Penguins place defenseman Marcus Pettersson on long-term injured reserve
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ ramshackle blue line lost another incumbent member of the group for the foreseeable future when defenseman Marcus Pettersson was placed on long-term injured reserve Monday.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan labeled him as being sidelined on a week-to-week basis.
The designation is retroactive to Saturday and, as such, Pettersson will not be eligible to return to the active roster until the regular season finale, a road game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 13.
In a corresponding transaction, defenseman Taylor Fedun was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) under emergency conditions.
Fedun’s presence is required to allow the Penguins to dress a traditional lineup of six defensemen. In addition to Pettersson, Dmitry Kulikov is also designated to long-term injured reserve while Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta remain sidelined due to undisclosed ailments.
Pettersson suffered an undisclosed injury during a 6-0 road loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday. Entering that contest on the team’s top defensive pairing, Pettersson has appeared in 67 games this season and has 24 points (one goal, 23 assists) while averaging 20:33 of ice time per contest.
Petry appeared to suffer a head injury during a 4-2 road loss to the Rangers on Thursday and missed Saturday’s game. According to Sullivan, Petry skated following a morning skate on Monday and is considered “day to day.”
Rutta has been hobbled since being struck on the left knee by a puck during a 6-4 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and is considered “week-to-week,” per Sullivan.
Kulikov has not played since a 3-2 home win against the Rangers on March 12.
Fedun, 34, has not played in the NHL since the so-called “bubble” playoffs in September 2020 during the pandemic. He was a member of the Dallas Stars squad that reached the Stanley Cup Final which was staged in a quarantined zone that included the Rogers Place arena in Edmonton, Alberta.
Serving as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s captain the past two campaigns, Fedun has appeared in 53 AHL games this season and has 10 points (three goals, seven assists).
Fedun was previously recalled to the NHL roster on Jan. 12 and spent eight days with the Penguins but did not get into a game.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defenseman Ty Smith, who played nine games for the NHL club in December and January, is currently sidelined due to facial bone fractures.
Notes:
• The Penguins are expected to start goaltender Tristan Jarry for Monday’s home game against the Ottawa Senators. In 38 games this season, Jarry has a 20-9-6 record, a 3.03 goals against average, a .907 save percentage and one shutout.
• The Penguins’ lines and pairs during Monday’s morning skate were:
59 Jake Guentzel – 87 Sidney Crosby – 67 Rickard Rakell
16 Jason Zucker – 71 Evgeni Malkin – 17 Bryan Rust
10 Drew O’Connor – 64 Mikael Granlund – 19 Alex Nylander
25 Ryan Poehling – 77 Jeff Carter – 15 Josh Archibald
73 P.O Joseph – 58 Kris Letang
8 Brian Dumoulin – 2 Chad Ruhwedel
52 Mark Friedman – 4 Taylor Fedun
• The top power-play unit included Crosby, Guentzel, Letang, Malkin and Rakell. The second unit involved Carter, Granlund, Joseph, Rust and Zucker.
• The Senators’ lines and pairings at Monday’s morning skate were:
7 Brady Tkachuk - 18 Tim Stützle - 19 Drake Batherson
12 Alex DeBrincat -17 Ridly Greig - 28 Claude Giroux
61 Derrick Brassard - 57 Shane Pinto - 77 Julien Gauthier
38 Patrick Brown - 27 Dylan Gambrell - 16 Austin Watson
85 Jake Sanderson - 2 Artem Zub
6 Jakob Chychrun - 23 Travis Hamonic
72 Thomas Chabot - 26 Erik Brannstrom
• Senators coach D.J. Smith declined to name a starting goaltender.
With incumbents Anton Forsberg and Cam Talbot each designated to injured reserve, the Senators’ options in net are rookie Mads Sogaard and journeyman Dylan Ferguson.
Sogaard has appeared in 12 games this season and has a 5-4-2 record, a 3.49 goals against average and an .881 save percentage.
The Senators recalled Ferguson from Belleville of the AHL on an emergency basis Sunday. In 11 AHL games this season, Ferguson has a 7-3-0 record, a 2.48 goals against average and a .916 save percentage.
His only NHL experience came in the form of one game with the Vegas Golden Knights during the 2017-18 season.
In an 8-2 road loss to the Edmonton Oilers Nov. 14, 2017, Ferguson logged 9:14 of mop-up duty and made one save on two shots.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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