Dubas Explains Penguins’ Joseph Trade; Full Analysis

Days after P.O Joseph took part in local events, expecting to be a Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman for much longer, he was no longer a Penguins defenseman. The Penguins did not qualify Joseph by the June 30 deadline, making him an unrestricted free agent the following day, and he signed a one-year deal with the St. Louis Blues.

Fast forward to Wednesday, and the Penguins blue line is currently missing injured left-handed D-man Marcus Pettersson, who suffered a lower-body injury last Saturday and is out week-to-week.

So, Wednesday night, a day before the NHL roster freeze, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas re-acquired Joseph via trade with St. Louis.

Dubas answered questions submitted via email by the beat outlets that cover the Penguins, including Pittsburgh Hockey Now.

Q1: Other than Marcus Pettersson’s injury, what prompted this transaction?

Dubas: It was a confluence of a number of things. First, injuries to our defensive position and depth at large (Marcus, Jack St. Ivany, Sebastian Aho). Second is the impending departure of Mac Hollowell for Team Canada for the Spengler Cup. Third, losing John Ludvig on waivers in the fall. Fourth, the holiday roster freeze (Thursday) night. We just didn’t feel we were putting our group in a good enough position to perform or develop, in some cases, and needed to shore up our depth there. There’s a familiarity with P.O – the person and the player –with most of our coaches and staff that doesn’t exist with the others on the waiver wire today, so we felt this was the best course of action to bolster our depth with someone that won’t require a lot of lag time to get up to speed with our team.

Q2:  What happened in the summer that led to Joseph’s departure?

We offered P.O a contract, but it became one of those situations where he had arbitration rights, and by qualifying him, it would have put us at the mercy of various other cases signed by the comparison group over the summer, so we elected not to qualify him. Early in free agency, we moved to sign Ryan Shea, Sebastian Aho, and P.O eventually signed with St. Louis. It happens pretty frequently with players in P.O’s situation that have arbitration rights.

Q3: Where do you see Joseph fitting in when Marcus returns?

We will let that play out over the next few weeks and see how everyone performs during that time, both in Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre. We just felt it was important to give our coaches other options and the team some depth before the Christmas roster freeze.

Penguins Trade Analysis

The Penguins don’t really have any NHL stock hiding in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Sebastian Aho remains out with injury, and the other options clearly didn’t excite Penguins coaches or Dubas.

Pettersson is not only out right now with an injury but is also a prime trade candidate this season. His trade value is significant, and his contract will expire after the season. Joseph is an unlikely replacement for Pettersson, but he does provide coach Mike Sullivan with options.

Further, Penguins’ left-side defensemen Ryan Graves and Matt Grzelcyk had solid games Tuesday in the win over the LA Kings. However, on the whole, they have not been good this season. Joseph is a little bit of insurance against both, and if Dubas also trades Grzelcyk (who is on a one-year deal), the Penguins will have an NHL-caliber defenseman to step in.

Charitably, Joseph had a rough go in the first half of last season. He lost his lineup spot and struggled to stay in the NHL, but he rebounded well in the second half of the season and began to look like his best version: a young, mobile defenseman with a touch of offense.

Kris Letang took Joseph under his wing, which only aided his second-half reclamation.

The trade cost the Penguins nothing, so it’s all benefit.