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Jim Rutherford

Penguins’ Brian Dumoulin And Kris Letang Suffer Injuries

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Ahead of last night’s Stadium Series game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field, there was some concern that rain – and the dangerous ice conditions it can cause – would force the Flyers to sit Wayne Simmonds, their top trade chip. With the NHL Trade Deadline only days away, an injury to Simmonds would have made him nearly immovable. Philadelphia decided to take the risk and play Simmonds and the result can only be described as ironic. Rather than Simmonds getting injured, he was the cause of another injury. A high hit by the physical winger on Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin forced Dumoulin out of the game late in the first period.

To make matters worse, Dumoulin’s top pair partner also left the game early. Kris Letang suffered an injury, although it was not immediately clear what happened, in the scrum following the hit on Dumoulin. With Dumoulin and Letang out, the Penguins skated with just four defenseman for much of the game, leaving Justin Schultz and Jack Johnson to each play more than 30 minutes in the game. The effort simply wasn’t enough to overcome the losses, as the Flyers stormed back from two goals down to win in overtime.

As disappointing as the result may have been, one overtime loss is nothing compared to what may happen to the Penguins if both Dumoulin and Letang are out long-term. After the game, head coach Mike Sullivan announced that Dumoulin had suffered a concussion, which was the expected result of the high hit. He also added that Letang was being evaluated for an upper-body injury, but refrained from going into detail. While a concussion is a serious matter, Letang’s injury may be of even greater concern. The All-Star blue liner missed more than a quarter of the regular season and the entire postseason in 2016-17 with a serious neck injury and the understandable worry in Pittsburgh is that it is another neck issue for Letang.

If one or both of the top defensemen are set to miss time, the Penguins are ill-suited to handle that absence. With Olli Maatta already on the injured reserve with no timeline for a return, injuries to Letang and Dumoulin leave Pittsburgh in difficult shape on the blue line. Schultz, who himself just returned from injury, should be able to fill a top-pair role if need be. However, Johnson has had a miserable season and would be a major liability if his ice time increased. Youngsters Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola have played well enough, but neither is quite ready for an increased workload. Chad Ruhwedel has only played in 17 games with the Penguins this year as a frequent healthy scratch, while no defenders in the AHL have seen NHL action this year. The likes of Zach Trotman and Ethan Prow are likely the next men up in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Just last month, Pittsburgh felt comfortable enough with their defensive depth to trade Jamie Oleksiak back to the Dallas Stars. Now, the tables have turned and GM Jim Rutherford has about 24 hours to evaluate the initial injury news on Dumoulin and Letang and decide if he needs to add another defenseman before the deadline. The rental defenseman market isn’t very encouraging and the Penguins have limited cap space, but a player like Adam McQuaid or Michael Del Zotto might make sense for Rutherford to pursue if the Penguins will be without one or both of their top defenders for an extended time. However, with the team battling for a playoff spot still – currently tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the final wild card spot in the East – a minor trade addition may not be enough to save the season if Letang and Dumoulin are out long-term. This could be the beginning of the end for the Penguins’ season.

Pittsburgh Penguins Hoping To Not Be Involved On Deadline Day

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Jim Rutherford isn’t one to wait around. The GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins is notorious for making moves well before the NHL trade deadline, opting out of all fuss as the time ticks down. This year has been more of the same, as Rutherford made his biggest trade of the year a week ago by bringing in Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann while finding a home for Derick Brassard. Now, as the deadline approaches the Penguins might just be happy to sit still.

In a new interview with Mike Zeisberger of NHLcom, Rutherford explains that the hope for the Penguins is that they don’t have to make another trade. With Evgeni Malkin and Justin Schultz both expected back from injury soon, the legendary GM hopes that the team plays well enough for him to avoid any additional moves:

As long as our team is playing the right way and at a high level, I don’t feel pressure to do anything on trade deadline day.

Now that isn’t to say Rutherford will definitely avoid the market on February 25th, and he was sure to explain that. But if Malkin and Schultz can impact the lineup like usual, the Penguins should be able to climb out of the hole they’ve dug themselves over the last few games and contend for the Metropolitan Division crown once again. After three straight losses, the team sits five points behind the division leading New York Islanders.

If Pittsburgh does take themselves out of the running at the deadline, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the division reacts. The Blue Jackets, tied with Pittsburgh at the moment for third in the Metropolitan, may have to trade away two of their best players in Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. The Capitals, sitting in second place, don’t have a lot of room to make moves anyway. But the Islanders are a different story entirely. They too have several high profile players scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency, but all of them have expressed an interest in re-signing in New York if possible. The team also has a ton of cap space to bring those players back, or even add several more at the deadline this season.

