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Penguins Notes: Malkin, Karlsson, Rust

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There’s some reminiscing in Pittsburgh today with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin starting their 20th and 19th years with the team, respectively. In his age-38 season, Malkin has retirement on his mind but rest assured it will be on his terms.

In an article from Josh Yohe of The Athletic (Subscription Required), Malkin explained that the final two years of his four-year, $24.4MM contract may be his last in the NHL. He said, “If I’m not playing right, if I’m not real happy with how I’m playing, then yes, these probably are my last two years. But I can’t say for sure that I’ll be done in two years. If I play well this year and next year, if I’m happy with how I’m playing, then maybe I’ll play a little more after that. That would be nice“.

Despite how his body may feel, he isn’t content with where the team has finished the past two seasons. Malkin explained that he wouldn’t retire before playing in the playoffs again saying, “I love the playoffs so much and I love our fans so much. I need to feel it again. I couldn’t leave if I never play in the playoffs again. Not until then“. Given where the Pittsburgh Penguins are in their contention window — the next time they make the playoffs may be the last they see of a franchise legend.

Other Penguins notes:

  • The organization received positive news on the injury front as Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports reports defenseman Erik Karlsson is medically cleared to play tonight. Karlsson missed most of Pittsburgh’s preseason nursing an upper-body injury. He’s primed for a big season, particularly on the team’s powerplay, with coach David Quinn taking over the team’s tactics with a man advantage.
  • On the flip side of the ’injury coin’, the Penguins will be without forward Bryan Rust for their regular season opener (X Link). He’s been on the team’s injured reserve retroactive to September 29th and was originally designated as day-to-day. He recently skated with the team in practice in a non-contact jersey indicating his imminent return.

Penguins Notes: Rust, Nedeljkovic, Nieto

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Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust participated in the team practice today wearing a white (non-contact) jersey (as per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports). Rust has been dealing with an injury that he likely suffered in a preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and may not suit up for the Penguins opener this week.

Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas told the media yesterday that the team was taking extra precautions with Rust, who will certainly be a key cog for the Penguins this season alongside Sidney Crosby on the top line. Anthony Beauvillier has been taking Rust’s spot on the Penguins top line alongside Crosby and Drew O’Connor, however, Rust appeared to be getting reacclimated with his linemates today which likely means he is close to returning.

In other Pittsburgh Penguins notes:

  • Penguins’ goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic returned to the ice today prior to Pittsburgh’s practice (as per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports). The Penguins backup is considered week to week due to an undisclosed injury and landed on injured reserve earlier this week. His injury will force the Penguins to rely heavily on starter Tristan Jarry to start the year after Jarry didn’t play in Pittsburgh’s final 13 games of the regular season last year. If both netminders post similar results to last season, its possible that Nedeljkovic could become the Penguin’s starter this season.
  • Penguins forward Matt Nieto also skated today before Penguins practice (as per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports). The 31-year-old had surgery on his right knee in January and was slated to return to the lineup but missed the remainder of the season and then required left knee surgery in May. Nieto has been skating infrequently with his other injured teammates and is reportedly still two months away from returning to the lineup (as per Rorabaugh). The Penguins have a stockpile of bottom-six forwards available to them making it unlikely that Nieto will receive much playing time when he does return to health.

Metro Notes: Panarin, Rust, Shabanov

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New York Rangers star forward Artemi Panarin told the media today that he’s feeling good and is expecting to be able to play Wednesday when New York begins the regular season (as per Peter Baugh of The Athletic). Panarin returned to Rangers practice today for the first time since he left a preseason game almost a week ago with a lower-body injury. It was the second time he’d exited a preseason game with an ailment; however, it appears that he is optimistic he can play when the Rangers take on Pittsburgh in two nights.

Panarin took his usual spot on a line with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere and appeared set to open the season, however, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette was a bit more conservative with his comments after practice saying that the Rangers were taking things slow with Panarin and they would see how he feels over the next two days.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed forward Bryan Rust on IR, retroactively to last Sunday (as per Michelle Crechiolo of Pens Inside Scoop). Rust will be able to come off IR at any time and could play in the Penguins opener on Wednesday night as Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas called him day-to-day. Dubas admitted that the Penguins are being cautious with Rust and are trying to avoid his ailment becoming a long-term complication. Rust has had trouble staying healthy throughout his career and has never played a full 82-game season. Last year, he missed time and dressed in just 62 games but was very effective posting 28 goals and 28 assists.
  • The New York Islanders are reportedly among four NHL teams that have already expressed an interest in KHL forward Maxim Shabanov (as per Ethan Sears of The New York Post). Shabanov is off to a good start in the KHL this season with 14 points in his first 12 games and is coming off a season in which he posted 25 goals and 25 assists in 64 games with Traktor Chelyabinsk. Shabanov is expected to decide at the end of the KHL season as to whether he will sign in the NHL or not and many expect that his list of suitors will grow into the double digits by that time. The Islanders are fresh off signing another young Russian in Maxim Tsyplakov who should receive playing ample time in the Islanders’ top-six forward group this season.

