Beware the Ides of March…and the Penguins’ grueling schedule this month. An energy-sapping slate that calls for our aging squad to play 16 games in 29 games.
Et tu, Brute? Or should I say, NHL schedule makers?
Anywho, with the Ides…and St. Patty’s Day…upon us, not to mention a brief pause in the aforementioned schedule, I thought I’d post a somewhat overdue Ex-Penguins Update on PP. Stats are updated for games played up through Friday, March 15.
Since I’m pressed for time, I’ll dispense with my usual narrative…with one noteworthy exception.
First…a question. Guess who leads all expatriate black-and-gold defensemen in plus/minus? Montreal’s Mike Matheson? Nope. In fact, he’s the worst at minus-27.
Steady-Eddy Canuck Ian Cole? Good guess, but no.
Detroit’s perpetually underappreciated Olli Määttä? Close, but no cigar.
Give up?
How about the Avs’ Jack Johnson at plus-16! Yes, that Jack Johnson. The one we bought out…and practically ran out of town on a rail…three years ago. The one who still counts a cool $917 K against our cap…and will continue to through the 2025-26 season.
Truth be told, his underlying metrics are still a bit rough. But whatever version of smoke and mirrors (or well-deserved good fortune) JJ’s using, God bless him and more power to him!
A couple other performances of note. With 17 goals and 37 points, Nick Bjugstad has resurrected his career with the ‘Yotes. Jim Rutherford’s 2019 swap to pirate “Bugs” and Jared McCann away from Florida for Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan rivals the Lufthansa heist on the scale of grand larceny. McCann, by the way, paces all ex-Pens with 27 goals.
He’s tied for the points lead with the ‘Canes Jake Guentzel.
Still hurts to write that.
| SCORING | ||||||||
| Player | Team | Pos | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
| McCann | SEA | C | 64 | 27 | 26 | 53 | 23 | -3 |
| Guentzel | PIT-CAR | LW | 52 | 22 | 31 | 53 | 14 | 11 |
| Matheson | MTL | D | 66 | 9 | 38 | 47 | 52 | -27 |
| Granlund | SJS | C | 52 | 9 | 33 | 42 | 26 | -8 |
| Sprong | DET | RW | 65 | 16 | 23 | 39 | 22 | -5 |
| Bjugstad | ARI | C | 66 | 17 | 20 | 37 | 51 | 8 |
| Rodrigues | FLA | C | 65 | 10 | 26 | 36 | 24 | 24 |
| Perron | DET | LW | 60 | 13 | 21 | 34 | 47 | -13 |
| Noesen | CAR | RW | 65 | 14 | 19 | 33 | 24 | 13 |
| Heinen | BOS | LW | 60 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 24 | 6 |
| Zucker | ARI-NSH | LW | 54 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 58 | -6 |
| Staal | CAR | C | 66 | 8 | 18 | 26 | 40 | -12 |
| Blueger | VAN | C | 53 | 5 | 19 | 24 | 23 | 7 |
| Marino | NJD | D | 64 | 4 | 19 | 23 | 20 | -11 |
| Lafferty | VAN | C | 64 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 30 | 8 |
| Poehling | PHI | C | 62 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 6 | -9 |
| Sundqvist | STL | C | 66 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 32 | -6 |
| Schultz | SEA | D | 55 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 22 | -13 |
| Kapanen | STL | RW | 58 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 8 | -3 |
| Gudbranson | CBJ | D | 62 | 4 | 15 | 19 | 59 | -7 |
| Ceci | EDM | D | 64 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 12 | 8 |
| Petry | DET | D | 57 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 30 | -7 |
| Määttä | DET | D | 58 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 15 |
| Addison | MIN-SJS | D | 55 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 30 | -24 |
| Kulikov | FLA | D | 63 | 0 | 16 | 16 | 44 | 9 |
| Rutta | SJS | D | 56 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 36 | -13 |
| Johnson | COL | D | 65 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 36 | 16 |
| Gaudreau | MIN | C | 54 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 10 | -16 |
| Sheary | TBL | LW | 48 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 8 | -3 |
| Dumoulin | SEA | D | 63 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 4 |
| Tanev | SEA | LW | 49 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 36 | 6 |
| Pearson | MTL | LW | 47 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 21 | -12 |
| Oleksiak | SEA | D | 65 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 33 | -1 |
| Cole | VAN | D | 66 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 57 | 12 |
| Goligoski | MIN | D | 30 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 14 | -7 |
| Nylander | PIT-CBJ | LW | 15 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 3 |
| Jankowski | NSH | C | 17 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Bonino | NYR | C | 45 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | -12 |
| Reaves | TOR | RW | 38 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 34 | -13 |
| Ruhwedel | PIT-NYR | D | 47 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | -4 |
| McGinn | ANA | LW | 24 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -5 |
| DeSmith | VAN | G | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Friedman | VAN | D | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 4 |
| Fleury | MIN | G | 33 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Bortuzzo | STL-NYI | D | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | -1 |
| Domingue | NYR | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hellberg | FLA | G | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gustavsson | MIN | G | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pouliot | DAL | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| Aston-Reese | DET | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| White | PIT-MTL | C | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| Goaltending | ||||||||
| Player | Team | Pos | GP | GA | SH | GAA | SV% | W-L-OT |
| Domingue | NYR | G | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 | .962 | 1-0-0 |
| Hellberg | PIT-FLA | G | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2.50 | .922 | 1-0-0 |
| Fleury | MIN | G | 33 | 83 | 2 | 2.70 | .904 | 16-11-3 |
| DeSmith | VAN | G | 20 | 55 | 1 | 2.91 | .897 | 8-4-6 |
| Gustavsson | MIN | G | 38 | 116 | 2 | 3.26 | .894 | 17-15-4 |
| Italics indicates a Penguins draft pick or a free agent who began his career with the Penguins. | ||||||||
