With the Pittsburgh Penguins entering the offseason after a brief return to the postseason, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 53 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until future seasons — with the organization.
Starting with veteran Noel Acciari and going on through to prospect Bill Zonnon, every player will be profiled in alphabetical order.
This series is scheduled to be published every day until June 24, two days before the start of the NHL Draft. In the event of a transaction, that schedule will be altered as necessary.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Puckpedia.)
Ryan Graves
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Age: 30
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 225 pounds
2025-26 NHL regular season statistics: 22 games, one point (one goal, zero assists, 15:18 of average ice time per contest
2025-26 AHL postseason statistics: 15 games, 10 points (three goals, seven assists)
Contract: In the fourth year of a six-year contract with a salary cap hit of $4.5 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2029
(This contract contains a 12-team no-trade list for the first three years. That list will be reduced to eight teams for the final three years.)
Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July 1, 2023
This season: After the first two seasons of his tenure with the Penguins were a struggle, Ryan Graves was genuinely optimistic entering his third campaign. The Penguins had a new coach in Dan Muse and Graves had a new set of eyes to evaluate him.
But little of what Graves showed at the NHL level in 2025-26 was appealing in anyone’s view.
After a clumsy showing in the preseason, Graves was waived Oct. 4. Once he cleared one day later, he was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Making the most out of a bad situation, Graves played well for the AHL Penguins. Primarily playing on the left side of the second pairing and on the top power-play unit, Graves totaled seven points (one goal, six assists) in 10 games and earned a recall to the NHL roster Nov. 4.
Gravy gives us life! pic.twitter.com/KAUuOtoIs6
— x – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 19, 2025
Four days later, he recorded his only point of the season at the NHL level when he scored the Penguins’ lone regulation goal in a 2-1 road shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 8.
GRAVES GOAL ‼️ pic.twitter.com/sfX2rclGqu
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) November 8, 2025
Graves settled into a pretty steady role throughout all of November and into mid-December, playing in 17 consecutive games, almost exclusively on the left side of the third pairing with Connor Clifton. Over that span, the Graves-Clifton pairing logged 149:52 of common five-on-five ice time and was on the ice for 148 shots attempts for and 121 shot attempts against, according to Natural Stat Trick.
When left-handed defenseman Brett Kulak arrived in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 12, Graves came out of the lineup. By Dec. 30, Graves was waived again. One day later, he cleared once again and was sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
After three games and two points (one goal, one assist) on the left side of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top pairing, Graves was recalled again on Jan. 13.
Following two games with the NHL club, Graves suffered an undisclosed injury and landed on injury reserve Jan. 22.
Healthy by Feb. 2, Graves was a healthy scratch for 11 consecutive games before being sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on March 12, this time for a conditioning assignment.
Back on the NHL roster by March 19, Graves dressed for a 5-1 home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 22 and was penalized early in the contest, incurring a tripping minor after Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers overwhelmed him with speed.
Nikolaj Ehlers draws a crucial early penalty from Ryan Graves early on to give the Hurricanes the man advantage
He did appear to be in some discomfort after going hard into the boards, though#CarolinaCulture#LetsGoPens#NHLpic.twitter.com/o3FmusLUXe— Queen of the Puck (@rbarkleyhockey) March 22, 2026
On the ensuing power-play opportunity, Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho opened the scoring only 47 seconds into regulation.
Graves would not get back onto the ice until mid-April for a pair of games late in the regular season when the Penguins largely scratched a number of their regulars as their postseason berth had been secured.
During the Penguins’ six-game first-round playoff series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, Graves was a healthy scratch for every contest.
The future: The Penguins’ experiment with Graves started off poorly in 2023-24 and has progressively gotten worse. At best, he was a bad fit for former coach Mike Sullivan and he just doesn’t fit at all under Muse.
As far as what this means for him in 2026-27, it might be more of the same for Graves. That’s to say he could very well spent a lot of time in Northeast Pennsylvania as Penguins management tries to trim as much of his salary cap hit off the books as possible.
(Per NHL rules, the Penguins can be relieved of $1.15 million of Graves’ salary cap hit if he is assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton under normal circumstances.)
It’s safe to assume there isn’t a trade market for Graves. And any team that might be convinced to take on the remainder of his salary would need to be enticed with some sort of high draft pick or salary retention (by the Penguins) to participate in any such transaction.
And a buyout just wouldn’t be practical, especially since the Penguins have plenty of salary cap space to operate with going into next season.
The Penguins and Ryan Graves, who turns 31 on Thursday, might just be stuck with each other for another season, at least. There aren’t many choices with him.