It's not the greatest of circumstances, but it's possible Ty Smith makes his way back on to the Pittsburgh Penguins roster.
PITTSBURGH - Despite Kris Letang scheduled to be out of the lineup for an indefinite amount of time, the Pittsburgh Penguins are still yet to remove him from the active roster.
If that move does come, however, the Penguins will have some roster and cap space to see what they have for blue line options.
So far, in the two games missed by Letang, it’s been a collective effort to fill in for his absence.
Jeff Petry’s time on ice jumped from about 21 minutes per game to over 26 in the last two; Marcus Pettersson, who had been sharing a line with Letang, hit his season high agains the Vegas Golden Knights with 25:38.
Not only are minutes going up for defensemen, but there could be a move or two to bring in reinforcements from the AHL.
Mark Friedman is coasting around with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and is likely to be the first call up, but there’s another name that people might be drawn to.
Without Letang, the Penguins miss out on an offensive punch from the blue line and Friedman isn’t exactly a scoring threat.
That’s were Ty Smith might get a look; the Penguins liked what they saw from Smith during the preseason and he has continued his stellar play in the AHL.
Through 19 games with the WBS Penguins, Smith has recorded four goals and six assists for 10 points.
Three of Smith’s four goals have come on the power play, a spot that the Penguins have struggled with recently.
If Letang is going to miss a lengthy amount of time, it’s likely Smith gets the call; the shot handedness doesn’t line up perfectly but the entire defensive lineup seems to be in flux.
Brian Dumoulin was moved from the third to the first defensive line when Letang was taken out of the lineup and Chad Ruhwedel is back on the bottom pair.
He may have been moved to the first line, but Dumoulin hasn't played like his old self; maybe he eats a healthy scratch to open the lineup spot for Smith.
There's a lot of moving pieces going into the Penguins defense right now and any sort of combonation can be successful.
Letang would have to be placed on long term injured reserve for the Penguins to have the space to do this, but it might be time for the Smith experiment.
Even if it’s just for a short stint to see what they have, it wouldn’t be a bad move giving Smith a real crack at the NHL roster.
The Penguins like what they have in Smith and will give him his fair shake at the NHL level eventually; the process may have just been expedited.
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