Jack St. Ivany aims to continue growing into steady presence on Penguins' blue line

When Jack St. Ivany made his NHL debut last year, the margin for error for the Pittsburgh Penguins was extremely low.

St. Ivany first suited up March 22 and went on to play in the Penguins’ final 14 games of the season, with the club desperately trying to jump into a playoff position.

The Penguins went 8-3-3 over that span, making a determined but unsuccessful push for the postseason, missing by three points.

While the team fell short, St. Ivany’s performance impressed Penguins management.

“I think Jack deserves a ton of credit for the development of his overall game here over the last couple seasons,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s an extremely hard-working kid. I think he loves the game. He’s improved dramatically since he became a Penguin.”

For starters, general manager Kyle Dubas inked him to a three-year deal through 2026-27 in May worth $775,000 annually. St. Ivany, 25, then made the Penguins roster out of training camp.

So far this season, St. Ivany’s improvements have resulted in a notable uptick in minutes.

Last year, St. Ivany skated an average of 13 minutes, 42 seconds per game.

Through six games played this season, in which St. Ivany has deployed on the club’s third defensive pairing with Ryan Graves, his nightly time on ice is 16:25. St. Ivany also ranks as one of the Penguins’ most deployed penalty killers at 2:24 per night.

“He came in (and) has done a nice job,” Graves said. “He took the opportunity he was given and ran with it. It’s up to him where he takes it. He’s a good kid, he works hard, so it’s exciting. Everyone has gone through that at some point in their career where you make the jump and you prove to yourself and everyone else that you belong at this level. He’s going to continue to improve.”

Describing his own game as “simple,” the 6-foot-4 St. Ivany prides himself on playing steady, responsible hockey.

As far as what the next steps are as he continues to accumulate NHL experience, St. Ivany hopes to stick to what he’s done while also helping more to drive things offensively.

“My job’s to kill penalties, block shots, do anything I can to make plays,” St. Ivany said. “For my share, I’ve just got to build on being able to make puck plays and being more consistent. We’ve got some good forwards, so it’s about making clean plays, getting (the puck) up to them, making clean plays at the blue line, getting shots through and then the rest of it, you’ve just got to stick to defending hard, keeping guys to the outside, boxing out, holding your net front.

“All those things that I feel like I did well to get myself here, I’ve just got to keep building on that and keep doing better.”

Sullivan has been dividing the labor on his third defensive pairing, subbing Ryan Shea in St. Ivany’s place at times.

After Tuesday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames, Shea had appeared in two games to St. Ivany’s six.

With St. Ivany inked for the next three years, Sullivan looks forward to watching him further develop.

“We still think there’s opportunity for growth there,” Sullivan said. “He’s still a young player, and we think with more experience at this level, he’s only going to get better.”