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Sullivan: Some Players "Didn't Live Up To The Expectations"

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After fellow first-year Capital Matt Roy returned to action from a lengthy injury absence on Wednesday, Jakob Chychrun is close to following in his footsteps. Chychrun shed his no-contact designation in practice this morning, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, who adds that he’s questionable to come off injured reserve for tonight’s game against the Penguins.

  • Almost nothing has gone right this season for the Penguins, who now sit seventh in the Metro with a 5-8-2 record entering tonight’s rivalry matchup with Washington. It’s the second half of a back-to-back for them – they outshot the Hurricanes last night 36-18 but still lost 5-1. “I thought we had a lot of guys who played really hard and didn’t get rewarded for their efforts,” head coach Mike Sullivan said postgame (via Josh Yohe of The Athletic). “But I think there were a few guys that didn’t live up to the expectations. It’s hard. We need everybody to bring it every night to have a chance to win.” Yohe wrote that he’s “never heard him question the effort of individual players in the manner in which he did after this game.“

Kevin Hayes Considered Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury

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  • The play-by-play voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Josh Getzoff, reports Kevin Hayes is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. This confirms Hayes won’t be in the lineup tonight as the Penguins take on the Carolina Hurricanes and should make him questionable for tomorrow’s contest against the Washington Capitals. Hayes’ absence won’t dramatically affect the Penguins’ lineup as he’s only averaging 9:27 of ice time in his first year with Pittsburgh.

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Metropolitan Notes: Roy, Chychrun, Rakell, Poehling

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The Capitals’ news cycle has been dominated by the health of a pair of top-four defensemen in recent days, and that hasn’t changed Tuesday. There’s good news to report regarding one of them – Matt Roy shed his no-contact designation in practice today as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. He’s been upgraded to questionable for tomorrow’s game against the Predators and could come off injured reserve before then, head coach Spencer Carbery added (via Silber).

Roy, 29, has suited up just once for the Caps since signing his six-year, $34.5MM contract with them over the summer. The longtime Kings defender sustained the injury in their season opener against the Devils and has missed the following 10 games. It was an inauspicious start for the usually trusty stay-at-home piece, who posted a -2 rating in less than 10 minutes of ice time against New Jersey.

Upon his return, he’ll look to improve a Washington defense that’s already fared pretty well without him. As a team, the Capitals are controlling 50.4% of shot attempts and 53.5% of scoring chances at even strength, led by some spectacular two-way play from John Carlson. Roy’s return will benefit Washington by pushing overtaxed veteran Dylan McIlrath down the depth chart – he’s been out-attempted 93-133 at even strength through 10 games and skated in second-pairing duties alongside Rasmus Sandin in the Caps’ last game, a role Roy will take over when he’s back in the lineup.

Unfortunately, there isn’t as much positive news regarding Jakob Chychrun’s health. Carbery said he’s not yet returned to skating with the rest of the team but is at least continuing to take reps before practice with team staff. Chychrun landed on IR over the weekend and has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury he sustained on Oct. 29 against the Rangers. He’s now missed seven days and is eligible to come off IR at any time, although it doesn’t appear that will happen in the next few days. Chychrun had two goals and two assists in eight games before exiting the lineup, tying for the team lead with seven takeaways.

Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division:

  • After a tough 2023-24 campaign, Rickard Rakell is one of the few Penguins performing at or over expectations this season. The 31-year-old leads the team in goals with six through 13 games and is third on the team with nine points. Rakell spoke to Josh Yohe of The Athletic yesterday, detailing how he overcame a great deal of self-doubt about his age and potential permanent decline to rediscover his game.
  • The Flyers will be without the services of center Ryan Poehling on their upcoming three-game road trip, head coach John Tortorella told Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports. He’s remaining in Philadelphia to nurse a minor injury and attend to a “family situation.” The 25-year-old had five assists and a +2 rating through 12 appearances this season, averaging 13:31 per game. He’s also posted great possession metrics for his heavy defensive-zone usage and is winning 50% of his draws for the first time in his six-year career. Noah Cates, who’s played in seven straight after being scratched four times in five games to start the season, will center the fourth line in his place.

