Penguins center Matt Cullen is the third oldest player in the NHL this season behind Florida’s Jaromir Jagr and Arizona’s Shane Doan. Despite recently turning 40, Cullen isn’t ruling out playing another season beyond this one, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The decision on whether or not to retire won’t be coming any time soon either, noted Cullen:
“Once I decided to come back this year, that was the only thing on my mind. I know some people can do it, but I’m just not a guy who can have all that stuff in his head. I just want to focus on one goal. Then I’ll deal with that later.”
Through 38 games this season, Cullen has seven goals and seven assists which puts him at a 30 point pace, comparable to the 32 he put up last season. It’s also pretty good production for a player who predominantly plays a bottom six role who also continues to bring an above average success rate at the faceoff dot to the table. Cullen admits he’s pleasantly surprised with how he has held up so far:
“I feel really good. I was tired. Of course, everyone’s tired and banged up after the playoffs. I was a little bit. I’ve been really happy with how I feel. My legs feel great. I feel good on the ice. I feel strong. The body feels like it’s holding up really well. I consider myself pretty blessed in that regard. It’s not fun if your body doesn’t feel good.”
With a cap hit and salary of only $1MM, Cullen has been one of the better bargains from this past offseason. If he holds up over the second half of the season and what he hopes is another lengthy postseason run, he should have several suitors for his services in July if he decides to keep playing.
More from Pittsburgh:
- When he first came up to the NHL back in 2014, right winger Bryan Rust was so concerned about turning the puck over that he would frequently just bank the puck off the boards and chase it. Two years later, it’s a big reason for his success, writes Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. As analytics suggest dumping the puck in isn’t ideal, Rust’s compromise of banking it ahead and chasing it down has resulted in several scoring chances or drawn penalties. Through 35 games, the 24 year old is having a career season with ten goals and six assists while spending time on the top line alongside Sidney Crosby; it’s safe to say his approach is paying off.
- The Penguins will have a pair of prospects representing them at the AHL All-Star Game as netminder Tristan Jarry and left winger Jake Guentzel were named to the game yesterday. Jarry was just recalled to the big club earlier today while Guentzel leads the AHL in goals with 18 and had quite the NHL debut back in November, scoring on his very first shift while adding a second goal later on in the opening period of that game.