Nate Clurman makes NHL debut as star Penguins defenseman deals with injury

The Pittsburgh Penguins were without star defenseman Kris Letang when they took the ice for warmups on Sunday. He was announced as out with a lower-body injury right before puck-drop, paving the way for rookie Nate Clurman to make his NHL debut. Clurman received his third call-up of the season on Friday. His prior two both ended in Clurman being sent down the very next day without any ice time – both trends he’s bucked on this recall.

Pittsburgh provided no additional details on Letang’s injury. He becomes yet another impactful Penguins defender to go down with an injury, joining Marcus Pettersson (undisclosed) and Owen Pickering (concussion) who are both on injured reserve. Letang missed three games earlier this season due to an illness but has otherwise held strong to his role as Pittsburgh’s top defender. He leads the team’s skaters in average ice time with 23:24, though that number is still far from the near-25 minutes of ice time that Letang has rivaled in every season since 2011-12. That dip in utilization matches Letang’s dip in productivity. He currently has just 16 points in 34 games, his lowest scoring pace since 2009-10. Both Erik Karlsson (25) and Matt Grzelcyk (18) rank higher than Letang in scoring.

With their star veteran out, Pittsburgh turns towards an effective, two-way AHL defenseman. Clurman has recorded five points, 10 penalty minutes, and a +6 in 18 games this season. He’s already tied his scoring totals from 37 games last year. Clurman was originally a sixth-round draft pick to the Colorado Avalanche in 2016 and turned pro in 2020-21. He bounced between the ECHL and AHL lineups for two years but found strong footing in the AHL by 2022-23 – when he totaled 15 points in 57 games. Clurman will now climb the next rung of the ladder, and get his first chance to prove he can fit at the NHL level too.