Penguins place defenseman Marcus Pettersson on LTIR

The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that defenseman Marcus Pettersson has been put on LTIR retroactive to March 18. 

Pettersson left in the third period of Saturdays 6-0 loss against the New York Rangers with what is being described as a lower body injury. He was shuttled back and forth from the bench to the dressing room a few times in that game but was eventually shutdown when it became out of reach.

The Penguin’s defense has been decimated by injuries in the past week. Right shot defensemen Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta are both already sidelined by ailments, and now Pettersson has joined them. The Penguins open the week against the Ottawa Senators Monday evening and will have to try and battle without half of their starting defense. They brought up Mark Friedman over the weekend and now have recalled Taylor Fedun, who skated with the team Monday morning at practice.

Fedun is the captain of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and last played in the NHL during the 2019-20 season when he had nine points for the Dallas Stars in 27 games. Fedun won’t offer the Penguins much offense, but he is a defensively sound and capable replacement for the Penguins short term. Fedun has 10 points in 53 games this season in the AHL.

It’s a tough break for Pettersson and the Penguins as he has really flourished this season in an expanded role. He has spent long stretches on the Penguins top defensive unit next to Kris Letang and has played some terrific hockey. 

Coming into Saturday’s loss, Pettersson had 11 points in his previous 10 games and was just a single point away from matching his career high. This is a far cry from a year ago when the Penguins tried to move on from Pettersson but couldn’t find any takers for the Swedish defenseman.

Pittsburgh currently sits seven points ahead of Ottawa for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with 13 games to play. The Penguins have been on a slide, having lost three games in a row. The Penguins have been an uneven team throughout the year, having gone on several lengthy winning and losing streaks. For now, they control their postseason fate, but with a surging Florida Panthers team sitting one point back, they could be prone to a letdown in what has been a disappointing season thus far.