The Pittsburgh Penguins have added Paul DeFazio to their equipment staff as an assistant equipment manager, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

DeFazio, 40, will work on the equipment staff alongside head equipment manager Dana Heinze and assistant equipment managers Jon Taglianetti and Danny Kroll.

This will be DeFazio's second tour of duty in Pittsburgh, as he originally worked on the Penguins' equipment staff for 16 years between 1997-98 and 2012-13. DeFazio broke into the NHL with the Pens as an equipment assistant before spending the final 12 years of his first tenure as a full-time member of the staff.

DeFazio, a Peters Township native, won a Stanley Cup ring with the Penguins in 2009, and he was also on the staff when the team made a Cup Final appearance in 2008. His first stint in Pittsburgh saw him work with the top-four offensive threats in Pens' history - Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jaromir Jagr.

As head equipment manager in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, DeFazio outfitted many of the young players who played starring roles in the Penguins' back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and '17, including Matt Murray, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust. During both championship runs, DeFazio traveled to Pittsburgh and assisted with the Black Aces taxi squad.

Before joining the Penguins' equipment staff, DeFazio worked as a youth hockey instructor at the Iceoplex at Southpointe, which at the time was the official practice facility of the Pens.