Penguins' Zach Aston-Reese 'trying to be better than last year'

The Pittsburgh Penguins could get a trio of players back in their lineup for Saturday’s road game against the New York Islanders.

Two of them, defensemen Kris Letang and Mike Matheson, have missed two and eight games, respectively, because of undisclosed injuries.

The third has waited much, much longer to return to action.

Forward Zach Aston-Reese has bided his time for half a year, approximately, after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder in August.

“I feel pretty good,” Aston-Reese said via video conference Thursday. “I’ve been skating the last two months with (skill coach Ty Hennes). We’ve put a lot of work in. I don’t really have any lingering (issues) from the surgery. It honestly feels better than it did before.”

By Aston-Reese’s account, “before” lasted quite a while. He estimates he initially injured his shoulder when he made his NHL debut in 2017-18.

“I want to say, my first (NHL season) right before playoffs, I had a shoulder injury and that was one of the catalysts for it,” Aston-Reese said. “At the time, surgery wasn’t necessary. But it kind of just (progressed) over the last two years. It was something that I was having to deal with. I had a little hesitation in my game, and I just wanted to go take care of it.”

Presumably hesitation-free now, Aston-Reese figures to be one of the Penguins’ most physical players given his abilities on the boards, as a forechecker and as a net-front presence.

That’s something of a rare commodity for a lineup that primarily has been constructed with speed and skill.

“It makes us harder to play against, which is an important aspect of winning in today’s NHL,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “Zach’s a good player, he’s a good penalty killer, he’s a good shot blocker. He has the ability to play a heavy game when he’s engaged and he has the right mindset. That’s something that Zach and I have talked about a lot over the last couple of years. We’re excited to get Zach back in the fold here. We’re going to have some difficult lineup decisions here moving forward, I would anticipate, when some of these guys get cleared to play. But Zach’s a guy I think can be a very valuable player for us.”

Something that could be potentially very valuable for the 26-year-old Aston-Reese is his next contract. In the final year of a two-year deal with a salary cap hit of $1 million, Aston-Reese is scheduled to become a restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

He professes his focus is more immediate.

“I haven’t really thought about that too much, honestly,” Aston-Reese said. “The only thing I’ve been thinking about is trying to be better than last year and getting my shoulder healthy, which I’ve done.

“It’s going to be six months since I played a game. And I don’t want it to take too long to be back in game shape.”

Notes: Defenseman John Marino, who participated in practice Friday in Cranberry, was removed from the NHL’s list of absences related to covid-19 protocol. After being placed on the list, Marino did not practice Thursday. As dictated by NHL rules, the Penguins have not commented on his status. Marino is the only defenseman who has played in all 10 of the Penguins’ games this season. … The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ season-opener was rescheduled because of covid-19 protocol concerns with the opponent, the Binghamton Devils. Originally slated for Saturday, the game now will be played at 5 p.m. on Monday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre.