Penguins A to Z: Frederick Gaudreau made the most of his opportunity
With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 48 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Frederick Gaudreau
Position: Center
Shoots: Right
Age: 28
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 179 pounds
2020-21 NHL statistics: 19 games, 10 points (two goals, eight assists)
2020-21 AHL statistics: Six games, four points (one goal, three assists)
Contract: One-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $700,000. Pending unrestricted free agent this offseason
Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, Oct. 10, 2020
2020-21 season: Frederick Gaudreau didn’t necessarily have any expectations for his time with the Penguins.
Just gratitude.
Having not played an NHL game since March of 2019 as a member of the Nashville Predators, Gaudreau did not take any moment he spent on the Penguins’ NHL roster — or even their taxi squad — for granted.
Opening the season on the taxi squad, Gaudreau was shuffled between that unit, the NHL roster and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League six different times before playing his first game of the season for the AHL Penguins on Feb. 20.
Primarily serving as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top center in his brief time with that team, Gaudreau produced much like the top-six forward he was in his previous AHL experience with the Milwaukee Admirals. His only goal with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was an overtime score in a 5-4 road win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Feb. 27.
All the while, Gaudreau was moved up and down the organizational depth chart several times throughout the season — 18 times to be precise — for salary cap purposes.
By March 18, injuries to centers Teddy Blueger and Evgeni Malkin prompted coaches to dress Gaudreau as the fourth-line center with Anthony Angello and Colton Sceviour on his wings.
He dressed for 12 consecutive games and inhabited a third-line role as well as more time on the penalty kill — a role he had never been deployed at much throughout his brief NHL existence — thanks Blueger as well as Brandon Tanev each being sidelined by maladies.
Gaudreau established his prowess on the penalty kill during a 5-2 home win against the Buffalo Sabres on March 24 by forcing a turnover in the defensive zone, creating his own breakaway and setting up forward Zach Aston-Reese for a short-handed goal.
An undisclosed injury suffered April 11 forced Gaudreau to miss eight consecutive games. Once healthy, Gaudreau found himself as a regular in a mostly healthy lineup and by the end of the season, he was assigned to the right wing on the third line that was centered by trade deadline acquisition Jeff Carter.
The chemistry between Gaudreau and Carter was evident during an 8-4 home win against the Sabres. Carter’s career-best four goals in that game were buttressed by a career-best three assists from Gaudreau.
With Malkin absent for the first two games of the playoffs, Carter was promoted to the second line while Gaudreau slid into the center role of the third line. By the third contest, Malkin was back in the lineup allowing Carter and Gaudreau to be reunited on the third line along with Jared McCann.
In a six-game loss to the New York Islanders during the first round, Gaudreau was one of the team’s better producers with three points (one goal, two assists) in six games.
The future: As an unrestricted free agent, Gaudreau isn’t the Penguins’ top priority this offseason. Given some of their other issues with potentially adding a goaltender and pending restricted free agents such as Blueger and Aston-Reese, Gaudreau is a secondary concern, at best. And considering the success he showed in a limited role this season, he could very well merit a one-way contract offer from another team this offseason.
That said, Gaudreau spoke of great reverence for the Penguins’ culture this season, even before he was afforded a chance to play. He seems to genuinely appreciate the chance he had in Pittsburgh and the organization appears to legitimately value him, on and off the ice.
Regardless, Gaudreau made the most of the opportunity he was granted by the Penguins and put himself in position for a better contract this offseason.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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