John Ludvig began training camp for the 2023-24 season in the warm sunny climate of South Florida.
After a successful season down in the American Hockey League for the Charlotte Checkers, in which he played 54 games for the team and chipped in 17 points from the blue line, Ludvig was gearing up to try and make an NHL squad for the first time in his young career.
Coming off his entry level contract, Ludvig had inked a two year extension with the team that drafted him in the third round back in 2019. That deal paid him $775K at the NHL level, and was a very low risk contract for any organization having him.
The 23 year old defenseman had three AHL seasons under his belt as he battled his way through training camp and pre-season cuts for the Panthers.
Florida, just coming off a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, was gearing up for a season in which they hoped to prove that their wild ride to the Finals was no fluke.
Ludvig survived the first two rounds of waiver designations, which included seven players being placed on waivers. Six of them cleared, with Grigori Denisenko being the only player plucked off the waiver wire by the Vegas Golden Knights.
Ludvig’s status with the Panthers may have seemed rather clear, but he too found himself on waivers. In their final round of cuts, Florida placed Ludvig, along with Casey Fitzgerald and Zac Dalpe, on waivers in hopes of assigning them to the AHL.
Instead, however, a new general manager by the name of Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh decided to snag himself the Czech defenseman.
Ludvig, preparing for a spot in the NHL in the warm sunny climate of southern Florida, was instead shipped up to Pittsburgh, where the temperature inside the arena filled with ice is often warmer than the temperature outside.
In a bit of a surprising move, Dubas opted to keep Ludvig on Pittsburgh’s active roster. Ludvig was listed on the team’s official roster to open the season, and was introduced during the team’s opening night ceremony.
Ludvig, a scrappy, physical defenseman, watched the early going of the season from the press box. With eight defenseman on the active roster for the Penguins, it was hard for Ludvig, who had 0 NHL games to his name, to break through.
However, as injuries started to come and head coach Mike Sullivan wanted to explore some new options, Ludvig got his first NHL game on October 24th, at home against the Dallas Stars.
Hoping to make an early impression, and show Penguins fans what his game is all about, Ludvig took a risk in his first game.
In the middle of the second period, with Dallas’ Radek Faksa charing through the neutral zone with the puck, Ludvig went for a massive open ice hit on Faksa. Unfortunately for Ludvig, he got the worst of that hit, and immediately fell to the ice.
He was knocked out, resulting in training staff and teammates rushing over to take a look at him. Ludvig stayed down on the ice for a considerable time while trainers tended to him. They were able to sit him up, then along with the assistance of teammates Marcus Pettersson and Noel Acciari, helped get him up to his feet.
Pettersson and Acciari helped guide him to the bench, where further medical personnel assisted him down the runaway for further examination.
He finished his first NHL contest with 10 shifts totaling 5:29 of ice time.
Despite the scary result, Ludvig’s willingness to make such a hit in his first NHL game was praised by Penguins fans. Pittsburgh has not had many hard hitting, gritty players in recent years, as the team has strayed away from that brand of hockey. With Ludvig in the fold, however, things would change.
“I know if I play that way a little bit on the edge, things like that are going to happen,” Ludvig later told the Trib. “I’m fine with that. It’s not going to change how I play.
The concussion placed Ludvig on Injured Reserve, which kept him out of the lineup for nearly a month. He was officially activated off IR on November 22nd, which coincided with his return to the Penguin lineup, at home against the New York Rangers.
What he told the Trib was no lie. In his return to the lineup, he stapled New York’s Kaapo Kakko along the boards.
He’s been in the lineup ever since, and has been making more and more of an impression ever since.
In his most recent game Tuesday night in Nashville vs the Predators, Ludvig had by far his best game yet. He once again leveled a huge hit, this time making Dante Fabbro his target.
Ludvig didn’t stop there, however. Despite just recently coming off a severe concussion, Ludvig showed no fear when he dropped the gloves with Nashville’s Michael McCarron.
Ludvig even started out fighting southpaw, getting a few jabs in at the veteran McCarron.
McCarron would connect with a good left, and the two would tumble from the ice, but there was lots to love in what Ludvig did.
He’s a player that has no fear on the ice. If any player suffered a severe concussion in their NHL debut, one might expect them to be a little afraid, or at least more cautious on the ice. Ludvig though, has not and will not change his game.
And it’s beautiful.
He is near the top of the team in hits per game. If Ludvig had played every game this season, he might be challenging Noel Acciari for the team lead with 44.
Something that flew under the radar last night, Ludvig earned his first NHL point last night as well. Ludvig got an assist on Bryan Rust’s third period goal, which tied the game at 2-2.
Controversially, the team lost 3-2 in overtime, after a blown interference penalty allowed Filip Forsberg to walk in and snipe an OT winner.
After the Predators game, Ludvig said he is feeling more and more confident out on the ice.
“My confidence is growing with each game here,” he told the media. “It’s obviously a fast game, so it gets a little easier every game.”
When asked about whether his past concussion history influences him now, Ludvig maintained that it won’t stop him from playing his game.
“I’ve had a few concussions now, but they don’t really faze me too much. [It’s] just something that happens when you play the way that I play.”
Ludvig also discussed the McCarron fight.
“Yeah I mean it was a good fight, I landed a few punches. He’s a big guy, so it’s kinda tough to get him down, but yeah it was fun.”
Ludvig has some decent size to him (6′ 1, 213 pounds), but he challenged a more heavyweight fighter in McCarron (6′ 6, 232 pounds).
He joked that it might have been smarter to fight someone a little more his size, but he knew that McCarron was willing to go, and so was he.
In a weird way, it may have been smart to fight McCarron anyways. The 28 year old Nashville forward is not known for his goal scoring, but he was on a roll Tuesday night, getting two pucks behind Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry. With the fight, McCarron was not a player the Penguins needed to worry about for at least five minutes.
Ludvig is exactly the type of player that the Penguins need on the back end. The team has some defenseman who can throw some hits, but Ludvig brings an overall more physical aspect of his game. It’s more engrained in his style of play than any other Pittsburgh defender.
Fans, no matter the team, love a guy who will throw big, highlight reel hits. Ludvig has several of those already, despite appearing in just 5 games so far.
Ludvig is not the type of player that Sullivan usually likes. He has not been a fan of overly physical players and styles of hockey, but Ludvig could force his way into staying in the lineup if he continues to play this well.
He’s not a liability defensively. It’s an early sample size, but on the third pairing with fellow rookie defender Ryan Shea, Ludvig has been fine defensively.
He is an electric young player to watch on a team that does not have many young players. In fact, at 23 years old, he is the youngest player on the active roster for Pittsburgh.
It will be fascinating to see how he progresses throughout the season. He really is a rarity on Sullivan’s Penguins, which hopefully will allow him to stand out and shine more and more.
(Featured photo via Getty Images)
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