Penguins sign ex-Lightning defenseman Jan Rutta, create surplus on blue line
Penguins general manager Ron Hextall is sure of two axioms regarding his defense.
He currently has nine NHL-caliber defensemen under contract.
And not all of them will be on the roster when the Penguins open the 2022-23 season with a home contest against the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 13.
Figuring out how he parses one or two out of that group is anyone’s guess. Including Hextall’s.
“We’re certainly not going to have nine on the opening roster,” Hextall said. “I don’t know where that’s all going. Sometimes, you sit around and wait until something moves before you sign a guy.
“I’m not exactly sure where they’ll end up.”
One member of that nonet who isn’t going anywhere is Jan Rutta. The Penguins signed the former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman on Wednesday afternoon to a three-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $2.75 million.
Rutta, who will turn 32 on July 29, spent parts of the past four seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning and was a member of that franchise’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championship teams in 2020-2021. He just completed a two-year contract that had a salary cap hit of $1.3 million.
Last season, the right-hander appeared in a career-high 76 games and scored 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) while logging an average of 16:23 of ice time per game, including 1:11 of short-handed ice time per contest.
Rutta (6-foot-3, 204 pounds) helped the Lightning reach a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final last season in which the team fell to the Colorado Avalanche. During the 2022 postseason, Rutta appeared in 17 games and scored five points (one goal, four assists) and averaged 13:09 of ice time per contest.
Undrafted, the Czechia native has spent five seasons in the NHL with the Lightning as well as the Chicago Blackhawks.
“We felt like we wanted to get a little bit heavier on the backend,” Hextall said. “We feel Jan is a very good penalty killer. A real solid guy to play with really any (left-handed defenseman) on our team. We feel like it’s a good addition to our team. We feel like we got better and added a little bit of the girth that we feel like we needed in front of the net in penalty-killing situations. We like the (addition).”
That addition creates a surplus on the blue line.
Right-handers
Kris Letang - $6.1 million
John Marino - $4.4 million
Jan Rutta - $2.75 million
Chad Ruhwedel - $800,000
Mark Friedman - $775,000
Left-handers
Mike Matheson - $4.875 million
Brian Dumoulin - $4.1 million
Marcus Pettersson - $4,025,175
P.O Joseph - $825,000
Joseph, perhaps the top prospect in the organization, signed a new two-year, one-way contract on Tuesday and will need to clear waivers for any transactions that involve Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Someone will have to go.
“We have nine defensemen, Hextall said. “That’s a couple too many. If we can move a defenseman for a forward, something like that, move a defenseman for (a future asset), those are the types of things that we’ll be looking at. I don’t know when or where. Once you get through free agency, the dust kind of settles then everybody kind of knows exactly what they have so sometimes it’s easier to make moves. We’ll see what comes along in the next month or so and we’ll make moves when we see the time (as) appropriate.”
What about 2023 free agents?
By rule, NHL teams are now allowed to sign contract extensions with players who are scheduled to become free agents – unrestricted or restricted – in 2023. For the Penguins, goaltender Tristan Jarry, forward Teddy Blueger and defenseman Brian Dumoulin are their most prominent players fitting that designation.
Hextall said he hasn’t yet begun to address potential new deals with any pending 2023 free agents. But that may pop up on his radar soon.
“We’ll get to that in the next few weeks here,” Hextall said. “I’ve never been one to be in a hurry with that stuff. That doesn’t mean we won’t do anything. … We don’t typically talk to players during the season. It’s a little bit of a distraction. Doesn’t mean we never will, it’s not a policy. So we’ll see where that goes. We’ll have some discussions internally and make some decisions as we go along.”
Optimistic on Kapanen
Restricted free agent forward Kasperi Kapanen remains unsigned. He could potentially file for salary arbitration but Hextall doesn’t seem to think things will progress that far.
“I’m sure we’ll get something done,” Hextall said. “Whether (Kapanen files for arbitration), don’t know where it’s headed right now. Typically, both sides have a range where you know you’re going to be. So we’re pretty comfortable with a range that we believe that we’ll be in. I spoke with (agent Markus Lehto) at the (NHL Draft last week). I don’t think (Kapanen) is going to be a problem.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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