Several of this year’s top trade deadline targets have been linked to the Penguins, but perhaps the recent acquisitions have cooled any interest. Pittsburgh will be a team to watch over their next eight games, as a stumble could send Rutherford back to the phones to try and improve his team for another Stanley Cup run.

Metropolitan Notes: Faulk, Ferland, Penguins, Siegenthaler

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The Hurricanes have been at the center of trade speculation lately with their surplus of defensemen that they are willing to deal from.  In the latest TSN Insider Trading (video link), Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic noted that interest has picked up lately on blueliner Justin Faulk.  The veteran was believed to be a strong trade candidate over the summer but instead, he has fulfilled his usual top-four role, logging more than 22 minutes a night on Carolina’s back end.  With a $4.833MM cap hit through next season, he’d likely yield a comparable return to Jake Muzzin.

Meanwhile, LeBrun adds that Micheal Ferland is someone that could be dealt sooner rather than later.  He notes that the winger’s playing style makes him more susceptible to injury and accordingly, there is some extra risk if the Hurricanes keep him around until the deadline.  He notes that Boston, Nashville, and Pittsburgh are among the teams that have shown an interest in the pending UFA so far.

More from the Metropolitan Division:

  • While Monday’s trade of Jamie Oleksiak back to Dallas freed up more than $2MM in cap room for Pittsburgh, GM Jim Rutherford told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that there is no immediate plan to make another move but that he believes the extra cap space will give them some more options between now and the deadline. The deal gives the Penguins enough cap room to activate defenseman Justin Schultz off LTIR without having to make any corresponding roster moves and presumably, the team will wait until that happens before pursuing other trade opportunities.
  • The Capitals told defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler to find a more permanent living arrangement, notes Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. This is a sign that he will be up with the team for the remainder of the season (once he’s formally recalled following their bye week after being sent down to free up some extra cap space).  The 21-year-old has held his own on Washington’s third pairing since being recalled in mid-November, logging over 14 minutes a night in 22 games so far.  The Caps have typically pursued defensive depth at the trade deadline but the emergence of Siegenthaler as a reliable option will likely allow them to focus on additions up front.

Poll: Where Will Derick Brassard Finish The Season?

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This week’s player of choice in the NHL rumor mill appears to be Derick Brassard, who had seen fewer than 13 minutes of ice time in consecutive games before getting a little more time on Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks. Brassard recorded a goal in that game to give him eight on the year and a total of just 14 points in 37 games heading into tonight’s action. That kind of production just hasn’t been enough for the Penguins, who have seemingly made it known to every publication in Pittsburgh about his availability. Perhaps Tuesday’s deployment was a showcase of sort, given the news today that the Sharks have inquired on Brassard at some point.

It’s not just the Sharks that will be interested though, if Penguins GM Jim Rutherford decides to sell Brassard. When the Ottawa Senators decided to make the veteran center available last season, Pittsburgh had to beat out several teams including the Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets for his services, eventually involving a third team to make the salaries work. It cost them a hefty price in terms of draft picks and goaltending prospect Filip Gustavsson, meaning there must have been other substantial offers on the table.

So where will Brassard end up this season? It’s hard to imagine the Penguins would give him up for prospects or picks without enough time to flip those assets, given they intend on competing for the Stanley Cup this season. If a deal like that happens it would likely have to occur with time to get in another deal before the deadline, meaning we could get an answer on Brassard sooner than other potential deadline deals—not to mention Rutherford’s propensity to get his shopping done ahead of time. If he can’t get a deal he likes, perhaps there’s still even reason to keep Brassard for a run and hope he can find his game in the playoffs.

Where do you think he’ll end the year, and what will he bring back if traded? Cast your vote below and make sure to explain your choice in the comment section.

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Pittsburgh Penguins “Ready To Start Dealing”

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Derick Brassard will be traded. That’s the news coming out of nearly every outlet in Pittsburgh as the Penguins prepare to shake up their roster for another Stanley Cup run. The latest to report on the Penguins is Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his latest 31 Thoughts column, which includes a note saying that GM Jim Rutherford is “ready to start dealing.”

That notion comes just a day after the Penguins lost badly at the hands of the San Jose Sharks, their second consecutive defeat and one that has dropped them to fourth place in the Metropolitan Division. That’s a dangerous place to be in at the moment every team out of the playoff picture is gunning for the Penguins’ spot, including the Buffalo Sabres who are just four points back. Rutherford is never one to just wait around and hope things get better, and with the imperfect fit that is Brassard there’s work to be done.

