Young defensemen get shot at audition for future roles
The NHL trade deadline is March 1, a little more than six weeks away, and Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has a history of striking early.
Whether it’s simply bargain shopping or trying to give his team a boost, Rutherford has never been shy about making a move roughly a month out.
With the news the Penguins received Monday — that defenseman Kris Letang now is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury he suffered Saturday in Detroit — these next couple of weeks figure to be an important evaluation process.
More than that, though, they’re going to be crucial for the defensemen at the bottom of the Penguins’ depth chart trying to make an impression on management and, potentially, obtain regular work beyond this season.
To replace Letang, the Penguins called up Chad Ruhwedel from WilkesBarre/Scranton. He’s also a right-handed shot who plays the right side, and Ruhwedel has played well in limited NHL action — 1 goal, 2 points and a plus-3 rating in 5 games.
“I’m trying to keep it simple,” Ruhwedel said Monday. “We have to turn this [three-game losing streak entering Monday night] around, and I want to help be a part of that.”
How much Ruhwedel, Steve Oleksy or David Warsofsky are a part of anything figures to be an interesting balancing act. Rutherford added a boatload of defensemen this summer with the idea that this could happen. Now, it has. And the Penguins’ banged-up defense corps, which has watched its defensive metrics slip some this season before bottoming out with three road losses last week, might need an influx or energy or experience.
Or, of course, it might not. That’s the scenario Rutherford will be considering over the next couple of weeks while evaluating those three, in addition to the defensemen currently on his roster.
One of those is Brian Dumoulin, who skated on his own Monday. The Penguins announced Dec. 28 that Dumoulin would miss four to six weeks with a broken jaw, which puts him on track to return as early as Jan. 25.
Factoring in the absence of Dumoulin and Letang, the clock is ticking for those looking to prove they should stay.
Playing to his strengths
Another move the Penguins made Monday was to call up Jake Guentzel, the top scorer in the American Hockey League and one of their top two offensive prospects. Think scoring three even-strength goals in three games doesn’t force you to look for creative solutions?
Guentzel started Monday on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist, a situation that has hardly fazed the 22-year-old in the past. And credit to the Penguins, too, for not casting Guentzel in a role he’s ill-equipped to handle. It wasn’t terribly long ago when former coach Mike Johnston shoehorned Daniel Sprong onto the fourth line.
Guentzel has 21 goals in 33 games in the AHL. To make room, Sullivan put Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel back together and dropped Chris Kunitz, an effective checker but limited scorer with four goals in 36 games, to the fourth line.
“You just learn new things every day,” Guentzel said on how he has evolved as a player since he scored three goals in five games Nov. 21-30. “Obviously preparation is a great thing. You just have to learn to be ready every day.”
Around the boards
Steve Oleksy, Tom Kuhnhackl and Eric Fear were the Penguins scratches. … The Capitals were without defenseman John Carlson, who was hurt blocking a Letang shot last week. … Ruhwedel on catching the ugly version of the flu-like virus going around the Penguins dressing room: “I’ve never been that sick in my life before. It took a toll on me. … So dehydrated. I was in the hospital for a bit. Wasn’t fun.”