Jarry, Sheahan starting to make positive impact
GM eyes patience with new, young backup goaltender
OTTAWA — It looks as if Tristan Jarry will be around a while. At the same time, the Penguins’ lack of depth scoring — outside of these past two games — has general manager Jim Rutherford’s attention.
Speaking to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by phone from Montreal after the NHL’s November GMs meetings, Rutherford discussed what he has seen from Riley Sheahan since the trade that brought him to Pittsburgh and what the future looks like for that spot.
Bottom line, Rutherford has been pleased with Sheahan, but this recent run will have to continue if Rutherford’s going to resist making another move to juice more scoring out of his bottom-six.
“In order to be real successful, and get to where we want to get to at the end, we have to have three lines that are going to contribute offensively,” Rutherford said “It’s not just [Sheahan]. There are a couple of other guys who are sitting there with not very many goals — one or two or none — that we have to get a little more production out of.”
To be fair, a bottom-six breakthrough might be close.
Players on the Penguins third line, which has been centered by Sheahan, have scored four goals in the past two games — although one did come when Conor Sheary was with Sidney Crosby in overtime, and another was Sheahan’s emptynet goal.
Rutherford is hoping this mini-trend continues, especially from bottom-six wingers Carl Hagelin (one goal), Tom Kuhnhackl (no goals) and Ryan Reaves (one goal), plus fourth-line center Greg McKegg (two goals).
“We have the guys who can do it,” Rutherford said. “They just have to actually do it. “That’s something that we’ll be watching.”
As for Sheahan, pretty much every aspect of his game aside from finishing has beengood, Rutherford said.
“He’s played well,” Rutherford said. “He hasn’t had the production that maybe we’d like for a guy in the third-line role, but it’s there. He’s done it before. I think from a two-way point of view, his penalty-killing and some of the intangibles, he’s played very well. He got on the board [Thursday] night with the empty-net goal, which is a start.”
As for Jarry, Rutherford said he’s had “two good starts,” acknowledging the second night of back-tobacks, on the road, with the travel, isn’t easy for any goaltender.
“We got a point in each game,” Rutherford said. “He made some good stops. In the first game he was fundamentally very sound. He played in a tough building in Nashville and helped get a point for us.”
Jarry is just 22 years old and has three NHL starts on his resume. That means there will be ups and downs, Rutherford said, and the Penguins are prepared to live with them.
“He’s a young guy,” Rutherford said. “He’s in his first year in the league. He’s in a tough position. I think we should be prepared to live with his ups and downs. As long as we do that, and we see him continue to develop, I think once we get to later on in the season, as long as we play the way we’re capable, we’ll be comfortable with our goaltender.”
A few other topics Rutherford touched on:
• Patric Hornqvist will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. While Rutherford would never rule out signing one of the team’s most popular players, he doesn’t expect anything to occur in-season.
“That would be something that’s a little uncharacteristic for me,” Rutherford said. “For the most part, I wait until the end of the season.”
Hornqvist re-signing with the Penguins is hardly out of the question, but if nothing gets done in-season, it certainly seems reasonable for Hornqvist to want to go to July 1 and see how much he can make via free agency.
Given his credentials — two Stanley Cup titles, consistent goal-scoring and a fiery personality — he won’t lack for suitors.
• Rutherford remains thrilled with what Reaves has brought to the Penguins.
“I don’t see as much of the nonsense that I’ve seen over the last year with our players,” Rutherford said. “He’s a good team guy. He brings a lot to the room. And he’s a good player in his role. He does some good things out there. He’s brought exactly what we’d hoped he would.”
• A “Hockey Night in Canada” segment last weekend hinted that Rutherford might be shopping for leadership to replace guys such as Chris Kunitz and Matt Cullen. Rutherford said Friday he hasn’t seriously looked at addressing any sort of leadership void.
“We have a great leader,” Rutherford said. “Our captain [Sidney Crosby] is a great leader. As long as you’re on a team with leadership like Sid’s, that’s going to fall into place.
“We clearly have some guys who can do it, but I haven’t looked at it that close at this point.”
• Lastly, Rutherford said that, after a slow start, Zach Aston-Reese has improved dramatically of late. The issue involved Aston-Reese’s wisdom teeth.
“He started slow,” Rutherford said when asked about Aston-Reese’s development. “He had problems with his wisdom teeth. We got that taken care of. Once he started to feel better, he’s played extremely well over the last little while. He’s coming along very nicely.”