Gaudreau Gets His Opportunity
By
Michelle Crechiolo
Penguins Team Reporter
He had played in 84 career NHL games with Nashville, recording three goals, five assists and eight points. Gaudreau also appeared in eight contests during the Predators' 2017 playoff run, scoring three goals against the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final.
"Freddy was a guy that that our hockey operations department identified as someone that could check those boxes, so to speak," head coach Mike Sullivan said.
From Gaudreau's end, he actually had more offers than expected, and had to make a decision quickly. What was important to the 27-year-old forward was joining an organization where players earned their opportunities.
"Everything I heard about this organization was that they were a first-class organization who gives guys what they felt those guys were deserving," Gaudreau said. "Sometimes you can feel like you're getting caught in a business, and that's not what I was wanting.
"I wanted to feel like I would get what I deserve and every time you come to the rink and you work for something you feel like at one point, it's going to come to you."
Tonight, it did, as Gaudreau got the chance to make his Penguins debut in their 3-2 loss to New Jersey at Prudential Center with Evgeni Malkin and Teddy Blueger both out of the lineup due to injury. It was his first NHL game since March 30, 2019 against Columbus.
"It's been a while, almost two years now that I've played in this league, so it feels good," he said. "Obviously, you want to get in and end up with a win. It didn't happen, but just to get out there for my first game in a while, it feels really good."
Gaudreau slotted into the fourth-line center role between Colton Scevior and Anthony Angello, logging 9:05 minutes of ice time, recording two shots and winning three of six faceoffs.
Prior to the game, Sullivan lauded Gaudreau's versatility and ability to play in multiple positions and roles. He did that this evening, seeing some time on the second power-play unit.
"I think the message was clear in terms of, since those guys are out, everybody has a different opportunity - so just make the best of it and just compete," Gaudreau said. "Just compete every shift we were out there, and that was basically it."
Until tonight, Gaudreau had been splitting his time between Pittsburgh's taxi squad and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
With WBS, he's suited up for six games, registering one goal, three assists, four points and a plus-3. With the taxi squad, Gaudreau has done his best to stay ready through working with skills and development coach Ty Hennes, keeping his fitness level high and improving different aspects of his game.
While Gaudreau acknowledged that he would much rather play than practice, he made sure to keep a positive mindset the entire time - saying how fortunate he felt to be doing what he loved during a difficult time, and in his experience, things can change quickly in this business.
"I think you just got to take it day by day, really," he said. "There's so many things that can happen. I think one day you wake up and they're sending you to Wilkes-Barre and you go play some games there. Then the next day you're back on the taxi squad and you don't really play much, you just practice. But I think every day, no matter what, is a great opportunity to try to improve. And we have Ty here in our practices, that helps us to get better. It's obviously different than the previous season, but every day is still a great opportunity to improve and get better."
And if Gaudreau draws back in on Saturday against the Devils, he hopes to do just that.
"For sure the first one is a little weird, in a way, because it's been such a long time that I played in that league," he said. "So just to get all my cues out there and kind of feel the game again, I'm sure the second game would be different, and I would feel more confident, for sure."
