A look back at Penguins debuts for other Jim Rutherford trade-deadline acquisitions

Wednesday night some 2,500 miles west, and while many Pittsburgh Penguins fans are getting ready for bed, three players will play for the Penguins two days after they were acquired in the final hours prior to the NHL’s trade deadline.

While Conor Sheary technically will not be making his Penguins’ debut — he played 2½ seasons and won the Stanley Cup twice while wearing black-and-gold — Patrick Marleau and Evan Rodrigues will be.

It was the sixth Deadline Day as Penguins general manager for Jim Rutherford. A look back at the first games for others who Rutherford traded for in the lead-up to the annual end to the NHL’s trade season:

2015

Ian Cole and Ben Lovejoy

Neither defenseman had a point and each was even, though both fared much better in advanced possession metrics in appearing in a Penguins’ 3-1 loss at the Colorado Avalanche on March 4, 2015. Cole was mostly on a third pairing with Rob Scuderi while Lovejoy often was paired with Derrick Pouliot as the No. 2 grouping for a Penguins team that largely languished down the stretch and had its depth tested.

The Penguins, though, had 72.7% of the shot attempts when Cole was on the ice and 56.2% of the shot attempts when Lovejoy was that evening.

2016

Justin Schultz

Though technically the deal in which he was picked up came just prior to the deadline, Schultz would not make his Penguins debut until two days after it. Schultz assisted on a third-period Bryan Rust goal to all but seal what would end up being a 6-1 victory at the New Jersey Devils.

Schultz, who was a minus-22 for the Edmonton Oilers that season, would be a plus or even player in each of his first 16 games with the Penguins, totaling eight points in that time while the Penguins went 14-2-0.

2017

Mark Streit and Frank Corrado

Of all players on this list, no one had a better Penguins debut relative to his tenure with the team than Streit, who at the time of his acquisition from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a fourth-round pick, was 39 years old and only months away from retirement.

The first of 22 games Streit would play for the Penguins (19 the rest of that regular season, three more in the playoffs as the Penguins claimed the Stanley Cup) came March 3 at home against the Lightning (a franchise Streit was a part of only as a go-between from the Flyers to the Penguins). Streit had two points, including what would be the final goal of his 786-game NHL career, in a 5-2 Penguins victory.

Corrado was a minor-leaguer at the time and did not play in the NHL until March 21 of that year, a 3-1 victory at the Buffalo Sabres that is best remembered for Sidney Crosby’s one-handed backhand goal. Corrado, who would play only two games for the Penguins that season and seven overall for the team, was a minus-1 in 9 minutes, 11 seconds of ice time in his first Penguins game.

2018

Derick Brassard and Josh Jooris

The Brassard trade actually came two days before the deadline, but it’ll count for these purposes because visa issues prevented his arrival in Pittsburgh until after the deadline.

What was one of the most eagerly anticipated in-season debuts by a Penguins trade acquisition in recent memory turned into a dud that foreshadowed Brassard’s tenure with the team. The Penguins lost, 3-2, at home to the Devils on Feb. 27, with Brassard getting no points and two shots on goal while being credited with four hits. The Penguins generated just 37.5% of the shot attempts when Brassard was on the ice, the fourth-worst figure on the team that night.

The acquisition of Jooris was in another stratosphere in terms of its news value, and the depth forward did not make his Penguins debut for another two weeks until he played 9 minutes, 42 seconds of a 5-2 defeat at Toronto on March 10, 2018. Jooris had one shot on goal among his 13 shifts.

2019

Erik Gudbranson

A lumbering defenseman who came from the Vancouver Canucks, Gudbranson played more than 20 minutes of his first Penguins game, being a minus-1 with three shots on goal, two hits and a blocked shot in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Sabres in Buffalo. The Penguins did manage strong puck-possession metrics during that game when Gudbranson was on the ice.

Bringing it all full-circle, though, was that the star of that game was none other than Sheary. He had two goals, including the winner with 48.2 seconds to play in OT.

Wednesday, he gets a second chance to make a first impression with the Penguins.

Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.