Penguins A to Z: When (or where) will Juuso Riikola play next?

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.

Juuso Riikola

Position: Defenseman

Shoots: Left

Age: 27

Height: 6-foot

Weight: 189 pounds

2020-21 NHL statistics: Two games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists)

Contract: First year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $1.15 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2022.

Acquired: Free agent signing, May 18, 2018

2020-21 season: Always mindful of having plenty of depth at all positions, former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford signed Juuso Riikola, then a pending restricted free agent, to a two-year contract extension on Sept. 5.

While the Penguins were facing an offseason with limited salary cap space and several other pressing needs in terms of other pending restricted free agents, the reasoning to devoting such a contract to a player as sporadically deployed as Riikola was sound.

Considering how often the Penguins have seen their blue line be decimated by injuries over the years, having depth at the position was important. Plus, given that the 2020-21 season would be played under the extraordinary circumstances of a pandemic and the Penguins, as well as all NHL teams, would deal with the possibility of multiple players being sidelined for covid-19 related concerns, it would be shrewd to have as many NHL-caliber players available at all positions.

Those concerns were manifested fairly early into the Penguins’ campaign.

By the third game of the season, the Penguins saw defenseman Mike Matheson, an offseason addition, leave the lineup due to an undisclosed injury. And with Cody Ceci, a fellow newcomer on the blue line, scratched as he adjusted to his surroundings, Riikola entered the lineup. In a 4-3 home win against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 17, Riikola was held without a point as he logged 14:31 of ice time on 19 shifts, including an ample 3:22 on the power play. His most notable play of the game, and arguably his season, was a breakout pass out of his zone that eventually led to a goal by Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson.

Two days later, Riikola’s season came to an end for all intents and purposes.

During the second period of a 5-4 overtime home win against the Capitals on Jan. 19, Riikola suffered an undisclosed injury and didn’t record another minute for the rest of 2020-21.

The timing couldn’t have been worse for Riikola. In addition to Riikola, Matheson and Pettersson, fellow defensemen Brian Dumoulin, Kris Letang, John Marino and even waiver acquisition Mark Friedman would miss games due to various maladies over the next handful of weeks.

Due to salary cap considerations, Riikola was placed on long-term injured reserve and remained there until March 9. By that point, the Penguins’ blue line was stricken with an outbreak of good health. Between March 18 and May 1, Ceci, Dumoulin, Letang, Marino, Matheson and Pettersson all dressed for 23 consecutive games.

On April 10, the Penguins placed Riikola on waivers with the intent of placing him on the taxi squad. After he cleared, he was moved to the taxi squad on April 11 and that freed the Penguins of $1.125 million of his salary cap hit. That transaction helped the Penguins acquire forward Jeff Carter via trade on April 12.

In the playoffs, Riikola was a healthy scratch for all six of the Penguins’ games during their first-round loss to the New York Islanders.

The future: It’s safe to assume Riikola will not be protected in Wednesday’s expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken and it’s safer to assume the Kraken will not select a player who has played all of 75 games in three seasons as NHLer.

Riikola seems to have a lot of the assets necessary to be a steady bottom-pairing defenseman in the NHL. He’s a solid skater, tends to make the safe play, offers a little bit of physicality and offers a fairly heavy point shot that creates problems for goaltenders.

The only thing he doesn’t seem to have is the trust of the coaching staff. At this stage, Riikola appears to have fallen behind Friedman, a right-handed shot, on the team’s depth chart of left-side defensemen. And with the emergence of prospect P.O Joseph, another southpaw, Riikola appears to be running out of chances with the Penguins, if he hasn’t done so already.

When you consider Riikola has a seven-figure price tag and the Penguins are tight against a flat salary cap, it might benefit all parties concerned if the Penguins find a way to move him off the roster.

Such a maneuver would free up salary cap space for the Penguins and provide Riikola a chance to play that he isn’t likely to get in Pittsburgh.

Follow the Penguins all season long.