How Ron Hextall Ruined the Penguins Defense and How Kyle Dubas Can Fix It

PITTSBURGH - Penguins fans went through ebbs and flow this past season as to what the reason was that the team was performing so poorly. Since the season ended, a lot has been made of the goaltending situation, and how unreliable Tristan Jarry is as a starter. In the second half of the regular season, the bottom-six forward group was a dartboard for criticism. Some people may forget since it feels like an eternity ago, but at the start of the season, the darts were pointed in the direction of the defensive core.

Last offseason, former General Manager Ron Hextall and former President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke decided to reshape their defensive group. It started on the first day of free agency when Jan Rutta was signed to a three-year contract worth $2.75 million annually. Fresh off of three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Finals with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Rutta cashed in with the Penguins with two rings on his hand. He was primarily a bottom-pair defenseman during those championship runs for the Lightning.

Rutta, left-handed, has played both on the left and right side on defense. Rutta would miss 26 games this season to injury and was very mediocre in the games he did play. He’s not particularly special at any one thing, but he’s a stable body who Mike Sullivan relied on to play the bottom pairing, as well as play on the penalty kill when healthy.

Just three days following Rutta’s signing, Hextall and Burke worked the phones and made two trades to further address their back end. First, they dealt young, right-handed defender John Marino to divisional rival the New Jersey Devils in exchange for their 2018 first-round pick defender Ty Smith and a 2023 third-round pick. Just moments later, they pulled the trigger on another deal, this time with the Montreal Canadiens. Pittsburgh sent left-handed d-man Michael Matheson and a 2023 fourth-round pick to Montreal for right-handed defender Jeff Petry and forward Ryan Poehling.

These deals made the defensive group older and overall worse. Marino had a poor season in 2021-22 with Pittsburgh but was on a great contract and had shown in previous seasons how talented he was at defending. He would go on to have a great season in New Jersey, helping them make the playoffs for the first time in five seasons. Ty Smith, an offensively-minded, left-handed defender, would only play nine games for Pittsburgh this season before being sent down to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Petry would have a run-of-the-mill season in Pittsburgh. Although, Matheson, when healthy, was much better for Montreal than Petry was for Pittsburgh. Petry is also six years older than Matheson, making about $1.5 million more than him. Believe it or not, Jeff Petry is the highest-paid defender on the Penguins roster now, not Kris Letang.

Especially during the latter half of the regular season, the Penguins lost a boatload of games to injuries. At one point, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Kris Letang were the only ones left out of the original top-six defensive group. Letang himself missed 18 games this season, following his second stroke, along with the passing of his father midseason. All things considered, the Penguins are lucky Letang only missed 18 games with all that he had to endure this past season.

When fully healthy, the defensive pairings were expected to be as follows.

Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry

Pierre-Olivier Joseph - Jan Rutta

Extra: Chad Ruhwedel

Following the moves, that was the group Hextall and Burke expected to have success with. They actually got some great performances this season out of some specific members of that group, all things considered.

Kris Letang had a great season. Defensively, he looked pretty sharp. He reassured a lot of people, including myself, that maybe that six-year contract he signed last offseason wouldn't be as bad as it seemed at the time of signing.

Marcus Pettersson had a breakout season for the Penguins. Defensively, he was their best player. Pettersson showed poise and defensive awareness on plays that he hadn’t shown in seasons past. This came just months after Hextall tried to send him, not Matheson, to Montreal in the Petry deal.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph showed promise in his first full season at the NHL level. He made some mistakes, but he had earned his keep in the Penguins' top six by the end of the season.

Brian Dumoulin had his worst season as an NHL player. For years, he was the defensive stalwart paired with Letang, freeing Letang to flourish offensively and take risks, jumping up into the offensive zone. With how badly Dumoulin played, specifically during the first half of the season, Letang had to limit himself offensively and babysit for Dumoulin. This falloff couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Dumoulin either, as he is officially a free agent on July 1, and likely will be taking a pay cut from his previous $4.1 million salary. I fully expected the Penguins to cut bait with him and allow him to walk elsewhere when he officially becomes available to all other 31 teams.

