Bryan Rust left after the second period of Pittsburgh’s game in Tampa on Wednesday, Dec. 6, with an upper-body injury. After a few days of evaluation, Mike Sullivan announced on Monday that the winger will be out week-to-week.
It’s a tough diagnosis, as Rust is difficult to replace – with Sullivan listing out the important ways they utilize him:
Rust is part of the penalty kill, which is now missing three of its top four members, as Noel Acciari (four games missed, lower-body) and Matt Nieto (four games missed, lower-body) are both sidelined.
- Rust is part of the power play, with the coaching staff able to deploy him on either unit.
- Rust has played on Sidney Crosby’s line most of the year, which is arguably the league’s best at even strength.
- And overall, Rust has just been excellent through the first three months of the 2023-24 campaign, with 10 goals and 20 points in 22 games.
“When the injuries happen, it can be discouraging for players. It's disappointing, for sure,” Sullivan said. “It's disappointing for all of us because Rusty is obviously a real important player for us, and he's been a great Penguin for a lot for a lot of years here. He's had a great start to the season.”
Right now, Rust’s absence has created an opportunity for Drew O’Connor. The big forward has slotted in alongside the captain and Jake Guentzel, while Valtteri Puustinen is playing with Reilly Smith and Evgeni Malkin with Rickard Rakell (nine games missed, upper body) on long-term injured reserve.
Puustinen, 24, is also getting a look on the top power-play unit alongside Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, and Erik Karlsson as the Penguins look to snap out of their slump in that area of the game.
Pittsburgh’s 2019 seventh-round draft pick got a huge smile on his face when talking about his opportunities, saying, “it’s a really, really good chance for me, to play with (Malkin) and play with the power play, with these guys. Because they are the top players in this league. It’s awesome for me.”
Sullivan said they’re trying Puustinen there because of his offensive instincts and ability to think the game on a high level.
“He's a right-handed shot on top of it,” Sullivan said. “We were looking for a righty as part of that group, because we have so many lefties. We think there's value in having that right-handed shot for different types of options to present different looks depending on what we're in. So, he's a guy that potentially could fill that role, and we're gonna give him a shot at it.”
Puustinen is one of a handful of depth players called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, along with Jonathan Gruden and Marc Johnstone, who made his NHL debut in Pittsburgh’s last game on Friday in Florida.
As both Sullivan and Penguins President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas both reiterated today, they are hoping those guys can maximize the opportunities ahead of them, as Pittsburgh looks to start picking up some points in the standings.
“Rather than focus on the guys that are out of the lineup, we're trying to focus on the guys right now that are in the lineup, and put these guys in positions where they can play to their strengths,” Sullivan said.
This is the workflow the Penguins used at practice on Sunday after a day off on Saturday. Lars Eller was absent from Monday’s session due to illness, which Sullivan doesn’t foresee affecting his availability for Tuesday’s game versus Arizona:
Guentzel-Crosby-O'Connor
Smith-Malkin-Puustinen
Hinostroza-Eller-Carter
Harkins-Gruden-Johnstone
Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
Shea-Ludvig
P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel, who have both been out longer-term with injuries, have returned to team practice and skated as the extra D pairing.
Smith said having time to reset and refocus between games should help them going into their contest against the Coyotes.
“I think we’ve been sliding a little bit, and sometimes your tendencies are to try to slip into the negative column,” he said. “I think for us to get back to our structure, and force teams to beat us instead of ourselves is important. And then obviously just a couple of days to kind of regroup as a team away from games is also nice, so we’ve got to make the most of this opportunity, and it’s a good test for us tomorrow.”
