Hours before the resignation of Jim Rutherford was announced Jan. 27, the final official personnel move executed under his tenure as Pittsburgh Penguins general manager was the signing of veteran Yannick Weber.

It was a necessary move for the Penguins to be able to fill out a gameday lineup of six able-bodied defensemen.

Five weeks later, seemingly all of a sudden, the Penguins have too many defensemen to know what to do with them.

“We probably have nine or 10 NHL defensemen,” coach Mike Sullivan said Wednesday after a practice in Cranberry Township that featured Mark Friedman and Brian Dumoulin.

For Friedman, it was his first practice after his first game with the Penguins since the team claimed him off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers last week.

For Dumoulin, it was his first practice since Jan. 25. He left a game at the Boston Bruins the following day because of a lower-body injury, an ailment that forced the Penguins’ hand in signing Weber.

A 32-year-old, 13-year NHL veteran, Weber became the 11th defensemen the Penguins used through only nine games this season. When Friedman was in uniform during Tuesday’s 5-2 victory against the Flyers, he became the 12th, three shy of the franchise record for a season (according to team historian Bob Grove).

Mark Friedman was the 12th defenseman the Penguins have used this season.

As noted by Grover, the team "record" is 15. https://t.co/z1e5HDfOpq

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) March 3, 2021

An improbable run of injuries struck the Penguins’ blue line in January, when Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson, Kris Letang, Mike Matheson and Juuso Riikola were out for varying lengths.

All have returned except Dumoulin (lower body) and Riikola (upper body). And those two are practicing on a full-contact basis, signaling each is close to returning.

“I feel like we have a lot of depth,” Sullivan said. “And so, from the standpoint when we do (have injuries), it gives us an opportunity to put guys in the lineup that have some experience that have the ability and capacity to play at this level and have a positive impact on our team.”

The Penguins entered the season with a familiar longtime top pairing of Dumoulin and Letang, an emerging young No. 2 grouping of Pettersson and John Marino and a veteran “bottom” pairing in Matheson and Cody Ceci. They also had longtime “seventh defenseman” Chad Ruhwedel in addition to Riikola as another veteran who’s been on their lineup’s periphery for multiple years now.

The injuries gave top prospect P.O Joseph an earlier NHL opportunity than originally expected. Even minor league journeyman Kevin Czuczman was summoned for two games.

With all due respect to Czuczman and Weber, the “9-10 NHL defensemen” Sullivan referenced probably is the list of men who have played this season for the Penguins omitting those two.

Neatly, that leaves the Penguins five right-handers (Letang, Marino, Ceci, Ruhwedel, Friedman) and five southpaws (Dumoulin, Pettersson, Matheson, Riikola, Joseph).

“It’s going to create a real healthy competitive environment where there is going to be an internal push for players to be at their best,” Sullivan said. “And as a coaching staff we’re going to try to put our best six guys in the lineup on each given night.”

During Wednesday’s practice, Sullivan stuck with pairings he deployed during most of Tuesday’s game: Letang-Pettersson, Matheson-Marino and Friedman-Ceci. The latter had Friedman playing his “off” side, though, and Dumoulin rotated into that third group along with Riikola.

Sullivan complimented the Letang-Dumoulin duo Wednesday, providing further indication it will be reunited once Dumoulin is cleared.

A wild card is Friedman. Considered a good skater who plays with an edge, Friedman said he had a good relationship with Penguins general manager Ron Hextell from Hextall’s days in Philadelphia.

Friedman hadn’t played defense in an NHL game in five weeks (he played wing during the Feb. 21 outdoor game in Lake Tahoe) but had an assist, plus-2 rating and above-average puck-possession metrics over 24 shifts in his Penguins debut.

“I think I’m just a good two-way defenseman,” Friedman said Wednesday.

But good enough to make it into the lineup among the Penguins’ defense corps? That’s no easy task right now.

Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---