Ex-Penguins Update: The Ides of March

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.