Marcus Pettersson has been terrific for the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins have gotten much more from Marcus Pettersson than they expected.

I am not going to lie, when the Pittsburgh Penguins traded Daniel Sprong to the Anaheim Ducks six weeks ago, I was initially underwhelmed with the return of defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Through 20 games, I could not have been more wrong in my assessment.

The Penguins coaching staff has sheltered Pettersson thus far, as his average ice time per game of 16:10 is second lowest amongst their seven healthy defensemen. Head coach Mike Sullivan is essentially asking Pettersson to carry a human anchor on his back by pairing him with the below-average Jack Johnson.

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Here is a look at where Pettersson ranks amongst the Penguins defense core at five-on-five. All of the data obtained is courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.

• Shot Attempts Per 60: 61.64, third
• Shots For Per 60: 33.97, third
• Goals For Per 60: 3.25, fourth
• Scoring Chances For Per 60: 30.31, third

Obviously, the early signs here are very encouraging, but it is important to note a few things. It has only been a 20 game sample size. Also, Penguins goalies are stopping nearly 96 percent of even-strength shots with Pettersson on the ice. That is not a sustainable rate and will eventually regress.

The most interesting piece of data regarding Pettersson’s play thus far is that the Penguins generate the most high- danger scoring chances (14.65) and allow the most high danger scoring chances (12.41) for every 60 minutes that Pettersson is on the ice at even-strength than any other defenseman on the roster.  Considering he is a positive Corsi and Fenwick player relative to his teammates, this is likely an example of Johnson having a negative impact on his defense partner.

The Penguins generate the majority of the even-strength shot attempts with three of their seven defensemen on the ice. Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin are the obvious answers. Marcus Pettersson is the other.

To put this into perspective, Pettersson’s partner, Jack Johnson, is at 46% in this category. Simply put, he has improved Johnson’s play and has played a major role in transforming the Penguins third defense pair from below-average to adequate.

Based on Pettersson’s recent 5 game point streak, the Penguins performance with him on the ice, and his ability to carry a pair, I would experiment with a second pairing of Pettersson and Justin Schultz when February rolls around.

Thanks for reading!