Penguins A to Z: Jonathan Gruden proves to be more than a throw-in
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.
Jonathan Gruden
Position: Center
Shoots: Left
Age: 21
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 170 pounds
2020-21 AHL statistics: 32 games, 14 points (six goals, eight assists)
Contract: First year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $788,333. Pending restricted free agent in 2023
Acquired: Trade, Oct. 7, 2020
2020-21 season: Upon his arrival to the Penguins, Gruden had one thing working against him.
Who he was traded for.
Gruden will always be an answer to a trivia question as he was part of the return the Penguins received when they dealt two-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Matt Murray to the Ottawa Senators.
To be sure, the real haul in that transaction from the Penguins’ perspective was the second-round selection (No. 52 overall) in the 2020 draft that they used to add high-end goaltender Joel Blomqvist to the organization. But Gruden wasn’t exactly a nugatory throw-in.
He showed that much during his first professional season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Opening the campaign on Feb. 8 skating the left wing of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s fourth line with the likes of AHL veterans Chase Berger and Zach Nastasiuk, Gruden did not find the back of the net until March 6 when he had a power-play goal on a rebound and an assist in a 6-3 road win against the Binghamton Devils.
By late March, Gruden was promoted to center the third line and by late April, he was manning either the left wing or the center spot on the second line.
Over his final nine games of the AHL season, Gruden produced seven points (four goals, three assists).
On March 29, Gruden was briefly recalled to the Penguins’ taxi squad for one day in a maneuver related to the Penguins’ management of the salary cap.
The future: Gruden will likely open his second professional season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this upcoming fall. A fourth-round pick (No. 95 overall) in 2018 by the Senators, Gruden’s trajectory is moderate.
That said, by most accounts, he appeared to display satisfactory development in his first season at the professional level, albeit under the disjointed conditions the 2020-21 AHL campaign was conducted under due to the pandemic.
After starting off in a fourth-line role, he slowly picked up the nuances of the professional game and earned more prominent assignments on the third then the second line while even showing he can man the center role as well.
The son of New York Islanders assistant coach John Gruden, Jonathan Gruden offers all the cliched characteristics of being a “coach’s son” in that he has a high hockey IQ and good vision on the ice.
And while he could stand to add some muscle, he is not averse to going to the net to get ugly goals.
Ultimately, Gruden, who was a top-line producer in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the London Knights during the 2019-20 season, is probably best suited for a bottom-six role as a winger if he ever graduates to the NHL.
If nothing else, he’s proven so far that he is more than just a throw-in from a prominent trade.
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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