2024-25 Season in Review: Bryan Rust

As consistent as ever, Bryan Rust reached new heights with a career best season in 2024-25.

Vitals

Player: Bryan Rust
Born: May 11, 1992 (Age 32 season)
Height: 5’ 11”
Weight: 198 pounds
Hometown: Pontiac, Michigan
Shoots: Right
Draft: 2010 third round (80th overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins
2024-25 Statistics: 71 games played, 31 goals, 34 assists = 65 points
Contract Status: Rust has three seasons remaining on a six year deal signed back in 2022 with an AAV of $5.125 per season. The no movement clause that came with the contract is set to expire on July 1st.
History: 2023-24 (58% A, 40% B); 2022-23 (65% C, 23% D); 2021-22 (80% A, 20% B); 2020-21 (61% A, 37% B); 2019-20 (91% A, 9% B); 2018-19 (60% B, 27% C); 2017-18 (40% A, 52% B).

Monthly Splits

via Yahoo!

Story of the Season

Aside from his linemate Sidney Crosby, no Pittsburgh Penguins player has been as consistent since the turn of the decade as Bryan Rust. This season marked the sixth straight campaign in which Rust has topped 40+ points, and the fourth time in that span that he has gone over 50 points. It’s also his sixth straight season of 20+ goals.

To top it all off, Rust set career highs across the board in 2024-25, reaching the 30 goal mark for the first time with 31, tying a career high in assists with 34, all totaling to a new career high of 65 points. Rust managed all this while playing 71 games, the third most in a season in his now 11-year career.

Injuries (and COVID) were one issue that always seemed to hold Rust back from hitting higher career marks, but even with missing 11 games in 2024-25, he reached new highs across the board. He was drafted as a third round lottery ticket 15 years ago and developed into one of the most important Penguins of the Crosby/Malkin generation of Penguins hockey.

Regular season 5v5 advanced stats

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Ranking is out of 17 forwards on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes.

Corsi For%: 49.3% (13th)
Goals For%: 46.7% (7th)
xGF%: 49.8% (9th)
Scoring Chance %: 46.8% (13th)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 49.4% (10th)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 11.0% (1st)
On-ice save%: .879% (17th)
Goals/60: 1.15 (1st)
Assist/60: 1.1 (3rd)
Points/60: 2.25 (2nd)

From an analytics perspective, Rust took a bit of a slide back in terms of his possession numbers this season, while his offensive rates remained right near the top. Being a part of one of the worst defensive teams in hockey doesn’t bode well for anyone, and while the Penguins top line did generate good offense, there was still much to be desired on the defensive side and that will show with Crosby and Rickard Rakell as well.

Rust’s shooting percentage at 5-on-5 was highest on the team for the second straight season, but he got absolutely no help from the goaltending when he was on the ice. Being one of the most productive players shines through as he led the team in G/60 and was top three in A/60 and P/60 this season.

Charts n’at

Via Advanced Hockey Stats and NHL Edge

This is about what you should expect to see from a guy like Rust after the season he had and by looking at the analytics. He remains a great offensive player and that does a lot to make up for the defensive numbers. He’s playing on the top line and going up against the best the opponent has to offer every night. He produces at a consistent rate which he has done for over a decade now.

Rust scores, he creates chances, he’s good on the rush and gets the puck into the zone successfully much more often than not. He has developed a reputation as a penalty killer but the underlying numbers don’t lend a ton of support to that reputation. In fact, he’s not much of a special teams ace in any scenario. Five-on-five hockey is where he thrives.

Despite being 32 years old, Rust can still scoot on the ice, even if his top end speed has dropped off compared to his younger seasons. He still produces fast bursts just not quite as fast. Playing on a top line with Crosby and Rakell makes his skating ability a huge plus and leads to higher production. He’s never had the most dangerous shot in terms of speed and power, but he’s deadly accurate and gets to pucks in the dirty areas.

Here is the best visualization of Rust decline in top end speed as he has aged. At one time he played faster than almost anybody in the league, but now as 32 years old, his speed bursts have dropped.

Rust has developed into a wizard around the goal, a potential side effect of playing with Sidney Crosby all these years. Of this 31 goals this season, 13 came from from the high danger area in the offensive zone, where he generated a whopping 79 shots on goal.

Highlights

Questions to ponder

Rust will be 33 by the time the puck drops on next season, so it seems fair to wonder how much longer can he keep up this type of play. Crosby is an alien so watching him post 90 point seasons doesn’t feel all that out of the ordinary, but most players don’t age as gracefully as Sid has.

We already discussed how Rust’s top end speed has declined as he has aged, but the scoring has shown no signs of slowing down. He’s made the high danger area his home and has found great success both scoring and assisting from that area. With a slew of young prospects set to make the leap next season, it will be interesting to see where Rust slots in come October. If he’s still skating with 87 and 67 then you should be able to sharpie in another stellar season from Rust.

Ideal 2025-26

It doesn’t get much more ideal in terms of production for Bryan Rust than what he did in 2024-25, but a lot of what happens in 2025-26 will depend on where he falls in the lineup like discussed above. Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen are ready kick down to the door to the NHL for good come fall and both will be hunting for Top-6 playing time.

Rust made a killing with Crosby and Rakell on the top line this season and one has to think that unit will stay together for at least the beginning of next season, but with a new coach coming into the fold and the young guns ready to make an impact, nothing is a guarantee. If Rust does stick right where he is, a repeat season in 2025-26, or at least another season like we have become accustomed to is very much the expectation.

Bottom line

There isn’t much left to write about Bryan Rust that hasn’t been said at some point during his career at this point. Injuries often spoiled what could have been career seasons many times before, but even missing 11 games this season, Rust was able to overcome and put together the best campaign of his career while playing on the worst team of his career.

When we look back on this Penguins season in years to come, it won’t be remembered for must other than the struggles the team endured, but one of the few constants remained Bryan Rust. New career highs in goals and points from Rust likely helped prevent the Penguins from being a true basement dweller.