Penguins forward Colin White hopes to make most of top-6 opportunity

If the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season was a movie, Colin White’s role over the first half would be as an extra.

But with the Penguins having passed the midway point, White has earned a promotion to the main cast.

Over the last two days of practice, White, who joined the Penguins during the preseason on a professional tryout contract, has factored in as the right wing on Evgeni Malkin’s second line along with Drew O’Connor.

Not bad for the 26-year-old White, who has spent the majority of this season with the Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he contributed five goals and five assists in 21 games.

“It’s a great opportunity,” White said. “You can’t think too much of it. I’ve just got to play my same game, and good things will come from that.”

White got the NHL call Jan. 13 and has played in three games for the Penguins, averaging 9 minutes, 15 seconds.

In a bottom-six role, primarily as one of Lars Eller’s wingers on the third line, White has yet to record a point.

But coach Mike Sullivan sees something in White’s game that he believes will translate to a larger role next to one of the club’s franchise players.

“He can play center, he can play the wing (and) he has a defensive conscience,” Sullivan said. “He has an awareness away from the puck, and I think he can bring that to (Malkin’s) line.”

While things are always subject to change, White is primed to make his top-six debut Friday when the Penguins host the Florida Panthers at PPG Paints Arena.

White, selected No. 21 overall in the 2015 NHL Draft by Ottawa, played with the Panthers last season, helping the club advance to the Stanley Cup. In 68 games, he scored eight goals and added seven assists.

“I got really close with a lot of those guys last year, so it’ll be pretty fun to see them,” White said.

Despite the pedigree of being a former first-round draft pick, and with parts of seven NHL seasons under his belt over which he demonstrated a modest scoring touch, White found himself without a home at the conclusion of last season.

With nothing to lose and everything to gain from his preseason PTO, White ultimately impressed general manager Kyle Dubas enough to earn a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000, inked Oct. 7.

Since then, White battled through injuries, with his play eventually warranting a promotion to Pittsburgh.

Now, as he prepares to audition for an expanded role, he hopes to tap into talent that helped him score 14 goals with 27 assists with Ottawa in 2018-19.

“Even from the start of this year, going down to Wilkes brought me a lot of confidence, just trying to create chances and get more on the puck again,” White said. “I think that was big for me, just to get that confidence back. I was constantly trying to do that at (the NHL) level.”

Especially in the Penguins locker room, he is far from being considered a grizzled veteran with 295 NHL contests, but the experience he gained last season from reaching the Stanley Cup Final gives White interesting perspective.

For starters, the Panthers entered the playoffs with the least amount of points (92) among the 16 qualifying teams across the NHL.

But after sneaking into the postseason, Florida put its best hockey together at the perfect time, upsetting the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins and then the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes before the magic ran out in the Stanley Cup Final against Vegas, which won in five games.

With the Penguins (21-17-6) currently out of playoff position at 12th in the East, Florida’s path to the postseason from last year could offer a lesson, if not a blueprint.

“Last year, we didn’t get in (to the playoffs) until the last two games or something,” White said. “Throughout the season, anything can happen. It’s a long year. There’s ups and downs everywhere you go, and I think just constantly coming to the rink, trying to have a good attitude and work hard, good things come from that.”

The Penguins, losers of two straight, aim to get back in the win column Friday against White’s former club.

“They’re just a well-rounded team, a close group and they play a hard game,” White said. “You play a team like that, it’s tough. For us, I think it’s just playing simple and the right way — creating chances off turnovers … and limiting chances against.”

Notes: Sullivan said the statuses of injured forward Reilly Smith and defenseman John Ludvig remain the same. Ludvig, eligible to be activated off long-term injured reserve Saturday, skated before the Penguins’ practice Thursday in Cranberry. No return timetable has been laid out for Smith, who hasn’t played since Jan. 11. Ludvig’s last appearance was Dec. 31. Both players have been sidelined with undisclosed ailments.

• The Penguins announced a trade with the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, exchanging defenseman Will Butcher for forward Maxim Cajkovic. Cajkovic, 23, was a third-round (No. 89) pick in 2019 by Tampa Bay and carries a salary cap hit of $925,000 through the end of 2023-24. The Bratislava, Slovakia, native has split this season between the ECHL and AHL, recording a combined 13 goals and eight assists in 25 games. He has yet to make his NHL debut.

Butcher, 29, joined the Penguins as a free agent last summer. In 275 career NHL games with New Jersey and Buffalo, he has scored 16 goals with 98 assists. He had appeared in 14 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, posting three goals and four assists.