Expect More Marcus Pettersson on Penguins Penalty Kill

PITTSBUOne of the biggest points of contention for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2021-22 season was their failure to shut down opposing power plays.

Despite the Penguins penalty kill finishing third in the league during the regular season, it was nearly invisible in the playoffs.

With a defensive core that underwent some personnel changes, a few tweaks needed to be make to the penalty kill, as well.

One more noticeable change to the Penguins PK was the inclusion of Marcus Pettersson.

It’s a new role for Pettersson but head coach Mike Sullivan says this maneuver has been in the works for some time.

“We’ve talking about getting Marcus more involved on the penalty kill for a while,” Sullivan said. “We talked about it last year, as well.”

Sullivan went on to say that Pettersson should be able to succeed with his new role, noting that the skillset is there.

“He has all the skillsets to be good,” Sullivan said. “He’s mobile, he’s got long reach. He sees the game pretty well. We do think it’s an area he can help us.”

While Pettersson took a pair of penalties in the home opener against the Arizona Coyotes, he did pick up a few minutes on the kill.

A little before the regular season started, Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast that Pettersson is no longer on the trade block.

Rumors of a Pettersson trade have been swirling since he signed a five-year contract in early 2020.

With Friedman’s words and the positional move from Sullivan, it’s safe to assume Pettersson is here to stay for the long haul.