Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Jack Johnson was put into the spotlight last week when it was noted that he was on the ice for all five goals against in the team's overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night.

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan defended the free agent signee after the win over the Oilers and general manager Jim Rutherford said over the weekend the team still has no plans to trade for a defenceman.

“I certainly don’t see us having to go get another defenseman with the group of guys we have,” Rutherford told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We have guys in Wilkes-Barre who can come in and play on top of who we have here.”

Rumours began to swirl that Rutherford could make a move to shore up his blueline when Justin Schultz was ruled out for four months due to a fractured leg. Rutherford, though, has said the team plans to replace the defenceman from within.

As for Johnson, who finished Tuesday's win over the Oilers as just a minus-1, Rutherford said he's happy with the 31-year-old's play.

“I would say overall Jack’s played well,” Rutherford said. “He’s doing what we expected him to do. He can play both sides. He can kill penalties. He can play on the power play, five-on-five, and he’s done all of those things. In my opinion, his game has been fine.”

Johnson joined the Penguins on a five-year, $16.25 million contract on July 1. He has one goal and one assist in nine games this season while posting a minus-3 rating.

“The reality is when you break down the involvement of those goals, he had no responsibility for any of those goals-against,” Sullivan said Thursday of Johnson’s performance against the Oilers. “He just happened to be on the ice for them. We try to look at the game a whole lot closer than the fact that guy is on the ice when a goal is scored because a lot can happen in a team game.”

The Penguins (6-1-2) will host the New York Islanders on Tuesday.