Penguins place defenseman John Ludvig on long-term injured reserve, recall Ryan Shea

Less than 12 hours after their loss at home to the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed rookie defenseman John Ludvig on long-term injured reserve Wednesday morning.

In a related transaction, fellow defenseman Ryan Shea was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

The Penguins have recalled defenseman Ryan Shea from the @WBSPenguins.

Defenseman John Ludvig has been placed on injured reserve. pic.twitter.com/j2sRHwspnd

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 3, 2024

Ludvig was scratched Tuesday night because of an unspecified ailment, with coach Mike Sullivan describing him as “banged up.”

After Wednesday’s practice in Cranberry, Sullivan described it as an “upper-body” injury.

Ludvig will be unavailable for a minimum of 24 days and 10 games, making Jan. 27 at home against Montreal the earliest he would be eligible to return.

The 23-year-old was claimed off waivers from Florida in early October. During his NHL debut Oct. 24, he suffered a concussion against the Dallas Stars, which sidelined him for about a month.

But after being cleared to return, by the end of November, he’d become a fixture in the lineup, skating on the third defensive pairing and seeing an average of 11 minutes, 34 seconds per game.

Through 19 games, he has one assist, while offering arguably the most physical presence among the team’s defensemen.

Shea, a 6-foot-2 left-handed shot, has appeared in 22 games for the Penguins this year, recording no points while averaging 12:27 of ice time.

Like Ludvig, Shea, 26, has been deployed primarily on the third defensive pairing.

He most recently played with the Penguins on Dec. 8 and, since then, has been placed on (and cleared) waivers in addition to being part of a handful of paper transactions between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Shea was present for the Penguins’ Wednesday morning practice.

Notes:

• Defenseman P.O Joseph returned to the Penguins lineup Tuesday night after a six-game absence, which was a combination of being a healthy scratch as well as battling back from an illness. At practice Wednesday, he skated with Erik Karlsson, a pairing Sullivan had turned to mid-game against the Capitals for several shifts.

• Forward Jesse Puljujarvi continues to rehabilitate from surgery to both hips this past offseason. President of hockey operations Kyle Dubas brought the 25-year-old in on a professional tryout basis Dec. 10, but for nearly three weeks, he has been limited to off-ice workouts.

The 6-foot-4 Puljujarvi returned to the ice Dec. 29 and has practiced primarily in a reserve capacity.

Selected No. 4 overall by Edmonton in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Puljujarvi has played parts of six NHL seasons, chiefly with the Oilers but also 17 games with Carolina last year upon being dealt to the Hurricanes on Feb. 28.

Born in Sweden but raised in Finland, through 334 career games, Puljujarvi has scored 51 goals with 63 assists.

His best season came in 2021-22 with the Oilers, when he had 14 goals and 22 assists in 65 games, averaging a career-high 16:13 of nightly ice time.

“I think there’ll be more plans moving forward on how that’s going to evolve,” Sullivan said. “That’ll probably be a better question for (Dubas) at this point but … he is more involved, we are getting him on the ice with the group, so that’s certainly encouraging from his overall rehab standpoint.”