The Pittsburgh Penguins have suffered several injuries of late, and two more names can be added to that list. Bryan Rust and Chad Ruhwedel are both out “longer term” according to head coach Mike Sullivan. Tom Gulitti of NHL.com reports that Ruhwedel left the arena last night with his right arm in a sling, while Rust was on crutches with his left foot in a walking boot.
Pittsburgh went out and added Erik Gudbranson and Chris Wideman at the trade deadline this week to address other injuries on the blue line, but will feel the loss of Rust up front. The hard working forward had been playing an increased role of late and actually ranks third on the team in even-strength goals with 15. He has added two short-handed tallies for a career high of 17 on the year and is an integral part of the Penguins attack. While they obviously still have plenty of firepower with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Phil Kessel leading the way, Rust provided a level of versatility that is lacking elsewhere on the roster.
Losing two more players will hurt the team and it is no guarantee that the Penguins even make the playoffs at this point. With a quarter of the season remaining the team sits in the final wild card spot but just a single point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets who recently loaded up at the deadline. Philadelphia, Buffalo and Florida are all within ten points and chasing down the Penguins, who themselves are trying to leapfrog the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens in the standings. It will be a fight right to the end in the Eastern Conference, and the Pittsburgh depth will surely be tested now.
Glad JR held onto that first round pick
Just think: if GMJR hadn’t accumulated as much postseason success as the team has earned for him, he may already have been banished to Botany Bay… Still, can’t blame the GM for untimely injuries, as tempting as it may be… Dear Pens: What did you guys step in to deserve this???
Well. At least the forward was not named Crosby or Malkin or Guentzel, and hopefully Dumoulin and Letang will be back much sooner than later. Hope both Rust and Ruhwedel are not out real long.
Signed Jack Johnson to a long term overpaid contract….it’s just the hockey gods saying “play stupid games, win stupid prizes”.
Jack Johnson is not the problem with this team. Shaky goal tending and Malkin and Kessel playing like crap for nearly half this season is the problem. Johnson has filled in admirably the pst 2 games.
I agree. Johnson has not been a glaring problem. Team defense has let the goaltenders several games this season on top of some shaky play. When they play a team oriented game, like last night, great results all around. When they try to slack of on back checking or the D-men try to play more off on defense emphasizing the offense too much, the goalies get tortured and give up way too many goals.
I also agree. I don’t think Johnson is playing that badly. The problem with the Pens started when they traded for Brassard. They gave up A 1st round draft pick, a 3rd round draft pick,Ian Cole, Ryan Reaves plus a good young goalie in Filip Gustavsson. The Pens also receiver a 3rd round draft pick. Florida just traded Brassard and got a 3rd round draft pick.