Friedman notes that the Penguins have expressed interest in Carolina Hurricanes forward Micheal Ferland, but also writes that the list of teams after the pending free agents is long and also includes the Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks. Ferland would be a nice fit to provide some physicality and secondary scoring for the Penguins, but he doesn’t fill that third-line center role that Brassard has failed to run with.

If that’s the position most sought after, there are certainly several avenues to go down. Matt Duchene’s representation is meeting with Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion today in California according to Darren Dreger of TSN, meaning there should be at least some feeling of where his contract negotiations are headed. If the Senators can’t get Duchene under an extension in the next few weeks, you have to expect them to see what they could get for him on the trade market. Kevin Hayes stands out as another center that could fit in behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, though there will be plenty of competition for his services too.

Like other teams that are squarely in their competitive window, the Penguins aren’t worried about building for the future and will try to give themselves the best shot at a Stanley Cup this season. Brassard was that move a year ago as the team had to part with multiple pieces to multiple teams in order to get a cheaper version of the veteran center onto their team. That leaves Brassard as a fairly appetizing trade chip this time around, given that he carries just a $3MM cap hit this season. Moving that cap hit will be important to any moves that the Penguins do make, given their relative proximity to the salary cap ceiling.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Metropolitan Notes: Holtby, Jarry, Van Riemsdyk, Hickey

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The Washington Capitals look like they can breathe a sigh of relief as goaltender Braden Holtby was at practice Sunday after Columbus’ Cam Atkinson accidentally put his stick through a hole in Holtby’s mask into his left eye, forcing him to leave the game. It’s still unclear if the goaltender would start against St. Louis on Monday, the first of a back-to-back set, according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post.

“Obviously anything with your eyes is a little scary,” Holtby said. “It’s fortunate that it wasn’t anything too serious. You just move on. … I didn’t have the sight to keep going. I just wouldn’t have been a benefit to the team. it was one of those things. Eyes heal quickly, so just 24 hours and I’ll be back to normal.”

The incident on the ice Saturday in the second period and the immediate thought looked scary with many worrying that the team’s star goaltender could miss a significant amount of time. However, it looks like the injury isn’t as serious as originally thought. Head coach Todd Rierden said that the team doesn’t intend to recall a goaltender from the AHL at this moment with the general belief that the team could start Pheonix Copley Monday and start Holtby on Tuesday against Nashville on Tuesday.

  • While there have been reports out of Pittsburgh that the team may be ready to move a defenseman, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that general manager Jim Rutherford may also be ready to move third-string goaltender Tristan Jarry as well. The 23-year-old and second-round pick in 2013 is a solid prospect, but with 24-year-old Matt Murray locked in as the starter and the fact that backup Casey DeSmith was recently extended for another three years, Jarry could be a nice trade chip. He has one more year at $675K before he hits restricted free agency, although his two-way deal will turn into a one-way deal next season. NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz adds, however, that goaltenders don’t often bring a lot back in trades, pointing out that Filip Gustavsson was a better prospect and he was just one part of a package to get Derick Brassard last season.
  • Sam Carchidi of Philly.com writes that Philadelphia Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk has a 50-50 chance of playing Monday after being banged up Saturday against New Jersey. Van Riemsdyk, who has struggled with injuries as well as production, had one of his better games of the season, playing 17:01 and scoring a goal and adding an assist, despite the loss. The 29-year-old has two goals and two assists in the last two games.
  • Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports that New York Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey, who has missed 11 straight games with an upper-body injury, has had a slowdown in his recovery, according to head coach Barry Trotz. Hickey has been skating on his own, but was held out of the team’s last full practice on Wednesday. “We want to do what’s best for the player,” Trotz said. “I don’t know if it’s a setback. We just want to be cautious with it. He’s real important for us and we’re not trying to rush him at all. We back him off a little bit and that’s on trainers’ orders.”

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Foligno, Vrana

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While Derick Brassard’s tenure with the Penguins hasn’t gone as well as they’d hoped, it doesn’t appear as if GM Jim Rutherford is as eager to shake things up down the middle as he was a year ago.  Speaking with Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rutherford indicated that he’s not as determined as he was to upgrade that spot compared to this time last season:

I don’t know where things will go on the trade front, but I don’t feel the same urgency as I felt last year to strengthen our center position, which was a big need last year.

Brassard is in the final year of his contract and considering that Vegas is paying 40% of his $5MM salary, he’s not looking like a strong candidate to stick around with the Penguins beyond this season.  However, when he’s on his game, he’s a capable top-six player and having some of those on the third line (his current linemates are wingers Tanner Pearson and Phil Kessel) can only help their chances in the postseason.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • In an appearance on 97.1 The Fan (audio link), Blue Jackets head coach indicated that forward Nick Foligno is expected to return to the lineup on Thursday night. He has missed the last four games while his daughter underwent surgery.  The 31-year-old will be a welcome addition back to the lineup as he sits fifth on the Blue Jackets while ranking fourth among Columbus forwards in ice time.
  • A career season from Capitals winger Jakub Vrana may be enough to earn himself a long-term deal this summer, suggests J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington. The 23-year-old has already set a new career mark in goals with 14 and is just three points shy of matching his previous season-best set last year.  Given GM Brian MacLellan’s willingness to lock up core players to long-term deals, it’s certainly reasonable to think they’ll try to do the same here.  However, with over $68MM committed to just 14 players for next season, making room for another significant contract could be tricky.  Vrana will be a restricted free agent this summer without salary arbitration rights.

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Orpik, Patrick

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Although the new five-year, $30MM deal the Penguins gave forward Jake Guentzel on Thursday really tightens their salary cap situation, GM Jim Rutherford told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that this doesn’t affect their projections for next season:

“This doesn’t put us in any cap difficulty for what our projections are and what our vision of the team is.  If you’re going to be successful in the cap world, you have to have some guys coming who are going to be at the lower end of the pay scale.”

Considering that Pittsburgh now has just over $74MM committed to just 14 players for next season per CapFriendly, they are going to be needing a lot of players at the lower end of the pay scale.  Even if the cap raises to $83MM as the league projects, that doesn’t leave much wiggle room for the Penguins to fill out a roster beyond players making close to the minimum salary.  That could certainly affect their efforts to bring back pending UFA goalie Casey DeSmith who is off to a very strong start to his season and should command a notable raise this summer.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • The Capitals could have defenseman Brooks Orpik back as soon as Monday night, reports Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. The 38-year-old has missed the last 26 games due to a knee injury and is currently on LTIR.  Washington will have to do some salary cap manoeuvring in order to activate him as simply sending one of Jonas Siegenthaler or Tyler Lewington back to the minors won’t be enough to get them back into cap compliance.  However, if Christian Djoos is going to be out for another week at a minimum, they can transfer him to LTIR which, when coupled with the demotion of one of their other blueliners, would be enough to be able to activate Orpik.
  • Flyers center Nolan Patrick will miss the next three games due to an upper-body injury sustained on Thursday against Tampa Bay, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer. His sophomore season has not gone as anyone has hoped as he has managed just five goals and six assists through 33 games, a pace that’s below his output from his rookie year.  Winger Jordan Weal is set to take his place in the lineup.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Pittsburgh Penguins

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As the holiday season quickly approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Click here for the other articles in this series. 

What are the Penguins most thankful for?

Kris Letang’s return to health.

It’s hard to mention the Penguins without immediately pointing to the continued stardom of Sidney Crosby, or the luxury of having Evgeni Malkin as a second-line center, but if anyone can steal some of the spotlight it’s Letang. The 31-year old defenseman has played 34 of the Penguins’ 36 games this season and is showing why at one point in his career he was considered one of the best in the entire world. After years of struggles with injuries both major and minor, Letang finally found some health last season and rewarded the Penguins with a 51-point season. That was good for 17th among all NHL defenders, but Letang had more to prove after the Penguins were eliminated and failed to capture their third straight Stanley Cup.

This year, the right-handed defenseman has taken on even more responsibility and is averaging more than 26 minutes a night. That’s five minutes more than his closest teammate, and puts Letang fourth in the entire league behind only Drew Doughty, Seth Jones and Ryan Suter. With that kind of ice time he has responded brilliantly, tightening up his defensive play and recording 28 points through his 34 games. The next highest-scoring defenseman on the Penguins is Jamie Oleksiak with 11 points, showing just how much responsibility is heaped upon Letang’s shoulders on a nightly basis.

Who are the Penguins most thankful for?

Casey DeSmith.

While any of the Penguins superstars could be the answer here, it’s the unexpected nature of DeSmith’s season that makes him so wonderfully appreciated. If someone were to have said that Matt Murray had only played 14 games by Christmas, and his save percentage was exactly .900 it would have been hard to imagine the Penguins would be anywhere near a playoff spot. But there they are in third place in the Metropolitan Division because of the exquisite play of DeSmith, who has made a legitimate case to take over as the team’s full-time starter.

