Ryan Graves and Jack St. Ivany are looking to build on chemistry they have built in training camp

With the regular season less than a week away, the Penguins are beginning to shore up line combinations and defensive pairings. 

And there is a new defensive pairing that has seen significant time together in camp.

Ryan Graves and Jack St. Ivany have been working together for most of training camp, with a few exceptions here and there. Despite juggling his forward lines a bit, head coach Mike Sullivan has mostly tried to keep defensive pairings intact - such as Matt Grzelcyk and Kris Letang - and Graves and St. Ivany has been an example.

And the good news is that the pairing is beginning to find some chemistry.

"He's a great player who has tons of veteran experience and plays a lot of NHL games," St. Ivany said of Graves. "So, for me, it's a good opportunity to kind of dissect his brain and learn more of the ins and outs of the NHL game. It's great to be able to play with such a good player."

Graves and St. Ivany did share the ice for a very small two-game, 17-minute sample size last season. The sample size is much too small to make anything of it, but they did have an 89.5% expected goals share while on the ice together.

They have also looked comfortable and "natural" together in the preseason, which is something that could be huge, especially for Graves, who admitted that he struggled to learn the Penguins' system and find consistency for much of the 2023-24 season.

"I'm glad that it looks that way," Graves said. "Jack's a good player. You should be able to play with everybody, so I'm happy to play with whoever it is. You need to have three good pairs, so that's good to hear that it looks that way and that it feels natural on the ice. And it should feel natural however we shape up throughout the year."

A prominent storyline last season was Graves's inability to find consistency throughout. He mentioned that the transition from New Jersey's system - where he found himself prior to 2023-24 - was a large adjustment because the systems were pretty drastically different. 

"It was very different. Just everything in the 'd-zone' to breakouts, things like that," Graves said. "You play there for a long time, and it becomes your second-nature of where you look. So there was a transition period after that, and everything feels a lot more natural coming into this year, so that's a good thing."

He continued. "I was getting better as the year went along. I struggled early, and I was trying to find consistency. As a guy in my position, you want to be consistent, and I struggled to find that last year early, and that kind of wears on you. If the team's square out of a playoff spot, it's amplified, so I think my game was trending in the right direction as the year went along last year, and that's just a product of that."

For defensemen looking for consistency, having a consistent partner is something that typically helps. Once defenseman Erik Karlsson - who practiced with the team for the first time on Thursday - is back in the fold alongside, presumably, Marcus Pettersson, St. Ivany will likely bump back down with Graves.

And St. Ivany looks forward to the rest of training camp, as well as the regular season, to continue building chemisty with his presumed new defense partner.

"I think every time you practice or play a game with somebody, you start to learn more about them and their tendencies," St. Ivany said. "So training camp's a good time to play with some new guys but also develop that chemistry that you had last year."

Bookmark THN's Pittsburgh Penguins site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and more.