Panicked to make a move for the sake of it, Hextall would acquire Dmitry Kulikov from the Anaheim Ducks at the trade deadline. Kulikov would play just six games in a Penguins sweater before injuring himself and becoming a free agent as well.

From the looks of it, this defensive group was a bunch of wood planks stapled together and called a house. It seemed like there was no master plan when building it at all and it was created out of a series of impulsive decisions.

For next season, the Penguins have six defenders under NHL contract: Petry, Letang, Pettersson, Rutta, Joseph, and Ruhwedel. The assumption is that Ruhwedel will once again serve as the team’s extra defenseman, filling in when injuries necessitate. There is still an opening on the left side. I’m also not convinced that Dubas won’t look to move off of one of Petry or Rutta this offseason either, but I’m not going to predict that they’ll be gone. For now, let’s take a look at some possible free-agent candidates to take over that spot on the left side.

LD Oliver Ekman-Larsson, 31

Oliver Ekman-Larsson was once upon a time a top-ten defenseman in the NHL. The former Coyotes captain was bought out by the Vancouver Canucks last week following his second year in British Columbia. The Canucks paid a king’s ransom in order to acquire him in the 2021 offseason, including sending Arizona the ninth overall pick in the draft, eventually turning into Dylan Guenther, the highly touted WHL forward.

Ekman-Larsson is just 31 years old, and in terms of career earnings, is already the 14th highest-paid defender in NHL history, according to Spotrac. It seems like he’s poised to accept a short-term contract, likely one year, for this coming season at a low salary. That way, he’ll be able to fit under the salary cap of a competitive team hoping to win the Stanley Cup, and rehabilitate his value, with the intention to cash in on a larger contract next offseason.

OEL’s micro-analytics in his defensive end don’t look great. If the Penguins are looking for a direct replacement for Dumoulin’s style, OEL isn’t the guy. But, if Sullivan and Dubas think Pettersson can take over Dumoulin’s role, and they want to reimagine the second/third pair, OEL could be that guy.

Historically, he’s been a very good offensive defenseman. He has scored 20 goals in a season twice, a feat unheard of for most defenders. He’s hit 40 points five times. However, his offensive numbers have gotten worse over the past few seasons. While he may be known for his offense, he’s always been willing and able to move bodies, a skill that the Penguins desperately need. He’s only failed to record 100 hits in a season in four of his thirteen NHL seasons. Through those thirteen years in the league, he’s played in just 25 playoff games. The teams he has played on have almost always performed poorly. OEL still has a lot of years left in his career, and in the right system, I think he could turn it around.

LD Ryan Graves, 28

As much as I love the idea of Graves on the Penguins, this signing is probably the hardest one for Dubas to do. Graves is a top-three free-agent defender this offseason, which says a lot about the crop of players available.

Drafted by the New York Rangers in 2013, it took some time and movement for Graves to really develop into an everyday NHL defenseman. Son of longtime Rangers forward Adam Graves, Ryan broke into the league during the 2018-19 season for the Colorado Avalanche. Due to the plethora of defenders in Denver, the Avs sent him to New Jersey during the 2021 offseason.

There, Graves was a very reliable second pairing d-man, often paired with former Penguin John Marino. At 6’5”, Graves would become the tallest player on this team, and fill in perfectly for the former tallest player, Brian Dumoulin. He’s not the most physical player considering his size but the rest of his play makes up for it.

Graves is as defensively sound as prime Dumoulin, with much better offensive awareness. Slotting him in on the first pair alongside Letang could be an option, allowing Pettersson to stay on the second pair with Petry.

As much as I would love to see Graves’ two-way play in Mike Sullivan’s system, I think Graves will have much richer offers elsewhere, and will likely chase the bag as an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career.

LD/RD Ian Cole, 34

Who doesn’t love a homecoming? Ian Cole spent parts of four seasons with the Penguins, winning two Stanley Cups. Since his departure during the 2017-18 season, Cole has bounced around the league a ton. He’s been a part of five organizations since he last wore the black and gold.