Penguins Notes: Jarry, Rust, Nieto

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic expects Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry to return to the NHL lineup sometime next week. Jarry has been with the Penguins American Hockey League affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and has posted stellar numbers with a 3-0 record and a .937 save percentage as well as a 1.95 goals-against average.

Yohe thinks Jarry may bump rookie Joel Blomqvist back to the AHL which makes sense, given the play of fellow netminder Alex Nedeljkovic. The Penguins need to see Jarry in NHL action again before they can decide what to do in the crease for the rest of the season, and they could certainly use some good news after a rough start to the season. The Penguins can keep Jarry in the AHL for two weeks during his conditioning stint, which makes November 11th the date he will likely return to the NHL.

In other Pittsburgh Penguins notes:

  • Penguins forward Bryan Rust reportedly reaggravated a preseason injury when he exited a game against the Vancouver Canucks last week (as per Josh Yohe of The Athletic). Rust suffered a lower-body injury in the preseason, and when the injury resurfaced last week, there was fear that it could be serious, but that is not the case. The Penguins want to get Rust back to full health and plan to ease him back into things so he can function optimally when he is in the lineup.
  • Penguins forward Matthew Nieto was reportedly a full participant in practice today (as per Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The 31-year-old has been out of action since last season as he continues to recover from offseason knee surgery. He remains on long-term injured reserve and will need to be activated once he is cleared for game action. It’s fair to wonder if Nieto will be a regular when he is ready to return, as the Penguins have a pile of depth options for their bottom six and may not have room for the 11-year NHL veteran.

East Notes: Senators, Michkov, Rust

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The Senators are .500 through their first 10 games, but that’s been enough to stay on the verge of a playoff position in an Atlantic Division that’s been mainly underwhelming to begin the season. Injuries have played a significant factor, with new starter Linus Ullmark missing a few games and other essential pieces, namely center Shane Pinto and right-shot defenseman Artem Zub, currently sidelined with significant but not ultra-long-term ailments.

Those latter two absences have led the Senators to consider adding more depth to those positions in particular, general manager Steve Staios told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen yesterday. That’s likely an action item for later in the season, though. Staios still wants to give some runway to their internal options to prove they can step up in relief. “I believe that leads to stability as well as confidence in the group,” he said.

So far, those internal options have done the job and likely lessened Staios’ urgency to make a move. Depth pivot Adam Gaudette has five goals in nine games as an injury fill-in after spending most of last season in the AHL, while 24-year-old Jacob Bernard-Docker has posted solid possession numbers (57.7 CF%, 50.0 xGF%) while relieving Zub on the back end.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • It’s been a bit of a rough stretch for current Calder Trophy frontrunner Matvei Michkov over the past couple of games. After going point-per-game through his first nine appearances and taking home NHL Rookie of the Month honors for October, he’s gone without a point in his past four and recorded a season-low 13:56 on Thursday against the Blues before posting a -3 rating in a shutout loss to the Bruins earlier today. That’s led to intermittent benchings from John Tortorella, something neither coach nor player views as a real cause for concern, writes Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. “I just wanted him to sit (on the bench), relax, think about what I said to him,” Tortorella said. “I think it was two or three rotations, we put him back out there. He may miss games, who knows? I don’t know what’s going to happen. But that’s part of the development of a 19-year-old kid.“
  • Penguins winger Bryan Rust skated today for the first time since landing on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, relays Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The 32-year-old has now missed a pair of games with the injury, which he sustained on Oct. 26 against the Canucks. He’ll be eligible to come off IR anytime but is still listed as week-to-week. He had three goals and an assist in eight appearances before exiting the lineup.

Penguins Activate Blake Lizotte From Injured Reserve

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4:09 PM: According to a team announcement, the Penguins organization has confirmed the activation of Lizotte from the injured reserve.

1:28 PM: Penguins center Blake Lizotte will be a game-time decision tonight against the Ducks, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters, including Wes Crosby of NHL.com. If he plays, he’ll need to come off injured reserve. The Penguins have an open roster spot, so they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction.

