Old friends still kicking along in the playoffs
The Penguins aren’t in the NHL playoffs this spring, but several of their former players are. Let’s check in with (hopefully) a complete list of those still involved. For this purpose if a player is around but not dressed or playing games, they’re not that involved.
Toronto, Colorado, Los Angeles – no Penguin alums
Ryan Reaves hasn’t played in the NHL since March 2nd (in a game against Pittsburgh, funny enough) and only three games since the beginning of February. We’ll see if he gets back in there at any point for the Maple Leafs but he’s not even on the NHL roster at the moment.
New Jersey – Brian Dumoulin, Cody Glass, Stefan Noesen, Daniel Sprong
The Devils have the most ex-Penguins via numbers, though Sprong was back to healthy scratch status for Game 2. Glass has been involved in one of the most unfortunate plays of the early playoffs when his own goalie accidentally chopped him in the no-no zone.
Minnesota – Freddy Gaudreau, Vinnie Hinostroza, Marc-Andre Fleury
Former Penguin draft pick FIlip Gustafsson has been one of the first stars of this playoff season with a 2-1 record and .922 save% in the early going against Vegas. It doesn’t look like Fleury will play again, but his career has had so many unexpected starts, stops, twists and turns that the Flower can’t quietly go out as a backup watching from the bench, can he?
Dallas – Mikael Granlund, Cody Ceci, Casey DeSmith
Kinda funny that the Stars have some of the more unpopular/polarizing former Penguins all put together. Granlund and Ceci each have one assist a piece in the first three games of the playoffs, DeSmith is the backup.
Florida – Evan Rodrigues, Dmitri Kulikov
Kulikov makes for an excellent choice in the “remember some guys” game. He fits in very well with the Panthers, and seemingly no where else. Rodrigues has been held without a point in FLA’s first two games, he was great (15 points in 24 games) for them last playoff run.
Carolina – Jordan Staal, (Mark Jankowski)
Executive decision to include Jankowski, even though he’s been the 13th forward to start the playoffs since he did the funniest thing by scoring six goals in his first seven games with Carolina after coming over as a trade throw-in.
Washington – Anthony Beauvillier, Lars Eller
Beauvillier was playing lower line minutes but has shown his versatility by moving up the lineup to play with Alex Ovechkin due to an injury suffered by Aliaksei Protas. Pretty cool season for the guy they call Tito, has there even been anyone who has played a fair bit on a line with Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby within the very same season? Don’t think there is (maybe Evgeni Malkin if including Olympic competition, but even then Malkin didn’t typically play extended, regular stretches with Crosby). Protas is expected back soon which will likely end Beauvillier’s stint in that role, but his additional has been a valuable pickup for Washington.
Vegas – Reilly Smith, Tanner Pearson
Smith has scored a goal for Vegas. That was the place he always wanted to be, glad enough for him to get to go back.
Ottawa – David Perron
What a career for Perron, who turns 37 soon. The Sens are his seventh NHL team, injured limited him to only 43 regular season games this season but Perron is back at the most important time of year and joined up with Ottawa just in time for them to make a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
Tampa – Jake Guentzel
Ho hum, Guentzel scored 41 goals and 80 points his first season with the Lightning, just like he always seems to be right at the 40G/80 point mark when healthy. Guentzel scored in Game 1, always has a knack for postseason production. Down 2-0 and heading out on the road, Tampa needs Guentzel more than ever against such a tough opponent in Florida.
Montreal – Mike Matheson
Matheson has a tough and thankless job, he eats a big portion of tough minutes and tries to gut through it and that opens up Lane Hutson for the more glamorous opportunities. It’s wild to think that Matheson is still on the very same contract he was playing on when with Pittsburgh, that feels like a long time ago at this point, and it still has one more season to go. Overall it’s been a wild ride for Matheson’s perception but back in his home province of Quebec he has played some of the best hockey of his career.
Winnipeg – Brandon Tanev, Luke Schenn (does he count?)
Tanev had a full circle moment by getting traded back to the team that drafted him. There’s a lot of “if not now, then when” vibes for the Jets, would be nice to see them get to go on the type of deep run that galvanizes one of the league’s smallest markets. You know Tanev will give his very best effort to add to that.
St. Louis – Oskar Sundqvist
Sundqvist was pretty good for the Blues when they won their Cup back in 2019 (9 points in 25 games), they’ll be hoping for his typical solid self on a bottom line this playoff.
Edmonton – (Kasperi Kapanen)
Kapanen has been a healthy scratch for the first two games, this was written before Game 3 where he might have made his playoff debut. Kapanen put up 13 points in 57 games after being picked up by the Oilers on waivers earlier this season, he got a chance to play with some of the big guns but has fallen out of favor and down the depth chart.
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Are you watching or cheering specifically for any former Penguin players? Would you like to see any of them win the Stanley Cup or does that only matter to Flyers fans?