with Pettersson out. Pickering acquired the primary 11 video games of his NHL profession earlier this season. He scored two factors, cut up evenly, and added 5 photographs on purpose and 10 blocked photographs — main Pittsburgh in blocks-per-game. He’s to this point defaulted to Pittsburgh’s third pair however may very well be an affordable upside guess with Pettersson standing as a possible IR candidate. If not Pickering, Pittsburgh may flip in direction of Shea or call-up Sebastian Aho from the minor leagues.