Less than six months after they let him walk away, it appears the Pittsburgh Penguins will be reuniting with an old friend.
On Wednesday, the Penguins acquired defenseman P.O Joseph from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for future considerations. In a corresponding move, defenseman Nathan Clurman was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate.
The move was made to shore up some defensive depth for the Penguins, who are shorthanded at the blue line.
Top-four left defenseman Marcus Pettersson is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury, and he was placed on injured reserve Tuesday. In addition, Jack St. Ivany and Sebastian Aho are currently nursing injuries at the AHL level.
“Just felt it was important to give our coaches another option and the team some depth before the Christmas roster freeze,” GM and POHO Kyle Dubas said.
And Joseph has more than enough experience with Pittsburgh.
Drafted 23rd overall by Arizona in 2017, was traded to Pittsburgh in the summer of 2019 as part of the deal that sent Phil Kessel to the Coyotes, and he spent his first four NHL seasons with the Penguins. Over 147 games in Pittsburgh, he put up eight goals and 37 points.
He signed a one-year, $950,000 deal with St. Louis over the summer, and he had the opportunity to play on the same team as his older brother, Mathieu, until the trade to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Joseph, 25, plays the left side, and he will be a good sixth or seventh option for the Penguins in the absence of Pettersson. He has two assists in 23 games this season.
“There’s a familiarity with P.O – the person and the player, with most of our coaches room and staff – that doesn’t exist with the others on the waiver wire today,” Dubas said. “So we felt this was the best course of action to bolster our depth with someone that won’t require a lot of lag time to get up to speed with our team.”
