The Pittsburgh Penguins may have to focus on the blue line once again this summer.
Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ron Hextall was plenty busy last offseason. He prioritized re-signing the core with Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, and even Rickard Rakell.
Once he finished with those contracts, Hextall shifted his focus to restructuring the Penguins blue line. He traded away John Marino and Mike Matheson to bring in Jeff Petry, Jan Rutta, and Ty Smith.
To say it hasn't worked out would be an understatement. Last season, the Penguins finished sixth in the NHL in expected goals against per 60 minutes (2.33). With Hextall's newly structured blue line, the Penguins sit at 23rd in that same category this season (2.75).
Now it seems that Hextall may be looking to erase some of his mistakes from a few months ago. According to Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now, Hextall has made Jeff Petry available ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline on March 3rd.
Petry was the primary addition for Hextall's reimagined defense, as Hextall hoped that adding another high-level right-shot defenseman would take some minutes and pressure off franchise defenseman Kris Letang's shoulders. Petry has shown mixed results through the season but hasn't reached the level the Penguins hoped to see.
With Petry on the proverbial trade block and Brian Dumoulin's contract up at the end of the season, the Penguins defense could be looking at another restructuring this summer.
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