The Pittsburgh Penguins going into the offseason in 2025, knew that their blue-line was an issue and that there was a need to upgrade it. And general manager Kyle Dubas did just that, as he brought in veteran defenseman Parker Wotherspoon from the Boston Bruins on a 2-year 1-million-dollar AAV deal.
And that deal that Wotherspoon signed, seems to be an absolute steal for Dubas because Wotherspoon does absolutely everything for his team. He blocks shots, he plays stout defense, he even chips in a little bit on the offensive side of things. He does it all.
The Penguins have been extremely lucky to open the year to have Wotherspoon being stable on their back end for the low price they got him for.
The Wotherspoon-Karlsson pairing has been really good to start the year
The Penguins and most NHL teams were not expecting a defensive pairing of Parker Wotherspoon and Erik Karlsson to be a really good pairing together in the NHL. But that is usually the case whenever they are on the ice together.
They just work so well together, and they usually play against a lot of team's top lines and top players and are able to hold their own against them.
Wotherspoon and Karlsson are also big height wise and both can just block shots whenever they feel like it and throw their body around. They both also like to shoot the puck and create shooting lanes. Karlsson shoots the puck way more than Wotherspoon does, but they both have quite a shot.
This pairing just is really steady for the Penguins and have provided fans with some relief watching them take the ice together and do their thing. Head coach Dan Muse has not split them up yet and likely will not the whole season.