Forget Forward Logjam: Penguins Might Have Defensive Crowding Problem

Before training camp even started for the Pittsburgh Penguins, there was a fair amount of conjecture regarding their logjam at the forward position.

Well, that is an ongoing dialogue. It’s true that the forward battle is next to impossible, as the Penguins likely have 11 spots already locked down, leaving the final few up for grabs by Justin Brazeau, Elmer Soderblom, Hendrix Lapierre, Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes, Filip Hallander, Atley Calvert or Tristan Broz.

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Realistically, there’s very little chance that the Penguins elect not to keep 14 forwards when final NHL rosters are submitted because of the sheer volume. That makes sense.

However, what’s being vastly overlooked is the logjam on defense. And if the NHL club only keeps seven defensemen, it could pose an issue at the lower levels.

As is the case on the forward unit, most of the defensive corps is pretty much set. Six spots are all but a guarantee for Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Kaedan Korczak, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Sam Girard, and Declan Carlile. As for that final spot? It will be a legitimate battle between Ilya Solovyov, Ryan Graves, Caleb Jones, Jake Livanavage, Harrison Brunicke, and Owen Pickering. And Pickering and Brunicke, in particular, look pretty polished and ready in this camp.

But, regardless of who earns the spot, it pushes the other guys down. And, all of a sudden, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) blue line looks a little bit too crowded. If, say, Solovyov earns the final spot, there’s:

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Left side
Pickering
Livanavage
Graves
Jones
Maleek McGowan
Daniel Laatsch
David Breazeale

Right side
Brunicke
Phil Kemp
Finn Harding
Chase Pietila

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All 11 of these defensemen, McGowan aside, saw time at the AHL level last season. Of course, sending guys like Laatsch and Breazeale to the Penguins’ new ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades, isn’t the end of the universe, but it does stunt growth.

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And McGowan? He’s showed some potential between camp and the preceding Prospect Tournament, and if he appears AHL-ready, it hardly seems fair to bury him in the ECHL.

Extending further, that still trims WBS to eight. It’s difficult to imagine Graves and Jones not getting regular playing time, and same goes for WBS captain Phil Kemp. But Pickering, Livanavage, Brunicke, Harding, and Pietila also all need to be playing regularly so as not to stunt their development and allow them to keep building on the tangible progress they have made up to this point.

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Simply put, the NHL club keeping seven defensemen very much complicates things for young players in need of consistent reps. To an extent, a similar thing risks happening on the forward front in WBS if the Penguins elect to keep eight defensemen, but there are some AHL forwards who can probably seamlessly be relegated to the ECHL.

This logjam is a symptom of a larger conundrum within the Penguins’ organization, as the NHL roster keeps adding on outside talent despite a large chunk of its internal young talent being on the cusp of NHL readiness. The balance of creating competition and making young players earn their spots is part of the this discussion, which will be tabled for a later time.

If the Penguins are serious about developing their young players – and, in this case, their young blueliners – they need to find a way to strike that balance between players earning their opportunities and doors actually being open for them to, realistically, do so. And the only way to ensure five to six NHL-upside defensive prospects get regular AHL minutes is if the NHL roster keeps eight defensemen.

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Again, this is unlikely to happen, which means that someone like McGowan or Pietila is bound to end up in the ECHL, even if they should be playing a level above.

So, the Penguins will have some tough decisions to make before they submit those final rosters. Even if 14 forwards may seem like the most logical solution, the Penguins have backed themselves into a corner – and the logjam on the blue line proves that solution isn’t that simple.

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