Lizotte, 26, signed a two-year, $3.7MM contract in Pittsburgh over the offseason after spending the first six seasons of his NHL career with the Kings. Most had him penciled in as the team’s fourth-line center to start the campaign, but a concussion sustained during a preseason game against the Senators on Sep. 29 has kept him out of the lineup ever since. He was placed on IR to begin the season but has slowly worked his way back over the past few weeks.

With Bryan Rust out week-to-week with a lower-body injury, that’s created an opportunity for some players to move up in the lineup. If he plays, Lizotte will benefit from that. He’s projected to skate as Pittsburgh’s third-line center between Kevin Hayes and Anthony Beauvillier, relays Josh Getzoff of SportsNet Pittsburgh. It’s a marginal increase from his usual role with the Kings over the past few seasons, especially last year when he had to contend with Anže Kopitar, Phillip Danault, and Pierre-Luc Dubois ahead of him on L.A.’s center depth chart.

An undrafted free agent signing by the Kings out of St. Cloud State in 2019, Lizotte has 37 goals, 69 assists, and 106 points in 320 career regular-season games with a +34 rating. He’s one year removed from a career-high 11 goals and 34 points in 81 games in 2022-23 when he averaged nearly 13 minutes per night. He’s just above 50% on draws throughout his career and has historically solid possession numbers, controlling 54% of shot attempts and 52.9% of expected goals when deployed at even strength.

Possession quality hasn’t been an issue for the Penguins’ bottom six this season. Far from it, actually – their “usual” non-Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin of Hayes, Noel Acciari and Cody Glass have controlled 70.2% of expected goals when deployed together, per MoneyPuck. Still, Lizotte has good foot speed and is far more involved physically than his 5’9″, 170-lb frame indicates.

If Lizotte doesn’t play tonight and remains on IR, it’s fair to assume he’ll be activated ahead of their next game at home against the Canadiens on Saturday.

Penguins Activate, Reassign Vasiliy Ponomarev

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Center Vasiliy Ponomarev has been activated from season-opening injured reserve and assigned by the Penguins to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, per a team announcement. The Penguins had placed Ponomarev on SOIR with an upper-body injury earlier this month after he sustained an apparent left shoulder issue in a preseason game.

Ponomarev, 22, headed from the Hurricanes to the Penguins in last season’s Jake Guentzel trade. He didn’t get an NHL call-up and was limited by injuries in the minors to end the season, scoring once in four games with the Baby Pens. Before the trade, he’d had eight goals and 31 points in 41 AHL games split between Tucson and Chicago, logging a -17 rating. He also had a goal in three preseason appearances last month.

Though he didn’t get into an NHL game with the Penguins, he did appear in a pair of contests with the Hurricanes earlier in 2023-24. The Carolina 2020 second-round pick out of the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes posted a goal and an assist to average a point per game through his brief NHL career, averaging 9:41 of ice time. He’s also been an influential minor-league point producer since turning pro in 2021. In parts of three AHL seasons, he’s played 120 games, scoring 36 goals and 86 points with a -26 rating.

Ponomarev is in the third and final season of the entry-level contract he signed with Carolina and will be a restricted free agent next summer. He’ll require waivers beginning next season. The Penguins gain $8,281 in cap space by activating him off SOIR, per PuckPedia.

Penguins Place Bryan Rust On Injured Reserve

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The Penguins placed right winger Bryan Rust on injured reserve Tuesday due to his lower-body injury, according to the NHL’s media site. They haven’t made a corresponding transaction yet, but with an open roster spot, they could make a recall ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Ducks. Rust’s IR placement is retroactive to Oct. 26, so he won’t be eligible to return until Nov. 2, but he will likely miss more time than that after being labeled week-to-week yesterday.

Rust already missed yesterday’s 5-3 loss to the Wild and has now been officially ruled out for tomorrow’s game. He left Saturday’s loss to the Canucks after getting awkwardly tangled up with Vancouver winger Nils Höglander and did not return. His absence caused Pens head coach Mike Sullivan to reshape his top line completely, bumping up Evgeni Malkin to play left wing alongside Sidney Crosby at even strength and promoting Rickard Rakell from second-line duties.

