Pittsburgh Penguins Place Young Defenseman On Injured Reserve

The Pittsburgh Penguins hopes and dreams of a potential Stanley Cup run in 2024/25 have been crushed for quite some time, and now, they're turning their attention to the future.

Unfortunately, a very intriguing part of that future has now had some bad news confirmed, as the Penguins announced on social media that Pierre-Olivier Joseph has officially been placed on Injured Reserve.

After sustaining an upper-body injury on Saturday, he was quickly ruled out of the matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday evening, and now, he'll miss some more time as he heads to Injured Reserve, with Ryan Graves slotting back into the lineup in his place.

Joseph spent the first four years of his career as a Penguin before being signed in the off-season by the St. Louis Blues, and after quickly being traded back to the team, he has appeared in 24 games this season.

Unfortunately, he has mustered just one assist in that time to go along with a -15 differential, and while there's still time for him to find his best form at the NHL level, this is a far cry from the player we saw back in 2022/23 who posted 21 points in 75 games with the Penguins.

It's unclear exactly how long the talented 25-year old will be out, but with the Penguins season slipping away, there's not going to be many more opportunities for him when he gets healthy, with the team likely to give an update on his potential recovery and return time in the coming days.