Penguins place Pierre-Olivier Joseph on injured reserve

The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph on injured reserve.

It’s unclear what caused Joseph’s upper-body injury, but he had left Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins, and then missed Sunday’s 6-5 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs with the injury. The Penguins will not get any cap relief from this move, but it does open up a roster spot for them to call someone up to the team if need be.

Joseph did get into a bit of trouble before sustaining the injury in Saturday’s loss, as he had crushed Bruins captain Brad Marchand into the boards early in the game, causing Marchand to leave with an injury as well.

Joseph has struggled offensively this season, with just 3 assists in 57 games. Originally a Penguin for four seasons, Joseph had started the season with the St. Louis Blues after Pittsburgh let him walk to free agency in the summer and the Blues offered him a contract. However, he was traded back to the Penguins in December for future considerations, and has been with the team ever since.

With Joseph out, Ryan Graves was inserted back into the lineup, playing on the bottom pair with Vincent Desharnais. Graves has just 1 assist in 44 games this season.

Along with that, Ryan Shea replaced Joseph in the top four on his pair alongside Kris Letang. Shea has 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points in 27 games this season.

The Penguins currently sit in last place in the Metropolitan Division with a 24-29-10 record, and are eight points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh will look to snap a stretch of five losses in six games since returning from the break when they visit the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST.