Penguins A to Z: Can Marcus Pettersson get back on track?

With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 48 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Marcus Pettersson

Position: Defenseman

Shoots: Left

Age: 25

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 177 pounds

2020-21 NHL statistics: 47 games, nine points (two goals, seven assists)

Contract: First year of a five-year contract with a salary cap hit of $4,025,175. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2025

(Note: According to Cap Friendly, Pettersson’s contract contains a modified no-trade clause that allows him to submit an eight-team no-trade list beginning with the 2023-24 season.)

Acquired: Trade, Dec. 3, 2018

2020-21 season: Pettersson’s season appeared to get off to a solid start. He opened the campaign on the second pairing with regular partner John Marino and even scored a pretty impressive game-tying goal by the third game of the season, a 4-3 comeback home shootout win against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 17.

But by the fourth game on Jan. 19, a 5-4 home overtime win against the Capitals, things went sideways for Pettersson when he appeared to suffer a left shoulder injury on a violent check by Capitals forward T.J. Oshie.

Pettersson was sidelined the next nine games — the first contests he missed since joining the Penguins in 2018 — and returned to the lineup by Feb. 16. From that point on, Pettersson was a mostly inert entity as he and Marino were eventually replaced as the second pairing by offseason acquisitions Cody Ceci and Mike Matheson.

In terms of deployment, Pettersson’s ice time dropped by nearly three minutes a game. In 2019-20, he averaged 19:24 of ice time per contest. During the 2020-21 campaign, that figure was at 16:29.

While never an overly prolific point producer, Pettersson’s offensive production took a dip from a career-best 0.32 points per game in 2019-20 to 0.19 in 2020-21.

The high point of his season in that regard came during a 7-3 road win against the Philadelphia Flyers when he collected a goal and an assist.

In the postseason, Pettersson appeared in six games and recorded one assist as the Penguins fell to the New York Islanders in the first round.

The future: Pettersson is one of the biggest question marks for the Penguins as it pertains to next week’s expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken franchise. Will Pettersson be one of the three defensemen the Penguins can protect? And if not, would a young defenseman who has yet to reach his ceiling and is under contract control for four more seasons be an enticing selection for the Kraken?

Just from the financial side of things, the Penguins probably wouldn’t mind freeing themselves of Pettersson’s cap hit and devote that money to other parts of their roster such as adding another goaltender, a forward with some toughness or a pending restricted free agent like forward Teddy Blueger. And were Pettersson to be selected, that would open an avenue for high-end prospect P.O Joseph to claim a regular spot in the NHL lineup.

If Pettersson does indeed remain a member of the Penguins, he could use something of a rebound after regressing a bit in 2020-21. While he wasn’t the only culprit, too often he was on the wrong end of one-on-one battles.

Former general manager Jim Rutherford once suggested Pettersson and Marino could be this team’s top pairing for a decade. Last season, they couldn’t even hang on to the second pairing gig.

For Pettersson specifically, a greater level of consistency would go a long way toward getting him back on track.

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