Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson ready to take 'that next step'

Marcus Pettersson enjoyed something of a promotion Friday night.

During a 2-1 road win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center, Pettersson was deployed on the team’s top defensive pairing and manned the point on the top power-play unit. In all, he logged a team-high 24 minutes, 37 seconds of ice time on 23 shifts. He even wore an “A” on his chest while serving as an alternate captain.

Granted, Pettersson was one of the relatively few NHL regulars the Pittsburgh Penguins played in a lineup full of names most likely to open the season in the American Hockey League.

But Friday’s contest offered him a chance to show off his efforts over the summer to make some much-needed improvements in his game.

A few days after the Penguins’ season came to an end this past spring, Pettersson was highly critical of his play throughout the campaign and admitted he failed to reach a sufficient gradation in his development.

“I wanted to take that next step,” Pettersson said earlier this week when asked to expand on his self-critique in May. “I signed a (five-year deal in January of 2020), and I wanted to really elevate my game in all forms I think, offensively and defensively. This summer was a lot about just resetting a little bit and (working) hard. You’ve got to have pride in your work, the work you do in the offseason. You kind of feel like you’re really prepared and have that cushion knowing you did everything you could do to get better.”

Said coach Mike Sullivan: “He’s a high-character kid. He self-assesses extremely well. He might be harder on himself than any of the rest of us. That’s just an indication of the type of person that he is.”

In 47 games last season, Pettersson had nine points (two goals, seven assists), a slight drop in production from the 22 points (two goals, 20 assists) he posted in 69 games during the 2019-20 campaign.

More significantly, his ice time dropped. After establishing a career high with an average of 19:24 of ice time in 2019-20, he clocked only 16:29 per contest during the 2020-21 campaign.

“I want to play more,” Pettersson said. “To do that, you’ve got to be responsible on the ice and have the trust of the coach. With more minutes comes more responsibility, comes more points. One thing for me is getting a lot of pucks to the net and following up on the play.”

Pettersson seemed to be off to a good start offensively at the onset of the 2020-21 campaign. In the third game of the season, he sniped an impressive rising wrister from the high slot that tied the score, eventually given the Penguins a chance to claim a 4-3 shootout win against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 17.

Two nights later, during a 5-4 home overtime win against the Capitals, Pettersson suffered an undisclosed injury after a violent mid-ice check from Washington forward T.J. Oshie. The injury cost Pettersson nine games and disrupted his season in more ways than one.

“That was kind of the first time for me, getting hurt like that,” Pettersson said. “I was in a good spot with my game at that point. It was a learning curve for sure. I kind of didn’t go back to the level of play I had before I got hurt.”

This past offseason, the Penguins exposed Pettersson and his $4,025,175 salary cap hit in the expansion draft but the Seattle Kraken did not select him. Beyond that, there was rampant speculation that the Penguins would look for other ways to jettison Pettersson simply to free up some valuable salary cap space.

Pettersson wasn’t oblivious to that possibility. But he did not dwell on it.

“You have to know what’s going on and follow the process,” Pettersson said. “It was a time where you kind of try to take your mind off of it. I really wanted to stay here. Fortunately, I got to do that. I was just trying to take my mind off of it and do the work I could and have pride in that.”

At 25 years of age, Pettersson is hardly a finished product as an NHL-er. There is plenty of room for refinement.

“Marcus is a guy that has a lot of upside,” Sullivan said. “He has a lot of room for growth in his game. He’s still a young player. When we acquired him, he played so well for us. Now that he’s been here a little while, we’re trying to push him to another level and we think he’s capable of that.”

“It’s something that I want to do and I want to take pride in blocking shots and be responsible in that way. To emphasize (that) point, be everywhere on the ice. I want to be more responsible and have that trust from the coach.”

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