With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2022-23 season coming to an end without any postseason action, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 49 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Corey Andonovski to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
This series will publish every weekday leading into the NHL Draft on June 28 and 29.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)
Jan Rutta
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Right
Age: 32
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 204 pounds
2022-23 NHL statistics: 56 games, nine points (three goals, six assists)
Contract: In the first year of a three-year contract with a salary cap hit of $2.75 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in the 2025 offseason.
Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July 13, 2022
Last season: Ron Hextall’s final offseason as general manager of the Penguins in 2022 involved some major transactions.
But none of them really came through adding any unrestricted free agents.
He spent major money to re-sign the likes of franchise pillars such as Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang then moved heaven and earth to trade for veteran defenseman Jeff Petry.
Their most notable free agent addition also came on the blue line in the form of Jan Rutta, a key contributor to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021.
The motivation for signing Rutta was sound. A meat-and-potatoes defensive entity who blocks shots and wins positioning battles around his crease, Rutta was expected to make the Penguins a little bit stiffer in their zone.
And things largely played out that way.
For the first half of the season.
A staple of the lineup in the first 42 games of 2022-23, Rutta primarily played on the third pairing with rookie P.O Joseph. Averaging 17:52 of ice time during that span, Rutta also clocked a team-leading 2:42 on the penalty kill.
And virtually all of his offense (three goals, five assists) came during this part of the campaign. He even served as the Penguins’ top right-handed defenseman for a brief stretch in January when injuries sidelined Letang and Petry.
But just past the midway point of the season, injuries began to hobble Rutta. Starting Jan. 16, an undisclosed ailment sidelined him for the next 15 games and landed him on long-term injured reserve.
Back in the lineup by Feb. 25, Rutta played 11 games before a suspected left knee injury waylaid him for another 10 games.
As the Penguins’ postseason aspirations began to fade in the final days of the regular season, Rutta, despite not being fully healed, returned to the lineup April 6 and tried to power through his various ailments.
By the team’s regular season finale April 13, Rutta was scratched due to injury. One week later, the team announced Rutta underwent surgery to repair a core muscle injury that would require eight to 10 weeks of recovery.
The future: The Penguins’ defense as a whole needs something of an overhaul and Rutta could easily be moved off the roster via trade given he has a somewhat manageable salary cap hit. And he’s one of the relatively few veterans signed to a multi-year contract who does not have any kind of no-trade or no-movement clause.
A buyout doesn’t seem to be a viable option, but if the Penguins were to go that route, they would have to carry a salary cap hit of $1,083,333 over the next two seasons and $833,333 over the succeeding two campaigns.
To be clear, Rutta’s departure isn’t imminent. Right-handed defensemen are always a bit more valuable than left-handers, and Rutta largely did what the Penguins wanted of him in the first half of the season. But given his style of play and age (he turns 33 on July 29) his body just broke down.
The Penguins’ overall malfunctions in 2022-23 and Rutta’s own physical limitations make it fair to wonder what his place with the organization is moving forward.
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .