Former Penguins defensman Chad Ruhwedel has 'a lot of thanks to give to Pittsburgh'

On Friday, Chad Ruhwedel took to the ice at the Pittsburgh Penguins’ facility in Cranberry and skated in a very limited optional practice.

It was a familiar scene that had played out repeatedly with the right-handed defenseman in this domain over the previous seven seasons. He worked on his skating, did some drills around some cones, fired some shots from various angles and just fine-tuned his overall game.

This approach has allowed him to be ready and reliable anytime he has been called upon.

The only difference on Friday was his attire.

He was in blue and red.

A week prior, the Penguins had traded him to the New York Rangers in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2027.

It was a strange sight to see Ruhwedel as such. Up until the moment he was dealt away, he was the fifth-most tenured member of the Penguins’ playing roster, surpassed only by the likes of forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust and defenseman Kris Letang.

“A little bit of a whirlwind, especially at the start,” Ruhwedel said on Friday, a day before Saturday’s meeting between the Penguins and Rangers at PPG Paints Arena. “Obviously, when you get news like that, you’ve got to move fast and get to a new city, get to a new team.”

With the Penguins largely struggling to stay near playoff contention for most of the season, management opted to deal Ruhwedel to the Rangers to get back a future asset.

The 33-year-old right-hander is in the final year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $800,000 and joined the Rangers as a “rental.”

Jumping from a team on the outside of the postseason picture to the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers has obvious appeal.

“First in the division, it’s exciting,” Ruhwedel said. “There’s a great buzz around the rink. Really high expectations of this group. Nothing short of exciting.”

Still, leaving an environment where he truly established himself as an NHL player and developed lasting relationships away from the rink wasn’t ideal.

Plus, Ruhwedel just liked it here. That’s why he signed five different contracts with the Penguins.

“Yes, it’s difficult,” Ruhwedel said. “My family is here. We had a couple of kids here. That part is tough because it’s what you know. It’s home. The initial shock of that is what I would say was the harder part. But we do know this is part of the business. We do know that the contract is up after this year, so anything is possible. And sure enough, it happened.”

While the departure of All-Star forward Jake Guentzel – sent to the Carolina Hurricanes one day prior to Ruhwedel’s transaction – was the most notable deal the Penguins made, Ruhwedel’s departure was no less impactful to the team’s roster on a personal level.

He was one of the more respective and popular members of the team.

“A guy that had a great attitude every day,” Crosby said. “Was in a lot of different situations, was put in a lot of different situations, and handled them all really well. Whether he was out of the lineup for a bit or had to come back in and was relied on to play bigger minutes than usual – he always stepped up. A really reliable player and teammate and a great guy.

“Obviously, he had great success here.”

Becoming a regular in an NHL lineup for the first time in his career was perhaps Ruhwedel’s greatest success.

Undrafted out of Massachusetts-Lowell of the NCAA ranks, Ruhwedel entered the NHL as a free agent with the Buffalo Sabres in 2013 but mostly languished with that malfunctioning franchise.

In the summer of 2016, the Penguins, fresh off a Stanley Cup championship, brought in Ruhwedel on a one-year, two-way contract.

Only 10 months later, he was playing meaningful minutes for a battered blue line in the second and third rounds of the playoffs and helped the franchise become the first team to win back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in almost two decades.

“It meant everything to my career,” Ruhwedel said of joining the Penguins. “I had a good start in Buffalo, that was great. But coming into a team (with the Penguins) having a lot of success right off the bat – winning a Stanley Cup (championship) – just phenomenal memories that I’m going to cherish for a long, long time. Just taught me how to be a pro, taught me a winning culture.

“So, I have a lot of thanks to give to Pittsburgh.”