Most recently, he played for the Tampa Bay Lightning and was their third-most-played defender based on ice time. Cole was paired with Erik Cernak more often than not. The Cole/Cernak pairing was the go-to pair for Head Coach Jon Cooper when his team was starting in the defensive zone.

Despite his age, Cole is still a reliable defender. He has five seasons with over 100 hits, including each of the previous two seasons. He’ll be able to move bodies out of the crease, unlike many of the current Penguins players. He won’t put up many points but is a steady hand in his own zone. That alone makes him a logical, cheap, short-term fill-in for Dumoulin. He would likely make more sense on the third pair for the Penguins. So, I think this move only gets made if Dubas and Sullivan think Pettersson and Joseph took enough of a step to become the first and second-pair defenders full-time, respectively.

LD Carson Soucy, 28

Soucy falls into the Ryan Graves category but to a lesser extent. He was the Seattle Kraken's expansion draft pick from the Minnesota Wild and was drafted into the league in 2013. Soucy had only played 108 NHL games prior to being taken by the Kraken.

While in Seattle, Soucy solidified himself as a reliable NHL d-man. He was a part of their bottom pair, alongside Will Borgen and Justin Schultz, depending on the situation. Like Graves, Soucy is bound to financially benefit from the lack of great defensemen available in this free-agency class.

Soucy doesn’t provide a ton of offense on the stat sheet but is a reliable defender in transition. Soucy isn’t afraid to be physical and throw around his body, tallying 143 hits last season. Soucy is also massive, standing at 6’5”. When he throws his body, it’s going to hurt opposing players. Soucy is willing to throw off the gloves and fight too, receiving two fighting majors last season.

Based on his reliability for Head Coach Dave Hakstol and his ability to penalty kill, I expect that he has priced himself out of being an option for Pittsburgh, but he would definitely be a suitable Dumoulin replacement. He has never played the number of minutes that he would if he were put on the top pair alongside Kris Letang, so it would be interesting to see how Sullivan would go about deploying him. That being said, I think those two could complement each other very well in a pairing together.

LD/RD Calvin De Haan, 32

Calvin de Haan is a versatile defenseman that Kyle Dubas has been interested in for a long time. In a good defensive system, de Haan has proven he can thrive as a second/third-pair defender with penalty-kill duties.

Originally drafted by the New York Islanders, de Haan has moved a few times, returning to Carolina last season for his second stint with the Hurricanes. It’s well documented how well of a defensive system Rod Brind'Amour runs with his team, but de Haan’s success in those types of systems goes back even further.

de Haan spent five seasons apart of the Islanders' back end to start his career. While never being an offensive weapon, de Haan’s steady play aligned perfectly with the tight defensive system the Islanders played. He has played both sides on the back end, which is appealing to managers and coaches alike. de Haan put up over 100 hits in six of his eleven NHL seasons, so he can move bodies.

I expect de Haan to receive a low-salary contract this offseason, likely getting a one or two-year commitment from teams. He hasn’t held first-pair duties in quite some time, so this may be a better option if Dubas and Sullivan graduate Pettersson and Joseph up a line, and can throw de Haan on the bottom pair. de Haan on a bottom pair, like he was alongside Jalen Chatfield in Carolina last season, shows you have a deep defensive core you can trust.

As I mentioned, the defensive pairings are very much up in the air right now. Dubas could decide to deal with one or more of the defenders currently locked up to deals. He could even make the ridiculous decision to re-sign Dumoulin. Whoever he signs doesn’t automatically get slotted into a specific pairing either. I think a lot of what happens on the back end depends on how much the organization trusts Marcus Pettersson to replicate his performance from last year, as well as the expectation that PO Joseph will improve.

There’s even Ty Smith, who is a complete wild card in this situation. Do Sullivan and Dubas think he’s ready to take the next step and stay with the team in Pittsburgh all season long? Can he take that open spot on the left side? A lot of these questions will have some clarity as we move towards the draft next week, and the free agency window opening up shortly after that. Dubas will then have free rein to sign one or more of the previously mentioned names. It shall be a very interesting time in Pittsburgh over the next week or so.