He was brought in to alter the Pittsburgh Penguins’ defense in a seismic fashion.

That’s why management moved heaven and earth to acquire him over the summer.

And given that his contract is ample in its length as well as the decimals affixed to it (to say nothing of the modified no-trade clause that is included), there are immense but fair expectations of him.

Erik Karlsson? Sure, he’s a big deal with all those James Norris Memorial Trophy wins and All-Star selections.

But Ryan Graves is the protagonist of this parable. And he is fully aware of the demands foisted upon him once he agreed to join the Penguins on July 1, agreeing to a six-year contract worth $4.5 million.

(Note: Graves’ contract is set to expire in 2028-29. No other member of the roster currently has a contract that lasts beyond the 2027-28 season.)

“(Management is) putting trust in you, so you should feel you should have to reciprocate that,” Graves said after practice Monday in Cranberry. “I do feel the responsibility to do that. It’s something that’s good. It’s a good thing to have. You want to be solid defensively. You want to be relied upon. You need guys like me to round out a roster. You have generational guys like (Karlsson) and (defensive partner Kris Letang), but you need guys that play a style like mine.

“You want to play big minutes, you want to be able to feed offense for your own team while negating offense for the other team. That will be what it will be for me. It flies under the radar a lot of times. I’m definitely not the prettiest player, but I think that the way I play the game helps a team win. That’s what I’ll try to bring. I signed here because I wanted to win. It’s not like you’re going to see me scoring and stuff like that all the time. The way you judge my game is a little bit more underlying and you see the way I defend and rushes against. When I’m on the ice, we should hopefully be playing a little bit more offense than defense.”

The Penguins operated a bit more in their own zone than the opponents’ in the first seven games of the season while Graves was on the ice. But that dynamic has see-sawed in recent contests.

In his first seven games with the Penguins, Graves was on the ice for 121 shot attempts for and 139 against during five-on-five situations according to Natural Stat Trick, equating to a shot attempt percentage of 46.5%.

Over the past six games, Graves has been on the ice for 144 shot attempts for and only 108 against, equating to a shot attempt percentage of 57.1%.

Graves equates his improved play with an improved familiarity with his new surroundings.

“There was a transition period for me of kind of acclimating to the system and things like that,” said Graves, who spent the past two seasons with the New Jersey Devils. “New Jersey plays a really different style of hockey where the (defensive) zone is completely different. Just your overall themes and where you’re trying to force guys. Just your general system is a polar opposite, not for better or for worse. But different teams, different ways.

“A lot of it is reading and reacting out there. Things happen really quickly. It definitely takes a couple of weeks or a couple of games before you really have your second nature into this system. There’s definitely more improvement to make. But it’s coming for me, and it feels more natural each game.”

His defensive partner concurs.

Letang spent the past eight seasons with Brian Dumoulin as his primary cohort on the Penguins’ top pairing.

“It’s a work in progress,” Letang said. “Obviously, (13) games doesn’t equal (eight) years with the same guy. We’re learning every day on the ice. We talk a lot on the bench. Video, we sit down and watch clips, what to expect from each other. Obviously, it’s a new system for him. Trying to get it up to speed and get all the stuff going. But it’s been pretty good. He’s a warrior out there. He’s big, he’s strong, he battles in every area, he blocks every shot that comes towards him. It’s fun to play with a guy like this.”

That fun manifested itself in the form of two assists for Graves during Saturday’s 4-0 home win against the Buffalo Sabres. The first was something of an adventure as Graves chopped a one-timer from the center point. The puck took off like a Piper PA-18 Super Cub at Allegheny County Airport and crashed into the glass. Forward Evgeni Malkin collected the rebound in the right corner then flicked a hopeful backhander into the back of goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and the puck caromed into the cage.

The second was a bit more conventional and mundane. Out of a puck battle in his own right corner, Graves chipped the puck up to the blue line for forward Lars Eller, who fed a cross-ice pass for linemate Drew O’Connor. Entering the offensive zone, O’Connor finished off the scoring sequence with a wrister.

Graves pumped the brakes on a lighthearted suggestion he’ll be dueling with Karlsson or Letang for any offensive exploits.

“One was a second assist, and one is a missed shot,” Graves demurred. “You’re just trying to be part of the offense where you can. I won’t be roaming around the (offensive) zone or have a ton of possession time. But I try to create offense by shots, rebounds off of blocks. Things like that. One comes off a breakout. That’s kind of where a lot of my concentration would be in games defensively. Breakouts, transition, things like that. It’s nice when that happens.

“I don’t think I’ll be replacing those two any time soon.”

Given his recent improved play, Graves suggests he’ll be fully acclimated with his new surroundings soon.

“We play fast, we play on top of teams, we stretch the zone, things like that,” he said. “We play a pretty positional (defensive) zone, things like that. Whereas (New) Jersey was very non-traditional in the (defensive) zone. A lot of swinging and a lot of just general possession time. Just a little bit different way of playing.

“Once I get used to it, I think I’ll fit into this system better than I would that other style. But it’s coming.”

Notes: Forwards Reilly Smith and Jeff Carter were absent from practice. Smith attended a ceremony at the White House in Washington to honor his former team, the Vegas Golden Knights, for last season’s Stanley Cup championship. Carter was withheld from practice for an undisclosed injury. … Rookie defenseman John Ludvig participated in practice for the first time since suffering a concussion Oct. 24. He was in a noncontact capacity.

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