Injury Notes: Sabres, Penguins, Ryan, Jarnkrok

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The Buffalo Sabres’ depth will be tested just two games into the season, with top-six wingers John-Jason Peterka (concussion) and Zach Benson (lower-body) both facing injury, per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. No timeline was provided for either player. Benson was held out of the team’s Saturday morning game in favor of top prospect Jiri Kulich, while Peterka exited the game after just three shifts. Lysowski added that team captain Rasmus Dahlin also seems unhealthy, despite being the team’s clear-cut top defender through their first two games.

The menagerie of injuries is weighing heavily on the Sabres, who lost both games in the Prague series by a combined score of 7-2. Peterka recorded the primary assist on Buffalo’s first goal of the year – making a strong play behind the net to set up Owen Power in the slot. Those are the hard-nosed plays Peterka has become known for in his early career, a big part of how he managed 28 goals and 50 points last season. Despite being in his age-18 season, Benson wasn’t too far behind – netting 11 goals and 30 points of his own, though he did miss 11 games to injury last year. Both players are not only core pieces of the present Sabres lineup, but pillars of the team’s future. Their healthy and speedy recovery will be paramount as the team looks to find their bearings when they return to America.

Other injury updates from around the league:

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins are also bearing through a pair of injuries, with both Bryan Rust and Vasiliy Ponomarev listed as day-to-day per Tribune-Review Spots’ Seth Rorabaugh. No details or timeline were provided. Rust has missed the bulk of Pittsburgh’s preseasons with what were originally described as maintenance days, before this injury designation. He’ll have his eyes set on the team’s top line when he returns to full health, having posted a commendable 56 points – split evenly – in just 62 appearances last year. Ponomarev doesn’t have the same lineup security, though his 30 points in 43 AHL games last season could be enough to warrant a test in the bottom-six. Any bout with the Penguins would be notable for the 23-year-old Ponomarev, who made his NHL debut with Carolina last season – scoring two points in two games.
  • Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch listed forward Derek Ryan as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, shares Tony Barr of Oilers TV. Ryan has continued skating at the tail end of Edmonton’s practices, though he was held out of the team’s final preseason game on Friday. He’ll be in the mix for fourth-line minutes when he returns, likely set to return to the role that earned him 12 points in 70 games last season.
  • Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has confirmed Calle Jarnkrok’s lower-body injury is nagging, telling TSN’s Mark Masters that it’s the same injury that limited the forward at the start of training camp. Jarnkrok has only appeared in two preseason games, and continues to miss practices as a result of his injury. He’ll be a bottom-six multitool when he returns, though Jarnkrok first faces the test of overcoming a lingering issue.

Metropolitan Notes: Karlsson, Rust, Keefe, Harrold, Voronkov

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Penguins star defender Erik Karlsson has shed his non-contact jersey as he aims to return from an upper-body injury by the season opener, per the team. He hasn’t seen any preseason action, but with five days still to go until their home opener against the Rangers, it seems like he won’t miss any regular season action. He hasn’t been ruled out for tonight’s exhibition game against the Blue Jackets, either, but with how much time he’s missed in camp, he should be considered doubtful at best.

Karlsson only re-joined practice yesterday after a few days of skating on his own. Evidently, it was a successful session, and he’s trending in the right direction quickly – after all, he only carried a non-contact designation for one day. It still wasn’t an incredibly rigorous practice, though, as head coach Mike Sullivan points out, and he wasn’t routinely taking contact. The 34-year-old is looking to get his second season in Pittsburgh off on the right foot after posting 56 points in 82 games last year, his lowest per-game production since the 2020-21 campaign.

It’s not all good news on the injury front for the Pens, though. Winger Bryan Rust remains day-to-day with an undisclosed injury after previously missing practice for what the team termed maintenance reasons. The 32-year-old is expected to once again start the season on Sidney Crosby’s line after scoring a career-high 28 goals in 66 games last season.

