Joseph’s steady journey to the NHL continues

There are a lot of similarities between the journey Brian Dumoulin took to the Penguins’ blue line and the trek P.O Joseph is undertaking.

Each defenseman was a fairly high draft pick with another organization.

Dumoulin was a second-rounder (No. 51 overall) with the Carolina Hurricanes, and Joseph was selected in the first round (No. 23 overall) by the Arizona Coyotes.

And both arrived via blockbuster trades that involved fan favorites who were vital to the Penguins winning a Stanley Cup title.

Dumoulin was part of the 2012 deal that jettisoned forward Jordan Staal to the Hurricanes. As for Joseph, he was acquired in 2019 in exchange for the Penguins dealing forward Phil Kessel to the Coyotes.

And they each spent a lot of time with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Dumoulin had to refine his game for three seasons in Northeast Pennsylvania before making a permanent move to the southwestern corner of the commonwealth and becoming a key component of two Stanley Cup championships.

“It took me almost three years to become a full-time regular,” Dumoulin said in October. “I was getting called up and sent down. Sometimes it was due to guys coming back from injuries who were already in the lineup.

“I just tried to get better regardless of where I was.”

And Joseph? He’s in the middle of his third season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and he has a very similar perspective.

“Whenever I’m here (with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), I’m trying to focus on what I can do to improve here and help the team win as much as I can,” Joseph said via video conference recently. “It’s going pretty good. There’s some areas of my game that I want to improve as well. But I think so far, it’s going pretty good.”

It’s been more than good for Joseph as of late.

Over his past seven games, he has five goals and two assists. For the season, he has played in 35 AHL games and is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s third-leading scorer with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists). His eight goals are tied for the most among AHL defensemen.

Two of his scores have been game-winners and have helped Wilkes-Barre/Scranton enjoy a recent 5-2-1-0 surge.

During a 4-3 home victory against the Bridgeport Islanders on Feb. 4, Joseph scored the winning goal by using gifted skating. Gliding from center point of the offensive zone to the right circle, Joseph took a pass from forward Sam Poulin and swiped in a one-timer for the score.

“He saw that hole and hit it,” Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach J.D. Forrest said. “He’s got the speed to hop in there quick. He doesn’t need a whole lot of strides to beat someone to that puck. That was a good read and a nice play. A big goal.”

Added the 22-year-old Joseph: “It’s always a good feeling to help the team win as much as you can. I didn’t (think) that I had a solid game. Helping at the end kind of made me a little bit happy. It was an unbelievable play by (Poulin). The one-handed pass like that, you don’t see that often.

“It was a good pass, and I just liked to finish it.”

It remains to be seen when Joseph will finish his apprenticeship with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He is in the final year of a three-year entry-level contract and is scheduled to become a restricted free agent this offseason.

A left-handed shot in an organization with a surplus of southpaws on the blue line, Joseph has played in only four NHL games this season after playing in 16 during the 2020-21 campaign.

With the Penguins facing some daunting free agent questions this offseason, they could create salary cap space by jettisoning one of their reliable veteran left-handed defenseman such as Mike Matheson or Marcus Petterson — or even Dumoulin — and turning to Joseph, who presumably would be working under a cheaper contract.

For the time being, Joseph is embracing the benefits he can still gather by being with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

“Just being here with the team here, it helps me in a different way,” Joseph said. “I feel like kind of an older guy here, even though I’m really young. It’s good to be able to help the younger guys and the guys just coming into the (AHL). At the same time, I can improve as well. The big word is ‘consistency’ this year.

“Whenever I have the chance to go up, I’ll just be ready.”

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