CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Olli Maatta could only laugh when asked how many different defense partners he’s worked with this season. Told the Penguins have used 10 blueliners, Maatta guessed -- you got it -- 10.
During Friday’s practice Maatta was paired with Justin Schultz, who had been routinely paired with Ian Cole. But with eight healthy defensemen, Sullivan has a surplus for the first time in over a month going into Saturday’s game against the Red Wings.
Cole seems likely to be a healthy scratch for the second straight game along with Chad Ruhwedel, who is healthy after missing the past six games with an upper body injury. Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin remained the top pair while Jamie Oleksiak was partnered with Matt Hunwick.
What factors go into who plays and who sits?
Mike Sullivan gave a familiar response.
“Just like every single position when we discuss lineups,” he said. “The way we frame the conversation with the coaching staff is which player gives us the best chance to win and then we drill down from there. We talk about line combinations, defense pairs, who’s playing well, what skillsets we need. That’s some of the things that go into it but, at the end of the day, that’s the question that we try to answer: Which guys are going to give us the best chance to win?”
Having too many healthy defensemen isn't a bad problem to have. It certainly beats the alternative. Last month Sullivan's team was without Schultz, Letang, Ruhwedel and Dumoulin due to assorted injuries.
"We’ve been through this before, long time now, last couple years," Maatta said. "We know it’s part of the game. It's unfortunate guys go down, but the next guy’s up. I think that’s what we’ve been good at up front, all positions really. We’ve had guys stepping up. Now, having everyone back is a huge boost for us."
It just doesn't matter much to Maatta who he is playing alongside. He's used to it at this point. He said the only tangible difference for him is being cognizant of how he receives the passes from either a right shot or left. With Schultz -- a righty -- he has great familiarity.
“We’ve been together for so long, we’re on the same page,” he said. “The new guys coming in, (Oleksiak) and (Hunwick), they're such good players. They’re real easy to play with. They talk a lot. It isn’t easy to step into a new system, but I think it’s easier to play with them because they talk a lot out there.”