2024-25 Penguins’ Lineup Project: Extra defenseman

There’s plenty of NHL experience battling it out for the Penguins extra defense slot.

Newcomer Jack St. Ivany left quite an impression on Penguins fans in his short dress rehearsal with the club at the end of last season. He easily beats out the competition among our readers to grab the right spot on the Penguins third defensive pairing alongside Ryan Graves.

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 / Jack St. Ivany
Extra defender

Goalie 1
Goalie 2

With the three defensive pairings now complete, it’s time to select the extra defender who will remain on standby for when the inevitable injuries or struggles hit and a replacement is needed. The pool of choices to pick from isn’t very deep, but there are three guys with NHL experience waiting in the wings.

First up is the newly acquired Sebastian Aho who signed as a free agent this summer and figures to battle for a roster spot in training camp. Though he is not the Sebastian Aho who pops into your head when you first hear the name, he has built a career for himself as a solid defender who could make an impact on this Penguins team.

If it weren’t for a few names ahead of him on the depth chart already, it’s very likely Aho has a more solid hold on a roster spot at this point, but for now, he will enter training camp looking to prove himself along with the rest of the depth players.

Following Aho in the battle for a roster spot on the blue line are returning skaters John Ludvig and Ryan Shea. Both Ludvig and Shea joined the Penguins last season as waiver wire pickups and both saw playing time at the NHL level in 2023-24 with mixed results. Neither will blow your doors off with offensive production of shutdown ability, but both provide solid NHL depth.

Filip Kral is a player unknown to the Penguins, but not to Kyle Dubas. Dubas drafted Kral in Toronto, he was starting to run for an NHL roster spot before a one-year departure to Finland last season. Kral performed well there, and is returning to North America to gun for an NHL job.

With such a log jam on the blue line for the Penguins entering 2024-25, it’s going to be a dog fight in training camp to make the roster on opening night. Whoever doesn’t make the cut will face demotion to the AHL and the possibility of being grabbed on waivers by another team. This should be a very interesting camp battle to watch unfold.