I didn’t have any fresh ideas for articles yesterday and was kind of on cruise control as far as our Penguins were concerned. After all, we were fresh off a big win over Vegas. What could possibly happen on a day off, right?
Then I happened to check NHL.com last night and was stunned by the headline, “Rust, Rakell and Ruhwedel sidelined for Penguins.”
Yikes.
It appears the ol’ injury bug decided to make a ‘PIT’ stop (poor pun intended).
To digress, our Pens have been fortunate if not downright blessed to be relatively injury free thus far. By comparison, the Lightning have been without all-world goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy since September. Tonight’s foe, the Rangers, have been missing all-star defenseman and puck-mover extraordinaire Adam Fox.
Given our collective age and the physically demanding nature of the sport, it was only a matter of time before our luck ran out or the law of averages caught up to us…take your pick.
Still, it doesn’t make the pill any less bitter or more palatable.
Highlighting a bevy of injury-induced roster moves, the Pens placed snakebitten winger Rickard Rakell on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Veteran defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, who’s excelled on the penalty-kill of late, has been placed on regular injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He’ll be out “week-to-week.”
As if we needed any more bad news, sparkplug Bryan Rust is dealing with a lower-body injury that forced an early exit from yesterday’s practice. He may miss tonight’s key Metro tilt with the Rangers. Fourth-liner Matt Nieto was given a maintenance day, one of several he’s received of late. Defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph is also out with an unspecified injury.
That’s a lot of horse-flesh to have locked in the stable.
On the plus side of the ledger, Vinnie Hinostroza appears to be rarin’ to go after sitting out against the Golden Knights. Feisty defenseman John Ludvig, eligible to come off LTIR, has formally been recalled. The Pens signed another blueliner, Dmitri Samorukov, to a one-year deal for a cap hit of $775 K. A left-hand shot, the 6’3” 188-pounder has tallied a goal and five points in 15 games with the Baby Pens. The stay-at-home defender has three games of NHL experience, one with the Oilers and two last season with the Blues.
In addition, the Pens recalled forwards Jansen Harkins and Alex Nylander from northeastern PA. Following a difficult start with the Pens, the former has hit his stride in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to the tune of four goals and nine points in 11 games. Nylander, who failed to stick with the big club following a tepid preseason, has been hot of late. He’s notched a team-best five goals for the Baby Pens along with eight points in 11 games.
Obviously, the situation is less than ideal, especially for a team that was beginning to jell following a rocky 3-6 start.
While hardly thrilled with the unfortunate shift in our fates, coach Mike Sullivan was pragmatic.
“Our expectation is that we have enough (players), we have enough to win games,” he said. “We have depth at all the positions. It’s going to provide opportunity for others to step up there.
“It’s part of the game, and we’ve got to figure out a way to navigate through it and find ways to have success.”
Which, IMHO, makes it doubly important that our guys pay attention to detail and play with structure, instead of getting lured into the track meets we tend to favor.
Nod to Ned?
To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any official word on who’s going to start in goal tonight. But if I had my druthers, it would be Alex Nedeljkovic. Fresh off a sterling 38-save shutout of Vegas, he’s really impressed me with his quickness, rebound control and coolness under fire.
He’s got a touch of swagger, too.
While starter Tristan Jarry has certainly had his moments (three shutouts), he’s been consistently inconsistent if that makes any sense. I just don’t feel as comfortable with him between the pipes as I do “Ned.”
The Other Rick
I’m one of those guys that wanted to see Rust traded. For several reasons – he’s prone to injury,
he’s on the small side and he’s 31 yrs old. I was hoping to maybe move him for some size and
youth. The NMC & NTC is never a big deal – If a player knows he’s not wanted or he doesn’t fit
into a teams long term plans if benefits the player to waive the clause and agree to be moved.
I like Rust but I don’t love him – he’s off to a good start but it’s a long season. Also, Rusty hasn’t
played an entire season in his career. I would much rather have a net front presence.
Rick
Ruhlwedel has been playing decent but I’m hoping this is Ludvig chance to replace him in the
lineup. As for Ned, I agree, I’m a lot more relaxed with him between the pipes.
Hey Mike,
My point about Rust and Rakell really is about viewing the injuries to Rust and Rakell as all that important. Losing either or even both of those players really isn’t on par with what many of the Metro Division or Atlantic Conference teams has suffered (Fox, Aho and Svechnikov, Hughes, Hirschier, and Meier, Ellis, Ristoleinen, and Hart, Vasilevskiy, Bennett, Montour and now Barkov).
Like you, I like Rust but don’t love him, particularly his contract, it is sheer lunacy. Rust is a very streaky player and is very much like Warren Young or Robbie Brown – a leech or lamprey benefitting from the pivot feeding him as well as feasting on the lack of competition this team has faced so far. Even when this team has faced good teams we have caught them at vulnerable times, (Los Angeles on the back end of a back-to-back, Vegas, not only on the back end of a back-to-back but game 4 in 6 nights)
You may have wanted him traded last year Mike, but in what you said, I am not seeing any panic in your reply as to thinking Rust’s injury is all that problematic. You acknowledge that Rusty is streaking and it is a long season and that you would prefer a better net front presence. Therefore, I don’t see you and I all that far apart on Rust as I have heard from many today.
Hey Rick,
If you recall Samorukov played in one of our Pens preseason games against CBJ, he registered a couple of shots in probably 12-14 minutes and was on the ice for a GF and was paired with Belliveau for most of that time.
Agreed, Ned needs to start not Jarry.
If the team needs to worry about Ruhwedel and POJ being injured, there are far more serious issues.
As for Rakell and Rust, this is funny – I had to laugh – last season everyone was whining “trade Rust”. This year Rust is tied for 2nd in Gs. Even when I reminded people that Rust had a full blown NMC, those fans complained.
Last season Rakell was the RW darling, everyone loved him. This season Rakell is the player in the cross hairs (probably from the same fans who wanted Rust out last season). Even when I tried to get people to understand that the 2nd line was doing fine, fans still called for Rakell to be moved.
Now with Rust and Rakell injured, people are moaning about the injury bug? Many fans wanted Rust gone last year and Rakell this year, why then are fans worried? If it were up to them, those players would not be here anyway.