Schultz’s return could come in next few days
Adding forwards Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann gave the Penguins a jump on their trade-deadline needs last week, netting a pair of versatile forwards whom they hope can give them a little more balance.
It looks like they’re soon going to add a key piece on the back end, too, as there’s a good chance Justin Schultz hits the road with the club and plays against Florida, Tampa Bay or Philadelphia in the next seven days.
Schultz, who ruled himself out for the home game Tuesday against Carolina, took contact for the first time in practice Monday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex and said he’s progressing nicely from the fractured left leg that has kept him out of games since Oct. 13.
“Feels good,” Schultz said. “It was a good step [Monday]. Everything felt fine. We’ll see how it feels [Tuesday] morning, but everything felt good out there for me.”
Although Schultz worked with Chad Ruhwedel — indicating he’s not yet among the top-six — coach Mike Sullivan did make sure to get Schultz some power-play reps later in practice.
When Schultz returns, it seems logical he would supplant Juuso Riikola on the right side of the No. 2 defense pairing with Olli Maatta, although Sullivan said the Penguins are still working through exactly how to construct their lineup whenever Schultz returns.
“We’ve talked about combinations,” Sullivan said. “We haven’t come up with a game plan yet. That’s certainly one that is a possibility. Olli and Schultzy have played together in the past. They’ve been a strong pair for us.”
The trade deadline is Feb. 25, and there’s a significant amount of moving and shaking in the Eastern Conference.
Adding a top-four defenseman who’s right-handed and excels on the power play would typically come at an exorbitant cost, one the Penguins almost assuredly can afford. But they’ll be lucky to welcome back a gamebreaker such as Schultz, who two years ago was tied for seventh league-wide in points by a defenseman (51). From 2016-18, Schultz led all NHL defensemen in plus/ minus (plus-49).
Schultz was injured Oct. 13 in Montreal, flew back to Pittsburgh that night and had surgery the next morning.
Sullivan stops practice
Roughly a third of the way through practice Monday, Sullivan stopped the Penguins mid-drill and ripped into his players for making too many sloppy passes.
Sullivan spoke with ... color, his frustration obvious.
“He wants us to practice how you play,” Brian Dumoulin said. “He wants things crisp. He thought we weren’t really playing that well, so he yelled.”
Explaining his side, Sullivan basically said the Penguins were making too many careless passes. He wanted to nip it in the bud.
Injury update
Evgeni Malkin (upperbody) and Zach Aston-Reese (left hand) skated on their own before practice. Sullivan did not rule Malkin out, but given he hasn’t participated in team activities since Wednesday’s win against Tampa Bay, the likelihood of him playing Tuesday is not very good.