Versatile defenseman Erixon hopes to stay put with Penguins

DETROIT Tim Erixon has played 93 games in the NHL, so it’s clear he can contribute at this level.

He would just like a chance to do it in one place for more than a few weeks.

Erixon began the 2014-15 season with Columbus, but was traded to Chicago Dec. 14. Toronto claimed him off waivers March 1, then shipped him to the Penguins in the Phil Kessel deal July 1.

Erixon already had been with Calgary, which drafted him in the first round in 2009, and the New York Rangers, so he has spent much of his career packing his possessions and shipping them around North America.

“The last six months, this is my fourth team, so it’s been a little rocky,” Erixon said.

“I’m very much looking to kind of stay in one spot.”

With the first week of training camp complete, it remains unclear whether Erixon will be on the Penguins roster when they open the regular season Oct. 8 in Dallas against the Stars.

He is in a cluster of defensemen competing for a spot on the No. 3 pairing, or as the seventh defenseman.

“We have a group of people who are all in that same mix, who are battling for those jobs,” said assistant coach Gary Agnew, who oversees the defense.

Erixon did not play in the Penguins’ 6-1 preseason loss to Detroit Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena, but did participate in a morning practice in Cranberry.

That was three days after an unspecified injury forced him to leave the Penguins’ 1-0 shootout victory Monday at Columbus.

“Before he got pulled, he was moving the puck well, he was gapping up (against oncoming forwards) well,” Agnew said. “He was doing the things we had talked in our meetings about before the game, during the practices.”

In addition to his full-strength shifts, Erixon got more than two minutes each on the power play and the penalty-kill, evidence of his versatility.

Erixon said he has had injury issues the past few seasons, and suggested two days before the Blue Jackets game that he was 100 percent for the first time in a while.

“I had a really good summer,” he said. “I’ve been healthy for the first time in a few years.”

Changing teams and, thus, coaches and systems as often as Erixon has can cause some obvious problems, but he pointed out at least one positive aspect of moving around so much.

“I’ve had to learn to play different roles on every team,” he said. “I’ve kind of been all over the place.

“If there’s one good thing about all of this, I can kind of play in all situations. I’ve had to learn to adapt.”

Agnew praised Erixon as a quick study “He seems to be an intelligent player,” he said. “The things you tell him, he picks up readily” but echoed a criticism Erixon, who is 6 feet 2, 200 pounds, has faced throughout his career: That his game could use more of an edge.

If he shows one in his remaining appearances in the preseason, it should enhance Erixon’s chances of opening the season in the NHL.

His primary focus, though, figures to be on simply convincing the coaching staff that the fundamentals of his game are sound.

“You have to try to keep it simple, just play a good two-way game,” he said. “I think I can play in both ends. I just have to show them they can trust me.”

Enough that they keep him around for a while.

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