In 24 appearances DeSmith has posted an 11-6-4 record and leads the way with a .926 save percentage, good enough for fourth in the league among goaltenders with at least ten starts. The undrafted University of New Hampshire product trails just Jaroslav Halak, Andrei Vasilevskiy and John Gibson in that statistic, giving the Penguins more than enough to keep them in the hunt.

Interestingly, the 27-year old goaltender is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and could very well be playing his way into being this year’s Scott Darling or Carter Hutton. DeSmith has never carried a team as the starter for very long, but might get that chance from a desperate organization if he doesn’t re-sign with the Penguins before July 1st.

What would the Penguins be even more thankful for?

A Derick Brassard sighting.

Last year the Penguins were desperately trying to find some depth to put down the middle behind Crosby and Malkin, and ended up selling off Ian Cole and several other assets to acquire Brassard from the Ottawa Senators (with the Vegas Golden Knights helping along the way). At the time it looked like an immediate win for the Penguins, who could plug Brassard in beside players like Phil Kessel and ride towards another Stanley Cup. The fact that Brassard was under contract for another season at a now-reduced cap hit was just icing on the cake.

Not so fast, as Brassard never totally fit in with the Penguins down the stretch and disappeared in the playoffs. His ice time was reduced during the postseason run, something that has recently happened again this season. The 2006 sixth-overall pick has been nowhere to be found this year, recording just nine point in 27 games while registering poor possession numbers and being absent on the powerplay even when he is given the opportunity. If the team could somehow get a piece of the 60-point center Brassard once was they would have one of the most dangerous groups in the league. As it stands, they’re struggling to find much consistency or production in the bottom six.

What should be on the Penguins’ Holiday Wish List?

Another center.

It makes almost no sense that the Penguins would need to go after another center given how they loaded up over the last 12 months. The team has a group consisting of Brassard, Riley Sheahan, Derek Grant and Matt Cullen who have all have experience in the middle, and yet can’t seem to get any production from the position outside of their top two options. This wasn’t supposed to be an issue for them this year after adding depth, but it’s proving to be once again.

GM Jim Rutherford hasn’t been shy about making deals to improve his club in the past, and has already traded away Carl Hagelin and Daniel Sprong this season. He would need to balance the salaries somewhat in order to do anything, but is spending big on a rental option like Kevin Hayes or Matt Duchene even really an option? The team hasn’t selected a player in the first round for four consecutive years, and traded Kasperi Kapanen (22nd overall in 2014) before he ever even played a game for them. Surely at some point they’ll have to say enough is enough and keep their draft picks, but perhaps Rutherford will take another shot this time around.

Pittsburgh Penguins “Tested The Market” On Phil Kessel

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Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, the Pittsburgh Penguins apparently “tested the market” on enigmatic superstar Phil Kessel. That’s according to Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, which notes that Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is still looking to make a move to upgrade his current roster. There was speculation that Kessel could be on the move earlier this year after Pittsburgh were knocked out of the postseason, though nothing came of it.

The 31-year old Kessel is still an incredible offensive talent and sits currently with 29 points through his first 26 games this season. Just last year he posted the best season of his career to-date, recording 92 points, finishing ahead of teammate Sidney Crosby and seventh in the entire league. That point-per-game production didn’t quite continue in the playoffs, and Kessel was only able to record a single goal in 12 postseason appearances.

Still, there’s no doubting that he can help any team reach the Stanley Cup. In his first two seasons with the Penguins, Kessel was a force in the playoffs with 45 points in 49 games and was a huge part of the back-to-back championships. The forward that had been figuratively run out of both Boston and Toronto seemed to find a perfect home in Pittsburgh, where he could play the part of the third musketeer behind Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The question now is, with the Penguins struggling out of the gate, whether Kessel is still that perfect fit. The team has turned things around of late and are now within striking distance of a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division, but find themselves pushed right up against the cap and using long-term injured reserve to ice a competitive team. Though part of Kessel’s salary is still being paid by the Maple Leafs, he still counts for $6.8MM against the Penguins cap and has three more seasons on his current deal. That room could be used for other things, and there’s bound to be interest in a point-per-game sniper like the Wisconsin native.

There’s no reason to think that a Kessel trade is imminent—especially given that he still holds a substantial no-trade clause—but it’s hard to rule out anything when it comes to Rutherford. He’s already been one of the more active executives in the league this season, sending Carl Hagelin and Daniel Sprong out to try and shake things up in the dressing room. In came Tanner Pearson and Marcus Pettersson, but neither player is a game-changing talent like Kessel, nor as substantial an asset as he would likely return.

A previous version of Friedman’s story used the term “testing the market.” It has since been updated.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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