Penguins A to Z: Taylor Fedun offers value in an important role

With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Taylor Fedun

Position: Defenseman

Shoots: Right

Age: 34

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 200 pounds

2021-22 AHL statistics: 44 games, 16 points (five goals, 11 assists)

Contract: Completing a one-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $750,000. About to begin a two-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $762,500. Pending unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason.

Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July. 28, 2021

Last season: By the time he joined the Penguins, Fedun was almost a decade past a horrible injury that almost prevented him from having a professional career.

During the 2011 preseason, Fedun, then a first-year professional with the Edmonton Oilers, suffered a broken right femur after crashing into his own end boards violently.

So just being a professional hockey player almost 10 years following that awful moment is something of a minor miracle.

Being a steady presence the NHL? That might take a few more prayers.

And that’s by design.

The Penguins signed Fedun to provide their American Hockey League affiliate with some steady veteran leadership and that’s exactly what Fedun provided. After being assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Oct. 8, Fedun was named as the 20th captain in that franchise’s history roughly one week later.

Opening the season on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top pairing, Fedun’s only recall to the NHL roster during the season came Nov. 4 when a handful of incumbent players contracted covid-19.

After being a healthy scratch for three games, Fedun was returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Nov. 11, then was caught up in that team’s own outbreak of covid-19 cases in early December.

His steady but mostly unremarkable season continued throughout January and February. On Feb. 27, he scored his lone game-winning goal of the season with an overtime score in a 4-3 home win against the Syracuse Crunch.

If that was his best moment of the season, it was also his last moment of the season. An undisclosed injury he suffered during that contest sidelined him for the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign.

On May 25, Fedun signed a two-year contract extension with slight pay raise.

The future: Fedun is kind of carrying on something of a legacy for the Penguins.

A veteran of 11 professional seasons who has 127 NHL games on his resume, Fedun is an ideal fit as a reliable presence on the blue line who can function in all sorts of situations (even-strength and both special teams) and provide guidance for legit prospects, on and off the ice.

And as a right-handed shot, he’ll always be a bit more popular with management than a left-handed defenseman given the scarcity of starboard blueliners.

Going back to Ray Shero’s tenure as general manager, the Penguins have valued having this type of veteran defenseman in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, whether it be Zach Trotman, David Warsofsky, Kevin Czuczman, Taylor Chorney, Dylan Reese, Alexandre Picard or Andrew Hutchinson.

It might be a stretch to suggest Fedun is continuing a tradition, but he definitely provides value in an important role.