The Penguins are staring at a thin market on the left side of their blue line, and the July 1 free-agent rush has already stripped the shelves bare.
If Pittsburgh wants to keep adding, the list is short enough to read in one breath: Logan Stanley, Ben Hutton, Carson Soucy and Matt Grzelczyk. That’s the pool of left-handed defensemen who were NHL regulars last season and are still available. Beyond that, the options get even shakier.
That scarcity matters because the Penguins have just two lefty defensemen who were NHL regulars last season if Declan Carlile is included, and Carlile is already in the fold on a two-year, $3 million contract. The other is Sam Girard. Ryan Graves is still under contract for three more seasons, but he spent much of last season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and the message from assistant general manager Jason Spezza on July 1 was hard to miss.
“Yeah, I think we’ve been very clear with Ryan on where he stands. He knows that things have to change.
He’s changing his approach this summer,” said Spezza on July 1. “He’s going to do everything possible to really get himself started on track.
And with a veteran player, you always make sure there’s competition and give them the ability to earn that place back. But I think Ryan knows where he stands, (he’s) been disappointed with how it’s gone so far.
It’s on him to kind of get away for the summer and put the work in and come back and make an impact.”
There’s also Caleb Jones, a name that has slipped through the cracks in a lot of recent roster talk. But his résumé is thin: he’s been an NHL regular for only one season in an eight-year career, and that came with the LA Kings in 2022-23. Jones also dealt with a fluky foot injury that sidelined him for months, then a shoulder injury that required surgery in April and came with a four-to-six-month recovery timeline.
So yes, the Penguins may look like they need to go shopping. The problem is that the store is nearly empty.
Stanley, 28, brings size - he’s 6-foot-7 - and a reputation for physical play and crease-clearing. He posted 84 hits in 76 games last season after Buffalo acquired him from Winnipeg, then let him walk into free agency. But the drawbacks are obvious: agility, speed and puck movement, all things Pittsburgh values.
Hutton, 33, has been a steady depth option in Vegas since 2021-22, the kind of defenseman who can be dressed without much fuss and without much flash. Former Vegas coach John Tortorella used him in only seven playoff games during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final.
At this point, Hutton is who he is. He’d be a cheap add, not a long-term answer, and not the kind of player who carries much trade value later.
Soucy, 31, might be the most sensible of the bunch. He’s a 6-foot-4, 211-pound defensive defenseman who has played for five teams in the last six years, and his game has been inconsistent.
Still, among the names left, he looks like the best one-year fit and better than what the Penguins currently have under contract. He could be a fit next to Harrison Brunicke or help form a dependable third pair with Trevor van Riemsdyk or Kaedan Korczak.
Grzelcyk, 32, is the one Penguins fans already got a look at last season. He spent a year in Pittsburgh in 2024-25, then did little to stand out in Chicago last season and may end up on a PTO in training camp. He’s more placeholder than solution.
That’s the market. Not much there, and not much that screams immediate fix.
Which brings the conversation back inside the organization. Owen Pickering, the 2022 first-round pick, could have a clearer path to the NHL if he keeps building on the strong second half of last season and his playoff play before he broke his foot.
Jones is another internal option worth watching. He’s 29, skates well and can move the puck, even if turnovers and a lack of physicality remain part of the package.
Paired with TVR or Korczak, he could make sense. He also beat Graves for a left-side job last fall, and Brunicke played well beside him.
And then there’s Graves himself. Maybe the summer resets him. Maybe it gives him the chance to answer a challenge that has beaten him since he signed his six-year free-agent deal on July 1, 2023.
But Spezza’s comments made one thing clear: the Penguins are not treating the left-right balance as the driving force here, and one of the righties - likely van Riemsdyk - appears to be the preferred option.
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