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Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Anyone could be forgiven if they thought that they had seen the last of defenseman Ryan Graves in the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup when he was dispatched to the American Hockey League.<\/p>\n
After all, he didn\u2019t make the NHL roster out of training camp, cleared waivers<\/a> and was assigned to Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton. And that was after he struggled during the first two seasons of a roundly criticized six-year contract with a $4.5 million salary cap hit.<\/p>\n Not to mention he is 30 on a club that is trying to blend a youth movement with some stalwart veterans.<\/p>\n A month later, though, Graves is back with the NHL club<\/a>, and he\u2019s making it work. More than just making it work.<\/p>\n In two games since he was recalled, Graves has partnered with Connor Clifton on the third pairing. He has seemed more than steady, and for good measure he had three shots and scored the Penguins\u2019 only goal Saturday in a 2-1 shootout loss at New Jersey<\/a>.<\/p>\n Graves got this latest chance because he zigged when he could have sagged. It wasn\u2019t easy finding himself in the AHL for the first time since 2018-19.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bitter pill,\u201d Graves said. \u201cYou never want to do it. But I got to work on my game down there in a way that I never could here. I wouldn\u2019t choose to do that, but you\u2019re in that situation. There\u2019s nothing you can do about it. So you have to make the best of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked for more specifics, Graves pointed to his elevated role in the AHL.<\/p>\n \u201cI was playing 25-plus minutes a night, playing on the first power play,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to do that here. I don\u2019t expect to. You\u2019ve got (Erik Karlsson) to do that. You\u2019ve got guys who are much better at that.\u201d<\/p>\n Graves\u2019 contract and his contributions \u2013 or lack thereof \u2013 hang heavy on Penguins president of hockey operations\/general manager Kyle Dubas.<\/p>\n On his weekly Game Plan interview on Sportsnet Pittsburgh, Dubas raved about Graves\u2019 time in Wilkes-Barre.<\/p>\n As in, really raved:<\/p>\n \u201cI think with veteran guys especially, (the way) they handle it, it\u2019s very binary \u2014 they either go down and they\u2019re not thrilled about it, but they get back to work, or they go down and they sulk and it goes sideways\u201d Dubas said.<\/p>\n Dubas said Graves \u2013 and veteran forward Danton Heinen, who took the same route and now also is back on the NHL squad \u2013 did the former.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019Gravy,\u2019 I\u2019m probably happier for him than anybody,\u201d Dubas said. \u201cObviously a long-time NHL player on a long contract. That\u2019s a tough thing to handle. To his credit, he\u2019s gone down and he\u2019s been awesome around the (locker) room and with the team in a leadership perspective, played massive minutes and really used the time there \u2026 to really build himself back up. Our key now is that we don\u2019t want to screw that up. Let\u2019s continue to build on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Dubas noted that one of the Penguins\u2019 promising young players, defenseman Owen Pickering, also started the season in WBS and initially got the nod over Graves for a callup, but it\u2019s now Pickering\u2019s turn to work on his game in the AHL.<\/p>\n Dubas also realizes that Graves has been a polarizing figure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a player there\u2019s been a lot of discussion about in his time here,\u201d Dubas said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t gone as anyone projected. But now is his chance to change the story, and he\u2019s done the work in Wilkes-Barre and made such a great impact there. It was fun, especially the last couple weeks, watching him. You couldn\u2019t help but be happy for the way that he was playing.\u201d<\/p>\n Graves led WBS with a plus-9 plus\/minus. Last season in 61 NHL games, he was a minus-15. He said he regained his confidence with the puck in WBS.<\/p>\n He\u2019s probably not going to start stacking up goals \u2013 he has 33 of them in 435 NHL games \u2013 but he\u2019ll take the fluky but important one he scored against the Devils, when his slapshot glance high off a New Jersey player and in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the prettiest goal in the world,\u201d Graves said. \u201cKind of a lucky bounce, but I\u2019ll definitely take those.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019ll also take the state of his game right now.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy with where I\u2019m at,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve done some really good things. Just trying to transition what I\u2019ve worked on to applying it to the role that I\u2019ll play here vs. the role that I play there. Steps in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan Kingerski spoke with Graves following the game Saturday and contributed to this story. Several quotes are exclusive to PHN<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: kyle dubas<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> ryan graves<\/a> Shelly Anderson<\/a> <\/p>\n