Battle for spot on Penguins' blue line ongoing after loss to Sabres

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It's safe to say that the Penguins' first five spots on the blue line have been secured. They belong to Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson, Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta. 

The battle for that last spot is between Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman, P.O Joseph and Ty Smith.

All four were in the lineup for the Penguins' 3-1 loss to the Sabres, Saturday at KeyBank Center, the team's fourth exhibition. With every passing game, we learn a little more about what each could bring, but it still very much seems like a close four-way competition.

The two among that group that are more unknowns are Joseph and Smith. Joseph is entering his fourth season in the organization but has just 20 games at the NHL level. Smith is a third-year pro who has played exclusively in the NHL, but is new to the organization and is somewhat of a reclamation project after struggling in New Jersey last season.

Mike Sullivan has seen some pros and cons with both players so far through training camp.

"P.O has had some real good play and some not so good play," Sullivan observed. "I thought he struggled with the first period today, but I thought the second and third he really grabbed a hold of himself and played much better in the second and third. He just settled down into the game, took what the game gives him."

Sullivan called Joseph a "conscientious" player, and spoke of his admiration for Joseph trying to make a difference in the game. The problem, he said, is when Joseph tries to do too much and doesn't just "take what the game gives him." They want to see more consistency and fewer mistake from him.

When it comes to Smith, the Penguins really like what he can bring offensively. He had decent numbers last season with five goals and 15 assists in 66 games, and scored two goals and 21 assists in 48 games as a rookie. The Penguins have been using him as a power play quarterback in these preseason games, though he hasn't been able to produce the way they may have hoped in that role. Still, they've liked the qualities he's shown when it comes to his offensive game.

"I think it's really evident he's great along the offensive line," he said. "You know he scales the line on the power play or even five-on-five, he has the ability to distribute the puck. He's going to get the puck through, getting it down to the net to give our forwards the opportunity for next play. His deception on the offensive line, I think it's impressive. I think he's got good offensive instincts."

The negative with Smith is his defensive game. That was evident in this loss in Buffalo, when a weak attempt to strip Tage Thompson of the puck failed, leaving Thompson wide-open to take this laser of a shot that proved to be the game-winner:

"On the defensive side of the game, I think we've got an opportunity to help him grow there," Sullivan said. "That's an area where we know we can he can improve and I think he's determined to do that. We're trying to work at that aspect of his game with him. For me, the exciting aspect of his game is the offense."

Ruhwedel and Friedman are more known commodities. Ruhwedel, when in the lineup, probably isn't going to ever stand out much in a good or bad way. He's consistent and reliable. Friedman is ... Friedman. He's versatile and can comfortably play both sides of a defense pairing (heck, sometimes even forward), and has a bit more of an ability to contribute offensively than someone like Ruhwedel. He's also a little more chaotic, and plays the role of a pest better than most. 

Friedman said after this game that he thought his performance in the preseason games has been "pretty good so far."

"I've been showing my speed and my work ethic in the D zone, pulling the block shots and doing whatever it takes," he said.

That agitator role is going to be something that could set him apart from the others, though.

"I have to do what I've done to get to this point," he said when I asked what he needs to do to earn a spot in the lineup. "Being a pest out there and bringing something to the table that somebody doesn't. Just playing my game and bringing it every night."

The Penguins know both players well, but they are still very much evaluating them in these games.

"Performance, consistency, things of that nature," Sullivan said when asked what he's looking to see from Ruhwedel and Friedman. "How players perform matters. That's the world that we all live in. That's a message that we try to relay to our all of our players loud and clear. Everybody's got to take ownership for their own games and try to do what they can to help the Penguins have success. I think these guys are trying to do that."

Beyond strictly performance, there are a number of factors that are going to go into the decision of which defensemen make the final cut. A half-dozen of those include:

1. Smith is the only waivers-exempt player of that bunch. Do they take the risk-free option and send him down over someone like Joseph, who would have to pass through waivers first?

2. What is better for turning Smith's game around -- going down to Wilkes-Barre and playing big minutes? Or staying up in the NHL and working with Todd Reirden, even if it means he might not be in the lineup every night, and getting third-pairing minutes when he is in?

3. If it comes down to Smith or Joseph, who do the Penguins think has the higher ceiling?

4. Of the group, Joseph is the only one who doesn't have any comfort level on his off side. He started all of one game on the right in Wilkes-Barre. It happened last season, and he was moved back to the left before the game was over. Does that hurt his case?

5. Who will mesh better with Rutta, assuming he'll be on the third pairing?

6. A trade of a defenseman might be the best way to clear a roster spot and cap space. If they go that route, which player would be the most appealing trade piece?

The Penguins have 12 days and two more preseason games -- Monday in Detroit and Friday at home against the Sabres -- to figure out which of the nine capable defensemen will be sticking around for the regular season. Some difficult decisions lie ahead.

"I think it's healthy competition," Joseph said of this competition between the defensemen. "Everyone loves to compete and wants to be there. At the end of the day, we're all in the same organization and all want to have the Stanley Cup at the end of the year. It's going to take everyone."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Drake Caggiula scored the Penguins' lone goal late in the third period. A revenge game of sorts, given that he used to play here:

• This was defenseman Colin Swoyer's preseason debut, he played on the third defense pairing with Xavier Ouellet. He missed out on the split-squad games with Columbus after suffering a foot injury from a blocked shot in Day 1 of training camp, and told me he was "glad I didn't break it." He's feeling fine now. He did have to leave this game for a few minutes in the first period after colliding with Ouellet and taking most of the impact to his head. He was able to return and was sporting a big cut across his nose as a result.

"It was definitely a lot of emotions in the beginning," Swoyer told me of the experience. "I mean, it's not my first NHL game, but it's as close as you can get. So it was a lot of fun and I'm just glad I got to do it."

• Tristan Jarry played the full game in this one, Dustin Tokarski stayed on the bench as backup. Jarry stopped 32 of 34 shots faced, with the Sabres' third goal coming on an empty net when the Penguins had Jarry pulled for the extra attacker.

"I thought he played really well," Sullivan said of Jarry playing the full game. "We're trying to get our goaltenders ready. The first games they didn't play full games. Part of it is getting them full games. I've talked to Andy Chiodo about a game plan for both Tristan and Casey (DeSmith). In this instance we're trying to make sure we get them what they need to prepare them. This was just part of the process."

• I thought Kyle Olson was again very noticeable in this one. He's an AHL-contracted forward, and most of the AHL-contracted players were in the last round of cuts on Friday. There's a reason he's still here, and it's because of how well he fared in his first preseason game against the Blue Jackets. He's physical, he kills penalties, he does all the little things that Sullivan loves those kinds of bottom-six players to do. We saw the same kind of game from Olson in this one, when he skated with Jamie Devane and Corey Andonovski in a fourth-line role. I asked Sullivan for his impressions of Olson, and you can tell he thinks so highly of his game.

"I really liked Ollie's game," Sullivan told me. "I haven't been that familiar with it to this point, it's my first real opportunity to get to see him up close. I love his energy. I think he's a good penalty-killer, he makes good reads. He has the ability to play center and the wing. I think he skates well, he's physical, he brings that element to our overall team game. I think he's had a couple of really strong games for us. He's a guy that for me has really earned his way into the conversation."

• The Penguins went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play. 

• The top power play unit was Smith, Kasperi Kapanen, Drew O'Connor, Radim Zohorna, Valtteri Puustinen. The second unit was Joseph, Colin Swoyer, Filip Hallander, Nathan Legare, and Alex Nylander.

• The first penalty-killing unit was Friedman, Ruhwedel, Kapanen and O'Connor. The second unit rotated Joseph, Ouellet, Smith, Olson, Caggiula, Hallander and Ryan Poehling.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file

THE THREE STARS

As selected at KeyBank Center:

1. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Sabres G
2. Tage Thompson, Sabres RW
3. Victor Olofson, Sabres LW

THE INJURIES

• Forward Jeff Carter left last Saturday's training camp scrimmage early with an upper-body injury. Sullivan said Tuesday he was day-to-day. He's skating on his own.

• Forward Teddy Blueger left a training camp practice on Wednesday with an upper-body injury. It's not clear how he sustained it. He's day-to-day and not skating yet.

• Defenseman Owen Pickering suffered a wrist injury prior to rookie camp. He's skating with the team in a full-contact capacity.

• Defenseman Nolan Collins was injured in his OHL team's training camp prior to the start of rookie camp. He told me it is a shoulder injury. He's been practicing with the team since rookie camp in a non-contact jersey, and was still non-contact on Sunday morning.

• Defenseman Taylor Fedun is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

• Forward Jonathan Gruden is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Drake Caggiula - Ryan Poehling - Kasperi Kapanen
Drew O'Connor - Radim Zohorna - Valtteri Puustinen
Filip Hallander - Alex Nylander - Nathan Legare
Jamie Devane - Kyle Olson - Corey Andonovski

Ty Smith - Chad Ruhwedel
P.O Joseph - Mark Friedman
Xavier Ouellet - Colin Swoyer

And for Don Granato's Sabres:

Jack Quinn - Tage Thompson - Victor Olofsson
Peyton Krebs - Dylan Cozens - JJ Peterka
Anders Bjork - Matt Savoie - Vinnie Hinostroza
Brett Murray - Rasmus Asplund - Linus Weissbach

Owen Power - Henri Jokiharju
Jeremy Davies - Ilya Lyubushkin
Kale Clague - Chase Priskie

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins have a scheduled day off on Sunday. I'd anticipate another round of cuts tomorrow, because Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's training camp opened on Saturday and their camp is scheduled to expand to two practice groups on Monday, which seems to suggest that more players will arrive before then. Pittsburgh's next preseason game is 7:30 p.m. on Monday in Detroit, I'll be there for that one.

THE CONTENT

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