Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph appears to be ready for the NHL, one way or another
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With the naked eye, it’s difficult to identify any discernible differences with P.O Joseph in his fourth training camp as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.
With one exception.
He’s in the main dressing room with all the team’s established NHLers.
In years past, the left-handed defenseman typically was assigned to one of the auxiliary dressing rooms at PPG Paints Arena or the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
It’s a small luxury Joseph appreciates but is careful not to invest too much weight into.
“It’s nice,” Joseph said. “Looking at all the guys and all the names on the wall also, just being here is fun. It doesn’t matter which room I’m in. I’m still in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ camp. That’s all that matters. It’s what happens on the ice that counts.”
One of the team’s top prospects, Joseph likely will be on NHL ice this upcoming season one way or another.
A restricted free agent this past offseason, Joseph re-signed with the Penguins in July, agreeing to a one-year, one-way contract. And given his service time as a professional, he is no longer exempt from waivers should management want to send him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Presumably, there would be no shortage of teams interested in a former first-round pick (No. 23 overall in 2017) who established career-best numbers at the AHL level last season with 33 points (10 goals, 23 assists) in 61 games.
Joseph is fully aware of his status with regard to waivers but hasn’t given it much thought as to how it might affect his immediate future.
“I’m just trying to go day by day,” the effervescent 23-year-old said. “How can I improve here? How can I show them that I’m ready to be in the lineup? I’m not trying to look so far ahead of me. I’m just happy to be where I am in the present. The future is going to come eventually. I’m just looking at the present.”
At the present, Joseph is one of nine NHL-caliber defensemen the Penguins have in camp. Specifically on the port side of the blue line, Brian Dumoulin and Marcus Pettersson figure to be the top two southpaws on the depth chart. That leaves Mark Friedman, a right-hander who might be better on the left side, and Ty Smith, a newcomer who is still exempt from waivers, to battle it out with Joseph.
“There’s always going to be battling,” Joseph said. “We’re trying to get the best team, as always. It’s the NHL. They’re going to try to get whatever the guys they want and the people that want to be here the most. It’s fun to see all the guys battling with each other and trying to (claim) a spot in the lineup.”
Joseph, who appeared in four NHL games as an injury replacement last season, suggested he wasn’t worthy of a spot in the lineup following the 2021 training camp.
“I don’t think I deserved to be here last year after the camp that I had,” Joseph said. “It was about how I could bounce back and what I could do to improve. I think I did. The big thing last year was the consistency of my game, and I tried to improve that as much as possible, (watching) videos and getting pushed by everyone in the room. I was still learning, also. I feel like I’m still young, and there’s lots of things that I need to learn, that I’ve got to learn. And I want to learn.”
Management professes to be satisfied with what Joseph learned last season.
“P.O got better last year,” general manager Ron Hextall said. “He has spent enough time in the (AHL) now where it’s time to come up and show us what you can do at this level. But he’s certainly got the skill level. He’s a great skater. He had a pretty good year last year (with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton). The consistency part for any young player I think is what can help him the most.”
Acquired in a 2019 trade that sent popular forward Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes, Joseph had high expectations placed on him to make a quicker impact with the Penguins.
But as Dumoulin, one of the team’s leaders, pointed out last October, proper development can require ample patience for players of any caliber.
“It took me almost three years to become a full-time regular,” Dumoulin said. “I was getting called up and sent down. Sometimes it was due to guys coming back from injuries who were already in the lineup.
“I just tried to get better regardless of where I was.”
That perspective resonates with Joseph.
“You don’t want to rush into something that you’re not ready in life, in general,” Joseph said. “Especially in hockey. The NHL level is hard. It’s a long season. It’s a long career that you want to have. I want to be here for the next 10, 15, 20 years if I can. You look at guys like (Dumoulin), he’s made his mark in the league. He’s a guy that I can look at. I feel like he’s a great mentor. Looking at him down in the AHL, he had to learn stuff from older guys.
“Patience is key.”