Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel sets career high for games
While forward Sidney Crosby’s ongoing pursuit of his 500th career goal has drawn the most attention of just about anyone with a vested interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins, one of his teammates reached a much less heralded milestone during Sunday’s 4-2 road win against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel appeared in his 45th game of the season, a career high. His previous best of 44 came during the 2017-18 campaign.
This season marks the first time in Ruhwedel’s 10-year career he has been a regular in the lineup and not a replacement when those above him in the lineup were absent.
Primarily deployed on the third pairing with Mike Matheson, the 31-year-old Ruhwedel has five assists while averaging 15 minutes, 19 seconds of ice time. During Sunday’s contest, Ruhwedel recorded one assist and clocked 13:12 of ice time on 21 shifts.
Like his statistics, Ruhwedel’s milestone might not seem all impressive. But it certainly was not overlooked by his coach.
“It’s very significant that he’s played the amount of games that he’s played for us,” Mike Sullivan said. “And he’s played extremely well. That’s the reason that he’s been in the lineup every night. When we look at our defense corps as a group of six, seven or eight back there right now, he’s one of those stabilizing players. You know exactly what you’re going to get from him. He plays within himself. He defends hard. He has good mobility, he plays with a lot of courage. But he’s a stabilizing force back there for our defense corps. And he’s played extremely well.”
Undrafted, Ruhwedel had trouble establishing himself on the roster of some rotten Buffalo Sabres teams before he joined the Penguins as an unrestricted free agent in 2016-17.
“When you look at Chad’s tenure here as a Pittsburgh Penguin, one of the reasons that he’s been here as long as he has is because we have so much respect for his professionalism and understanding of what his role is and how he’s willing to embrace that role,” Sullivan said. “For a lot of the time here, he’s been our number seven defenseman. He’s been in and out of the lineup. He’s had a unique ability to be on the sidelines for extended periods of time and then get tapped on the shoulder to go in the lineup. He can go into the lineup having not played for a month and be really effective. That’s a testament to his professionalism and his preparation process in the off days and the practice times.
“He’s just a great pro in the truest sense of the word. And he’s a great teammate in the sense that he embraces that role, he understands how important it is to our team. Our players have so much respect for what Chad has done for our team over his time here, and he’s certainly earned the respect of his coaching staff, as well.”
Notes: Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin returned after missing two games while in the NHL’s protocols for covid-19. … Malkin drew a penalty for the first time this season at 2:19 of the second period when he was tripped by Devils defenseman Colton White. … The Penguins scored an empty-net goal for the third consecutive game and lead the NHL with 14 such goals this season. They set the franchise record of 16 empty-netters last season in only 56 games. … The Penguins scratched defenseman Mark Friedman and forward Radim Zohorna. … Devils forward Jack Hughes returned after missing three games while in the league’s covid-19 protocols.
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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