2024-25 Penguins’ Lineup Project: Third pairing, right defenseman

Who rounds out the lineup on defense for the Penguins next year? It’s in your hands with the other voters

he 2024-25 PensBurgh lineup project continues with a look at the third defense pairing.

For those who may not be up to speed, here is the latest lineup projection as voted by the PensBurgh readers.

Drew O’Connor - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Anthony Beauvillier - Kevin Hayes - Valtteri Puustinen
Blake Lizotte - Lars Eller - Noel Acciari
Jesse Puljujarvi

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson
Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang
Ryan Graves / RD3
Extra defender

Goalie 1
Goalie 2

We’re up to the right side of the third pair on the defense, which might be one of the more intriguing roster battles this fall in training camp. The good ol’ spot that Chad Ruhwedel held down for so long has finally opened up to someone new after Ruhwedel’s departure from the organization.

Jack St. Ivany took advantage of Ruhwedel’s trade and fit in pretty well in his first taste of NHL action down the stretch at the tail end of last season. Once the shine of being new and exciting wears off, St. Ivany, however, has limited offensive upside (just one point, an assist, in 14 NHL games and only four goals and 19 assists in a 153 game AHL career) that might limit his overall effectiveness to hold down an NHL job for long.

To start the season though, there are few candidates in the fold to compete with St. Ivany at this point.

Sebastian Aho stands out as one potential choice. He’s left-handed but played a significant amount of NHL games on his off-side with the Islanders and has 190 career NHL games under his belt.

Mac Hollowell, 25, deserves a mention and at least passing consideration. Hollowell scored 44 points (3G+41A) with Hartford of the AHL last season. Those 41 assists were good for second most among all defenders in the league last season (the 44 points ranked tied-7th). He only has six career NHL games to speak of, all coming with none other than the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2022-23 (where, of course, Kyle Dubas and Jason Spezza had a front row viewing). The knock on Hollowell is that at 5’9” and 170 pounds, his size might limit his effectiveness at the highest level.

After that, the other alternatives are....Well, not so sure Ryan Shea, John Ludvig or especially Owen Pickering on their off-hands are realistic alternatives. Aho is due to past experience to draw on. All of those players could be in the mix for the next vote, to win the depth spot as the seventh defender in a poll still to come.

So that’s about it, and this one is probably St. Ivany’s to win. For good reason, at 6’3” and 198 pounds, he looks the part and can move well for his size. His game has a little bite physically and his stick work defensively has drawn some attention. This spot is going to be St. Ivany’s to lose, at least in the early going of this season. Let’s see if he’ll get the nod in the community vote.