The Pittsburgh Penguins have had quite a few issues on defense over the past few seasons. Since the 2020-21 season, they have given up the 13th most goals in the league, allowing 1,175 goals in that span. To put into perspective how bad it has been, the Carolina Hurricanes had the fewest with 985 goals against. While it doesn’t seem like a huge difference, their defensive structure and play have taken a massive step backward. Yes, the blame goes to the goalies as well.
As we gear up for the 2025-26 season, general manager Kyle Dubas has added a few players to the Penguins’ defense. On June 28, he went out and acquired Connor Clifton from the Buffalo Sabres. Clifton adds some heavy hitting and grit to the blue line, but they needed a bit more. Dubas added a left-handed defenseman to the team, signing former Boston Bruin Parker Wotherspoon to a two-year, $2 million contract. We’ll take a look at his career and what he can bring to the Penguins.
The 2012 Western Hockey League (WHL) Prospects Draft saw Wotherspoon take the next step in his journey of making an NHL roster. The Tri-City Americans drafted him with the 21st pick in round one. He made his debut with the Americans at the end of the 2012-13 season, playing five games. As expected from a rookie, he did not make the biggest impact in such a short amount of time. He went pointless with a minus-4 and four penalty minutes. In the 2013-14 season, he skated in 62 games for the Americans, tallying 16 assists and 18 points. Wotherspoon continued to grow as a player over the remaining three seasons with Tri-City.
Wotherspoon managed to put up new career highs season after season with the Americans. From the 2014-15 season to the 2016-17 season, his points total climbed from 42 to 56 and 66. He improved in all areas of his game, even the offensive side of things. His hands got better the longer he stayed in juniors, and he was said to be a “high-end skater” with good acceleration to his stride, according to Future Considerations.
Wotherspoon had a long journey to fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing in the NHL. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders, he spent a significant portion of his career in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, now known as the Bridgeport Islanders. Though he saw some AHL action during the 2015-16 season, playing five games and notching one assist, it wasn’t until May 2, 2016, when he signed his three-year entry-level contract with the NHL Islanders.
Aged out of junior hockey, Wotherspoon spent time with the Sound Tigers/Islanders from the end of the 2016-17 season to the 2021-22 season. Over that time, he played 260 games, scoring 17 goals and 95 points. A couple of positives that came from those seasons were his offensive strengths showing, as well as his defensive game developing further.
During the 2022-23 season, Wotherspoon split time between the AHL and NHL. After starting the season in the AHL, Wotherspoon’s Christmas became special. On Dec. 23, 2022, he made his NHL debut against the Florida Panthers on Long Island. It wasn’t a minutes-heavy night for him as he took 20 shifts, recording 14:47 of ice time. He stayed on the main roster all the way through Jan. 23, 2023, where he played his final NHL game of the season against the Hurricanes. Though he had just one assist in the 12 games he played, he managed to finish with a plus-5.
Parker Wotherspoon has had some pretty fascinating underlyings in his time with the Bruins.
— Dan (@DM_8080) June 30, 2025
He's a UFA on July 1. Wonder where he ends up and if someone gives him a full shot on a bottom pair.
He's a great skater, fiesty, and makes a crisp first pass. #Bruins #Isles pic.twitter.com/P2lzJO2lYv
Over the next two seasons, Wotherspoon had a change of scenery. He split the 2023-24 season between the AHL and NHL again, this time with the Bruins’ organization. Through 19 games with the Providence Bruins, he played 19 games, collecting five points and an even plus/minus. Seeing what he could do, Boston entrusted him with high minutes throughout the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. He averaged 17:43 and 18:02 of ice time, respectively.
At 6-foot-1, he isn’t the largest body, which can be a positive or negative depending on how you want to look at it. His ability to be a strong two-way defenseman is certainly one of the positives fans can take from it. His strong skating allows him to get up and down the ice. Being a strong skater doesn’t mean he is the fastest, as he was below the 50th percentile in top skating speed on NHL Edge with a top speed of 21.20 miles per hour last season. Nonetheless, the power he generates from his legs allows him to catch up to the play if he is caught trying to pinch. Breaking the puck out won’t be a huge issue with Wotherspoon. He has solid hockey IQ and makes good first passes.
With Owen Pickering as another option for the final spot on the left side, it will be interesting to see how things play out. Both he and Wotherspoon will be competing hard to earn their place on the team. Should Pickering be the guy for Dubas and head coach Dan Muse, there won’t be any issue in burying Wotherspoon’s contract in the minors, making it a low-risk, high-reward scenario.
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