In eight games this season, the veteran Rust has scored three goals and added an assist for four points. He’s sitting on uncharacteristically poor possession metrics, logging a career-low 46.3 CF% and 41.0 xGF%. He also missed the first two games of the season with a different lower-body injury.

With Rust on the shelf for the next little while, the Penguins will rely even more heavily on that new-look top line to turn things around defensively. Primarily, they’ve performed up to expectations offensively or outperformed them entirely. Malkin has turned back the clock with 14 points in 11 games, while Rakell leads the team in goals with six. Crosby has been underwhelming with just one goal but has added nine assists for 10 points in 11 games. But the Penguins are allowing a league-worst 4.27 goals per game. While suspect goaltending shoulders some blame, Pittsburgh has also controlled just 38.2% of expected goals when their usual top line of Crosby, Rust and Anthony Beauvillier are on the ice together, per MoneyPuck. Crosby has never logged an expected goal share under 50% since the stat’s been tracked – marking a sharp drop-off in his defensive effectiveness, at least in the early going this season.

The 32-year-old Rust is in the third season of a six-year, $30.75MM contract that runs through his age-35 season. His offensive performance has been up and down over its beginning, posting an underwhelming 46 points in 81 games in 2022-23, but he rebounded last season with 28 goals and 56 points in only 62 appearances.

Bryan Rust Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury

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The Pittsburgh Penguins organization didn’t get a positive update on forward Bryan Rust’s injury. The team’s play-by-play commentator, Jeff Getzoff, shared that Rust is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury after evaluations.

The injury could be related to the lower-body injury that kept Rust from the ice at the beginning of the season. He missed Pittsburgh’s first two games of the regular season but has managed three goals and four points in eight straight games. The Penguins only have 12 healthy forwards on the roster meaning Valtteri Puustinen should garner more ice time if the organization doesn’t make a recall from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

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Penguins Notes: Rust, Bunting, Nieto

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The Penguins were without winger Bryan Rust at practice today, per Josh Getzoff of SportsNet Pittsburgh. Head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that Rust is being evaluated for a lower-body injury he sustained against the Canucks on Saturday, and there’s no timeline for his return to the ice yet (via Michelle Crechiolo of Pens Inside Scoop).

Rust, 32, left the weekend loss to Vancouver after getting his right leg tangled up awkwardly with Canucks winger Nils Höglander. It’s been a mediocre start to the campaign for the five-time 20-goal scorer, who’s been limited to three goals and an assist in eight games with a -7 rating. But he’s still averaging 19:20 per game – that’s second-most among Pittsburgh forwards and, correspondingly, a large hole to fill for a team short on forward depth if he misses any extended time.

Almost no Penguin has started the season as they’d like to, aside from a handful of exceptions – namely Evgeni Malkin, who’s turned back the clock with 14 points in 10 games. But it’s been especially difficult for Rust, who also missed the season’s first two games with a separate lower-body injury. If he can’t play tomorrow against the Wild, Cody Glass is the extra forward on hand and will return to the lineup after missing the Canucks game with an illness.

Other items of note out of Pittsburgh:

  • One of this season’s biggest disappointments so far has been winger Michael Bunting. Acquired from the Hurricanes near the tail end of last year as arguably the highest-value part of the return for Jake Guentzel, he’s fallen completely flat with just one assist in nine games. He’s already been a healthy scratch once in 2024-25, and Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports the Penguins organization as a whole is “very unhappy” with his performance. It’s a completely unforeseen drop-off after he ended last season with 19 points in 21 games for the Pens, mainly playing alongside the red-hot Malkin.
  • Winger Matthew Nieto returned to practice today for the first time since sustaining a knee injury that ended his 2023-24 season all the way back in November, relays Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Nieto, 32 next week, underwent laparoscopic surgery on his left knee shortly after the New Year but suffered a setback that required him to undergo a reconstructive MCL procedure in May. After inking a two-year, $1.8MM deal in free agency in 2023, Nieto had a goal and three assists in 22 appearances for Pittsburgh before the season-ending injury.

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