Elsewhere in the Metro:

  • Sheldon Keefe’s move to the Devils after being fired by the Maple Leafs has him primed to win his first Jack Adams Award for coach of the year, as voted by NHL.com writers. He walks into a pretty favorable situation with New Jersey primed to rebound to a playoff-caliber record with No. 1 defender Dougie Hamilton at full health and their goaltending situation hopefully addressed with the offseason pickup of 2022 Vezina finalist Jacob Markström from the Flames.
  • The Hurricanes have promoted Peter Harrold to their director of player development, the team announced. The 41-year-old had been with Carolina since 2020 as a development and skills coach, working with the team’s defenders. Harrold was a defenseman himself, skating in 274 NHL games in parts of nine seasons for the Devils and Kings from 2006 to 2015.
  • Blue Jackets winger Dmitri Voronkov is still being evaluated after leaving last night’s loss to the Penguins with an upper-body injury, relays The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline. For now, his availability for the start of the regular season appears to be thrust into doubt. The 24-year-old finished 11th in Calder Trophy voting last year after coming over from his native Russia, finishing fifth on the Jackets in scoring with 34 points (18 G, 16 A) in 75 games.

2024 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

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Today, the NHL announced the 32 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”

Each team submitted their nominee; they are as follows:

Anaheim Ducks: Cam Fowler
Arizona Coyotes: Nick Bjugstad
Boston Bruins: Linus Ullmark
Buffalo Sabres: Alex Tuch
Calgary Flames: Andrew Mangiapane
Carolina Hurricanes: Jaccob Slavin
Chicago Blackhawks: Connor Murphy
Colorado Avalanche: Cale Makar
Columbus Blue Jackets: Zach Werenski
Dallas Stars: Jake Oettinger
Detroit Red Wings: Dylan Larkin
Edmonton Oilers: Darnell Nurse
Florida Panthers: Aleksander Barkov
Los Angeles Kings: Kevin Fiala
Minnesota Wild: Marc-Andre Fleury
Montreal Canadiens: Nick Suzuki
Nashville Predators: Roman Josi
New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes
New York Islanders: Anders Lee
New York Rangers: Jacob Trouba
Ottawa Senators: Brady Tkachuk
Philadelphia Flyers: Scott Laughton
Pittsburgh Penguins: Bryan Rust
San Jose Sharks: Luke Kunin
Seattle Kraken: Jaden Schwartz
St. Louis Blues: Brayden Schenn
Tampa Bay Lightning: Nick Paul
Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews
Vancouver Canucks: Quinn Hughes
Vegas Golden Knights: Jack Eichel
Washington Capitals: Tom Wilson
Winnipeg Jets: Josh Morrissey

Unlike most awards which are voted on by the players or media, the winner of this award is selected by a committee consisting of Commissioner Gary Bettman and former winners of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy and the NHL Foundation Player Award, one that was awarded from 1997-98 through 2016-17.

Last year’s winner was Calgary’s Mikael Backlund.  The winner for this season will be revealed in late June.

Pittsburgh Penguins Share Multiple Injury Updates

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Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has shared multiple injury updates, most notably designating top-line winger Bryan Rust as a game-time decision on Sunday. Rust has missed Pittsburgh’s last seven games with an upper-body injury that earned him a place on injured reserve. It was the second time Rust has landed on IR this season, previously missing three weeks with another upper-body injury. The absences have limited Rust to just 42 of Pittsburgh’s 62 games this season – though he’s proven impactful when he does play, managing 36 points, split evenly, through 42 games.

Rust is on the cusp of reaching the 20-goal mark for the fifth-straight season – a streak he kicked off with a career-high 27 goals in just 55 games in 2019-20. While he hasn’t crossed 25 goals since that year, Rust has proven incredibly consistent, serving as a staple on Sidney Crosby’s line for much of his career. His return will carry extra weight than usual, as the Penguins have dealt away the final member of their top line: Jake Guentzel, who was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Michael Bunting, three prospects, and a first-round and fifth-round pick in 2024.

Sullivan also shared that forward Matthew Nieto is continuing to rehab from knee surgery. Nieto hasn’t played a game since November 30th, shifting to IR in December and long-term injured reserve in January. He was designated as out for six to eight weeks in early January, putting him on track for a return in mid-to-late March. Nieto has played just 22 games with the Penguins, scoring four points, since signing a two-year, $1.8MM contract with the team this summer.

Finally, the Penguins shared that Drew O’Connor has returned to skating after bearing with a concussion that’s held him out of the team’s last two games. O’Connor suffered the injury in Pittsburgh’s Tuesday game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, leaving after the first period. He had previously played in 60 games this season, scoring a career-high nine goals and 21 points. It’s O’Connor’s first year off the fourth line, after playing in 46 games and scoring 11 points in a depth role last season.

Red Wings Have Shown Interest In Bryan Rust

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The Red Wings “have shown the most interest” among multiple teams that have inquired about acquiring veteran Penguins winger Bryan Rust via trade, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports Tuesday. However, the 31-year-old is unlikely to be on the move ahead of Friday’s trade deadline, as Yohe says Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas has not asked Rust to waive his no-move clause.

