Penguins forward Sam Poulin shows promise in NHL debut

Former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was never afraid to deal away a first-round pick.

In fact, one might accuse him of being uncomfortable with hanging on to such assets.

During his tenure with the team, Rutherford traded away five first-round picks in the seven drafts he oversaw. That doesn’t include his first first-rounder with the Penguins, forward Kasperi Kapanen (2014), who was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015 offseason to land All-Star forward Phil Kessel, who was a major component of the franchise’s Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017.

The one pick Rutherford held on to and never moved to another team came in 2019. That’s when he selected forward Sam Poulin at No. 21 overall.

Sure, Rutherford entertained a few offers for the pick as well as Poulin himself. But Rutherford didn’t take any of those potential deals seriously.

He knew the Penguins couldn’t leave the prospect pool completely dry.

Just over three years later, Rutherford is now the president of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks and Poulin is a member of the Penguins.

On Tuesday, he made his NHL debut in a 4-1 road loss to the Calgary Flames. He replaced injured veteran forward Jason Zucker, who was hobbled a night earlier in a 6-3 road loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

Without a morning skate Tuesday, Poulin found out he would be playing his first NHL game at the team’s hotel in Calgary.

“It was certainly crazy,” Poulin said to media in Calgary after Tuesday’s game. “I learned it (Tuesday) afternoon. … A quick turn of events.”

Those events were put into motion Sunday when the team placed injured forward Teddy Blueger on long-term injured reserve — a designation that won’t allow him to play until Nov. 5 at the earliest — and recalled Poulin as well as veteran forward Drake Caggiula from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Poulin had a fairly strong training camp as well as preseason in which he recorded two assists in three games. That led to him being among the final cuts from training camp. With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he scored one goal in four games before being summoned to the NHL.

Tuesday’s contest was hardly perfect for Poulin. He committed a turnover that led to the Flames’ second goal in the second period.

After making an offensive zone entry on the left wing, Poulin lost the puck almost immediately. Flames forward Nazem Kadri claimed the loose puck in front of his bench and made a quick transition to offense, generating a two-on-one rush with Tyler Toffoli against Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry. As Jeff Carter made a valiant effort to backcheck and take away Toffoli as a pass option, Kadri elected to fire a wrister from the right circle past Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith’s blocker on the far side.

Poulin made amends for that miscue later in the middle period when he earned a secondary assist on the Penguins’ lone goal by forward Evgeni Malkin on a power-play opportunity.

After DeSmith used his right leg to boot out a pass-off-pads tactic from the right wing by Flames forward Mikael Backlund, Malkin picked up the rebound above the left circle and immediately transitioned into an offensive rush by dealing a pass to Poulin across the ice. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Poulin centered a pass to the slot for Carter, who fired a low wrister that was rejected by goaltender Jacob Markstrom’s left skate. The rebound deflected to the right circle, where Malkin claimed it and swept in a forehand shot by Markstrom’s left foot on the near side.

In total, Poulin logged 12:17 of ice time on 15 shifts, recorded an assist, two penalties minutes, two shots on three attempts, one blocked shot and was 5 for 10 (50%) on faceoffs.

Additionally, the presence of Poulin in the lineup — along with Malkin (2004), forward Sidney Crosby (2005) and Kapanen — offered something of a rarity for the Penguins, who dressed four of their own first-rounders in the same contest for the first time in more than five years.

The most recent occasion that happened came in a 4-1 road loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on March 1, 2017 when Crosby, Malkin, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (2003) and defenseman Derrick Pouliot (2012) all dressed.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who can offer a limited economy of praise for rookies, gave a strong endorsement of Poulin’s debut.

“Sam played well,” Sullivan said. “He brought us a lot of energy. Obviously, your first NHL game, you never forget those experiences. That’s a big deal. We’re just real encouraged with how far he’s come and how his game is evolving. He’s earned the opportunity to play in this game (Tuesday night).”

Poulin knows he’ll have to keep earning an opportunity to stay in the lineup.

“It’s a different level, that’s for sure,” Poulin said. “So I got less (ice) time than in the (AHL). But I guess as I’ll get more games, I’ll get more used to it.”

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