Penguins A to Z: Can Jonathan Gruden make a bigger impact?
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With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Jonathan Gruden
Position: Center
Shoots: Left
Age: 22
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 190 pounds
2021-22 AHL statistics: 75 games, 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists).
Contract: In the second year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $788,333. Pending restricted free agent in the 2023 offseason.
Acquired: Trade, Oct. 7, 2020
Last season: Jonathan Gruden had the notoriety of leading the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in games played last season as he appeared in 75 of their 76 regular season contests.
That’s something of a double-edged sword.
First, it’s good. That means he largely avoided injury or illness, the latter being a considerable accomplishment in the midst of a pandemic.
It’s also not good in the sense that he never seemed to be on the radar for a potential recall to the NHL roster at any time during a season when the Pittsburgh Penguins dealt with all sorts of absences due to health-related woes.
Part of that could be related to the fact that he did not generate a goal until his 35th game of the season, a 4-0 road win against the Cleveland Monsters on Jan. 28.
In fairness, Gruden was predominately deployed as the center of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s fourth line and that was by design given his two-way game.
A 30-goal scorer at the junior level who skated on the top line of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) as recently as the 2019-20 season, Gruden had thrown himself fully into becoming a bottom-six forward as well as a penalty killer in his first two professional seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Gruden’s offense picked up a bit later in 2021-22 as he scored 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) in his final 37 games of the regular season. During the postseason, Gruden appeared in five of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s six playoff games — he was suspended for one contest — and recorded three points (one goal, two assists).
The future: Gruden has largely done what’s been asked of him by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coaches and performed those tasks dutifully.
But the clock is ticking for him, particularly with other forward prospects such as Valtteri Puustinen, Drew O’Connor, Filip Hallander and others all earning recalls this past season. And more talented forward prospects such as Sam Poulin and Nathan Legare are a year further into their respective developments.
Gruden has acumen. He’s the son of former NHL defenseman and coach John Gruden, so he knows the game. And he was a mid-level draft pick, selected in the fourth round (No. 95 overall) by the Ottawa Senators in 2018. Acquired as part of the 2020 trade that sent former franchise goaltender Matt Murray to the Senators, Gruden is a legit prospect.
But he needs to make a bigger impact during the final year of his entry-level contract in order to garner a recall to the NHL roster next season.