PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired left defenseman Ryan Johnson from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for defensemen Caleb Jones and Daniel Laatsch, general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas announced Monday. Johnson, 25, is signed for two more years at $875,000 and now occupies one of Pittsburgh's NHL contract slots.
Johnson was selected 31st overall by Buffalo in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound blueliner has appeared in just six NHL games in the past two seasons and 47 games total in his career, with seven assists that all came during his rookie season in 2023-24. Aside from three games last season, he spent the year with the Rochester Americans of the AHL, recording five goals and 19 points with a minus-12 in 56 games, and he had no points in four games with Rochester this season.
Jones, 29, had appeared in four games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL this season with three assists, while Laatsch, 24, was previously assigned to the Florida Everblades of the ECHL, whose home opener is set for Oct. 17. The departures opened two NHL contract slots for Pittsburgh, which now has 47 of 50 slots full, according to PuckPedia, and eased a left-side logjam in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton that included the recently waived Ilya Solovyov, Jake Livanavage, Owen Pickering, Maleek McGowan and Jones, with Laatsch blocked from the AHL roster as a result.
As of now, Johnson is not part of Pittsburgh's NHL active roster and it is unclear where he will be assigned. Defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk was placed on injured reserve Monday and is not making the Penguins' four-game road trip that starts Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks, though the team has not ruled out van Riemsdyk joining for the back part of the trip.
The IR designation leaves the NHL club with just six active defensemen. Pittsburgh has only 21 players on its active roster, with one slot expected to be occupied by forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who currently has non-roster status but was a full participant in practice Monday. The move fits Dubas' well-known approach of targeting players who could benefit from a change of scenery.