A 4-5-1 stretch in their last 10 games has the Penguins slipping down the Eastern Conference standings and heading toward retool mode. They boast arguably the top pending UFA available on the trade market in Jake Guentzel, and the prospects they receive in return for the point-per-game winger could help inject some much-needed youth as they attempt to continue being playoff contenders in the twilight years of the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin/Kris Letang core.

As Yohe points out, Guentzel’s likely trade in the next three days makes dealing Rust now a more aggressive short-term downgrade than Dubas is willing to execute. The team has no intentions of a complete rebuild with Crosby in the fold, especially with their captain nearing the end of his contract. Trading away both of his regular linemates would be counterintuitive.

That said, Rust is signed through 2028 at a reasonable $5.125MM cap hit, and his NMC expires on July 1, 2025. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Red Wings keep tabs on the Michigan native as the Penguins continue to navigate tumultuous waters and make another run at acquiring him, either during this offseason or after his NMC expires.

While injuries have limited Rust to 42 games this year, he’s primarily bounced back from a disappointing 2022-23 season that saw him produce at his lowest clip in four years. He’s potted 18 goals and 18 assists for 36 points with a career-high +15 rating, putting him on pace for 70 over an entire season – much closer to the realm of production he’s had throughout his prime.

A third-round pick of the Pens in 2010, Rust hoisted the Stanley Cup in his first two full seasons in the league in 2016 and 2017. If Detroit maintains their level of interest, he could be a logical veteran replacement for Patrick Kane in the top-six, who will be a UFA this summer after signing a one-year, $2.75MM deal to resume his NHL career in Hockeytown mid-season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Penguins Place Bryan Rust On IR, Recall Jonathan Gruden

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed winger Bryan Rust on injured reserve. The team designated Rust as week-to-week on Tuesday, as he’s recovering from an upper-body injury. Many of the details around the injury, including when exactly Rust may return, are still unclear.

This news comes with an extra sting, as Rust’s linemate Jake Guentzel is also out until mid-March with an upper-body injury of his own. This leaves Sidney Crosby as the last healthy member of the team’s top line, now flanked by Reilly Smith and Rickard Rakell. The Penguins have had Guentzel and Rust both healthy for just 37 games this season. They’ve outscored opponents 108-to-103 in those matchups, setting a 15-16-6 record. Guentzel is one of just two Penguins, along with Crosby, still scoring at a point-per-game pace, with 52 points in 50 games. Rust has fallen a bit behind his co-leads, scoring 36 points in 42 games of his own.

Pittsburgh recalled forward Jonathan Gruden in response to Rust’s IR placement. Gruden has already played in five NHL games this season, going without a point and setting a -2. The outings have brought his career totals up to eight NHL games – the other three coming last season – with Gruden still looking for his first appearance on the scoresheet. The 23-year-old centerman has also appeared in 41 AHL games this season, scoring 13 goals and 23 points. Gruden will join a Penguins lineup with spots open – likely set to battle with Jesse Puljujarvi, Valtteri Puustinen, and newcomer Matthew Phillips for key depth roles.

Metro Notes: Flyers, Rust, Chatfield

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Earlier today, the Philadelphia Flyers announced a plethora of injuries, revealing that Rasmus Ristolainen and Jamie Drysdale would both be out week-to-week with upper-body injuries and that Travis Konecny would be out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Still holding strong in their attempt to make the playoffs, these injuries could impact the Flyers’ competitiveness moving forward over their next several games.

Not only will Philadelphia be playing without some of their regular players for the next couple of games, but it will take a potential trade chip off the board in Ristolainen. Although he does carry a relatively expensive cap hit of $5.1MM until after the 2026-27 NHL season, Ristolainen has appeared in some trade chatter over the last several weeks. Dealing with some injury concerns earlier in the season, Ristolainen has responded with one goal and four points over 31 games with the Flyers, averaging 16:41 of ice time per game.

The major concern, however, will be with Drysdale, who is building an extensive injury history in only his fourth season in the NHL. Last season, Drysdale infamously lost the entirety of the year after eight games for a shoulder injury that would require surgery and did miss two months of action earlier this season when he was still a member of the Anaheim Ducks with a lower-body injury.

Other Metro notes:

  • Matt Vensel of Post-Gazette Sports is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust will be out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Falling further and further out of contention, the loss of Rust for the next few weeks will certainly not help Pittsburgh rise in the standings. Potentially becoming one of the deadline’s more important sellers, losing both Rust and Jake Guentzel over the last few days may ultimately force the Penguins’ hand in their eventual deadline approach.
  • Missing the team’s last four games with an upper-body injury, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield is set to return tonight according to the Hurricanes’ Editorial Content Producer, Walt Ruff. Chatfield has been solid for Carolina this season, scoring five goals and 14 points in 49 games, while holding a strong CorsiFor% of 58.4%.

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