When P.O Joseph was first acquired by the Penguins in July 2019, the main knock people had on his game was his strength.
At the time, he was listed at 6-2, and around 165 pounds.
Since then, though, he's steadily added more size and strength. In the offseason leading up to training camp before his rookie 2019-20 season, Joseph began working with his brother Mathieu Joseph's trainer in Tampa, and added 10 pounds that summer, listed at 175 pounds by the start of training camp.
After his rookie season, then-head coach Mike Vellucci spoke about the strength Joseph continued to add throughout the season, even though it wasn't necessarily reflected on the scale.
"We did midseason testing and his leg strength showed tremendous growth, more than anybody else," Vellucci told me. "That, to me, proves that it didn’t matter that he was the same weight as he started, because he got stronger.”
Joseph added more size last summer, and was listed at 185 pounds for the start of training camp in December.
Joseph made his NHL debut in January during the string of injuries to Penguins defensemen. He appeared in 16 NHL games, at times playing on the top pairing alongside Kris Letang. Once the Penguins' blue line got healthier, though, Joseph returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the AHL.
Joseph continued to get stronger over the course of the season, and in those final 23 games in Wilkes-Barre, the impact it had on his game was evident.
Joseph's physical game started to improve, and was having more hard, heavy, sometimes open-ice hits.
The AHL doesn't publicly track hits as a stat, so it's hard to say it Joseph started hitting more or if his hits were just more memorable because they had more of an impact.
After a game in April, I asked head coach J.D. Forrest if increasing physical play was something the coaching staff had spoken with Joseph about, and Forrest said that they hadn't. But he had a theory as to why it's becoming much more noticeable now.
"Hey, he's had some tremendous hits where he's been able to line guys up and do it in a clean way, be a presence there if guys are coming through with their head down," Forrest told me. "It's something we've seen a little bit of, it's not something that we're asking him to go out of his way to do. Maybe just a little more confidence allows you to step up in those situations. He's a stronger player than he was a year ago, so maybe some of those spots we're just noticing it more now because he's able to finish a little stronger than previously. We definitely like his battle level and intensity level in these games."
That added strength was noticeable in Joseph's shot, too. Joseph only had one goal (and 12 assists) in those 23 games in Wilkes-Barre, but the shots he was taking (including the one on a power play that led to his one goal) were heavy:
"It comes with the strength that he's added," Forrest told me when I asked about Joseph's shot. "It's something that we've talked about with him. He puts the work in on it, and his shot has improved over the last year for sure. That was a similar goal to the one that he scored up in Pittsburgh, he has that corner picked a little bit I guess. If he can continue to improve on that, it just makes him more of a dangerous player, especially on the power play."
Joseph was a regular defensemen on the Penguins' penalty kill, which was one of the high points of the team's season with a 82.1 percent success rate.
Joseph also took penalties at a higher rate than any other time in his professional career with 28 minutes, with just under a third of those minutes coming from roughing calls from getting involved in the physical side of the game:
"His game keeps evolving," Forrest said of Joseph's year during his appearance on our 66 to 87 podcast after the season ended. "He's getting smarter. He's already a smart hockey player, but he's understanding more of what works for him consistently and where he's going to use his speed and energy to make the most out of it. His decision-making has improved, it's more consistent. He's got a little tenacity to his game that I thought he brought also on a more consistent basis. When he plays like that, he's really tough. He can defend hard. He's not the thickest guy, the heaviest guy, but he's wiry. Sometimes he'll get two or three whacks before the big guy gets one. That part of his game continues to improve, you almost expect it now from him, that extra bite. ... You just gain that experience, you gain that confidence, and you take an extra step."
After Joseph added around 10 pounds in each of the past two offseasons, it would be fair to expect him to come into training camp in September even stronger. That should help prepare him for more regular NHL time next season.