The Pittsburgh Penguins have swapped defenders on injured reserve, activating Marcus Pettersson (lower-body) and shelving Kris Letang (lower-body), per a team announcement. Pettersson suffered his injury from an awkward hit into the boards during Pittsburgh’s Dec. 14 loss to the Ottawa Senators. He’s since missed the Penguins’ last six games. Where Letang was injured is less clear. He was a late scratch for Sunday’s game against the New York Islanders and has been designated as day-to-day, per Hailey Hunter of SportsNet Pittsburgh. The Penguins will have the ability to make Letang’s IR placement retroactive to Dec. 29, making him eligible to return as soon as Jan. 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Pens swap two of their most-used defenders with this move. Letang leads the team’s skaters in ice time, averaging 23:24 through 34 games this season. Despite that, he’s been unusually unproductive, with 16 points marking his lowest scoring pace since 2009-10. Pettersson is working to catch Letang in scoring, with 13 points in 32 games while averaging 21:47 in ice time. His scoring pace puts him on track to just narrowly beat out his career-high of 30 points that he set last season. Pettersson also brings a healthy wave of defense back to the Penguins lineup, leading the Penguins defense in Corsi-For (52.93 percent) and ranked second in plus-minus (-4). That’ll be a welcome addition to a Penguins roster that’s averaged both 3.29 goals-for and goals-against in seven games without Pettersson, including the game he was injured in.
Pettersson’s return will bump Nathan Clurman out of the lineup. Clurman made his NHL debut on Monday, recording one penalty and no scoring in 11 minutes of ice time. Letang’s move to IR allows Pittsburgh to keep Clurman as their seventh defenseman, while Pettersson lines up to Pierre-Olivier Joseph on the second pair.
This article first appeared on Pro Hockey Rumors and was syndicated with permission.
