The Pittsburgh Penguins pending trade of Ian Cole further brings into question about the Penguins defensive depth and the quality of defensemen they have on the backend.

The organizational depth is extremely thin as is and moving Cole without an impact defenseman coming back the other way puts the microscope even more on Matt Hunwick and Chad Ruhwedel who are truly more of No. 7 type NHL defensemen then No. 5 types they are regarded by the Penguins’ coaching staff.

While the Penguins are not locked into that they have to acquire a legitimate top-3 pairing back in any Cole deal, the team has been exploring deals for a defenseman separate from a Cole transaction.

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