Penguins sign defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to two-year contract extension

Chad Ruhwedel had quite a week.

On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman set a career high for games in a single season by appearing in his 45th contest during a 4-2 road win against the New Jersey Devils.

Then by Tuesday, he scored his first goal of the season, a key tying tally that allowed the Penguins to stage a 5-4 comeback home win in overtime against the hated Philadelphia Flyers.

Finally, he got a raise Saturday.

The Penguins announced they signed the veteran defenseman to a two-year contract extension that carries a salary cap hit of $800,000.

The first year of the deal will begin next season.

The right-handed Ruhwedel, 31, currently is signed to a one-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $750,000, the league minimum.

A regular in an NHL lineup for the first time in his 10-year career, Ruhwedel has appeared in 47 games and scored six points (one goal, five assists) while averaging 15 minutes, 25 seconds of ice time.

He primarily has played alongside Mike Matheson on the team’s defensive pairing this season. According to Natural Stat Trick, Matheson and Ruhwedel have logged 493:37 of common five-on-five ice time together this season.

Ruhwedel also is a key member of the team’s penalty kill, having averaged 1:38 of ice time on a unit that is ranked second in the NHL — before Saturday — with a conversion rate of 87.1% this season.

Undrafted, Ruhwedel broke into the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres in 2013 but struggled to stay on the NHL roster during four seasons with that organization.

In 2016, the Penguins signed Ruhwedel to a one-year, two-way contract and he has been a member of the organization ever since.

A member of the Penguins’ 2017 Stanley Cup championship squad, Ruhwedel has played 201 career games with the franchise and scored 31 points (eight goals, 23 assists).

Despite not playing a great deal throughout his tenure with the Penguins, Ruhwedel regularly is cited as one of the team’s most respected players.

All-Star defenseman Kris Letang exalted Ruhwedel on Tuesday after he scored his first goal this season.

“He works his (backside) off every single practice,” Letang said. “To be honest, I couldn’t be happier for him. It’s awesome that he gets a big goal like this. … He’s been in and out of the lineup the past few years. This year, he has a chance to prove that he can be in there and play big minutes, play on the (penalty kill), play an important role. Everybody is really happy for him.”

McGinn faces Canes for 1st time

Forward Brock McGinn has an opportunity to experience a first in his career Sunday afternoon.

He will be an opponent of the Carolina Hurricanes.

A seven-year veteran, McGinn spent his first six seasons as an NHL-er as a member of the Hurricanes before joining the Penguins as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason.

Selected in the second round (No. 47 overall) in the 2012 draft by the Hurricanes, McGinn doesn’t harbor a hint of sour feelings toward the franchise for allowing him to walk away as a free agent. Quite the opposite, actually.

At the same time, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be all that nostalgic Sunday.

“It will be fun,” McGinn said. “I have a lot of friends over there. I started my career in Carolina, so it’s a lot of fun. There’s always a soft spot in my heart there. But when that puck drops, I think everybody wants to win.”

His former coach concurred.

“It’s one of those things that’s business,” Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour said Saturday to media in Raleigh, N.C. “He moved on. He was a great Hurricane. He did great for us, and I think we did great for him. It was certainly a good relationship.”

So far, it’s been a good relationship between the Penguins and the tenacious forechecking winger they signed to a four-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $2.75 million. In 48 games this season, the 28-year-old McGinn has 16 points (10 goals, six assists) while averaging 15:18 of ice time.

Jarry sets career high

AP

In 40 games this season, Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry has a 25-9-6 record.

On Thursday, Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry set a career high by appearing in his 40th game of the season.

While Jarry has played more games during seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) and even the Western Hockey League (WHL), the Penguins coaches are not oblivious to how often Jarry has played this season and finding ways to avoid overtaxing him.

“We’re very conscious of his workload,” Sullivan said. “We talk about it almost every day. We pencil in a gameplan to manage the goaltenders’ workload. Tristan has handled the workload, to this point, extremely well. We’re very conscious of making sure we manage the workload moving forward. I don’t think this is anything that is new to him because he has done it other levels. It’s not like he hasn’t played a significant amount of games at other levels.

“But certainly, we’re very conscious as a coaching staff on what that workload is. We’ll do our best to manage it moving forward so that we keep both Tristan at his very best but (backup Casey DeSmith) at the same time.”