Penguins place defenseman Jan Rutta on long-term injured reserve

On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed defenseman Jan Rutta on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 14.

Previously designated to regular injured reserve, Rutta has missed the past four games with an undisclosed injury.

Players designated to long-term injured reserve must be sidelined for 10 games and 24 days on the NHL calendar. For Rutta, he will not be eligible to return to the lineup until a road contest against the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 14.

In 42 games this season, Rutta has eight points (three goals, five assists) while averaging 17 minutes, 50 seconds of ice time per contest.

Additionally, the team placed forward Kasperi Kapanen on regular injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 14.

Kapanen has missed the past two games with an undisclosed ailment. In 35 games this season, Kapanen has 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) while clocking an average of 11:45 of ice time per contest.

Before Tuesday’s morning skate, Kapanen worked out on the ice with assistant coach Ty Hennes.

These transactions correspond with the team formally activating defenseman Kris Letang from long-term injured reserve.

Teams can temporarily relieve themselves of a player’s salary cap hit by placing him on long-term injured reserve. With Letang ($6.1 million) rejoining the active roster, the Penguins placed Rutta ($2.75 million) on long-term injured reserve to remain compliant with the NHL’s salary cap ceiling of $82.5 million.

According to Cap Friendly, the Penguins have $59,167 of salary cap space after Tuesday’s transactions.

Sidelined for the past 11 games with an undisclosed ailment, Letang has appeared in 29 games this season and leads the team’s defensemen with 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) and also leads the Penguins’ non-goaltenders with an average of 24:32 of ice time per contest.

Forward Josh Archibald was quietly transferred to long-term injured reserve on Monday, according to CapFriendly.

Sidelined since Dec. 18, Archibald has missed the past 15 games with an undisclosed injury and already meets the criteria to be removed from long-term injured reserve.

Sullivan endorses Tocchet

As the Penguins were in the midst of a 2-1 overtime road loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday, some of their former colleagues were conducting business on the other side of the continent.

Former Penguins assistant coach Rick Tocchet was hired by the Vancouver Canucks – led by former Penguins executives Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin – to be that franchise’s head coach. Tocchet was joined by another former Penguins assistant, Sergei Gonchar. His role in Vancouver will be similar to the capacity he had in Pittsburgh, and he will work on developing that team’s defensemen.

Each of them worked for Sullivan while with the Penguins, and their former boss offered a hearty endorsement.

“(Tocchet) is a terrific coach,” Sullivan said. “He’s a terrific person, he’s a great leader. He’s detail-oriented with his coaching. He builds relationships with his players. He’s just a good leader. I think he’ll do a terrific job. He’s a really good coach. Some of the people that he’s surrounded himself with will help him as well. Obviously, Sergei (Gonchar), I’m familiar with having been on our staff. … He’s a detailed guy. He does a great job with defensemen and the subtleties of that position and bringing his experience and insights. He does it in a way that’s non-threatening. He builds relationships with all the defensemen on the team. I think the combination will be really good.”

“I think the world of (Tocchet). He’s a really smart coach. He’s had a lot of experience. He brings a certain humility to the position that is admirable for me. He’s the first guy to say that he doesn’t have all the answers. But he’s going to roll up his sleeves, he’s going to figure it out with the people that are around him.”