With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2023-24 season coming to an end without any postseason action, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 51 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from fourth-line center Noel Acciari to reserve winger Radim Zohorna.
This series is scheduled to be published every weekday leading into the second day of the NHL Draft on June 29.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)
Jonathan Gruden
Position: Center
Shoots: Left
Age: 24
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 190 pounds
2023-24 NHL statistics: 13 games, one point (one goal, zero assists), 8:40 of ice time per game
2023-24 AHL statistics: 47 games, 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists)
2023-24 AHL postseason statistics: Two games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists)
Contract: Signed to a one-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000. Pending restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
(Note: Gruden is eligible for arbitration.)
Acquired: Trade, Oct. 7, 2020
This season: Jonathan Gruden’s numbers were down across the board with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2023-24.
Then again, he set career highs – modest ones, to be sure – at the NHL level thanks to being recalled to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ roster seven different times over the course of the season.
Gruden’s back-and-forth campaign began late in training camp when he was waived Sept. 28 and then assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after going unclaimed the next day.
Opening the season as the center of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s fourth line, Gruden scored in the season opener, a 4-2 road win against the Charlotte Checkers on Oct. 13.
What a snipe from Gruds! pic.twitter.com/0tCDvgKliW
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 14, 2023
Gruden remained in that station on the fourth line by the time he was recalled to the NHL roster for the first time on Oct. 14 (and was sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the same day). As a result, his offensive figures were limited as he posted only three points (two goals, one assist) in his first 12 AHL contests of 2023-24.
While Gruden largely remained in a bottom-six role — with some power-play duties added in — with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, his offensive production picked up as he collected seven points (three goals, four assists) in his next nine AHL games before being summoned to the NHL roster again Dec. 8.
Gruds was at the right place at the right time ???? pic.twitter.com/Rw9j6tsU7Y
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) November 25, 2023
After four uneventful NHL contests, he was once again assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Dec. 18.
Gruden remained in Northeast Pennsylvania for the next eight weeks — including a five-game stretch in which he was sidelined due to an undisclosed injury — before being recalled once again Feb. 15 (and being sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton three days later).
Another recall on “leap day” (Feb. 29) proved to be something of a springboard for Gruden, who wound up playing the most meaningful hockey of his NHL existence over the next 10 days.
In six games over that stretch, Gruden found work on the third line and routinely skated north of 10 minutes a contest over that span. He even scored his first career NHL goal during a 4-3 road loss to the Calgary Flames on March 2.
Pittsburgh goal!
Scored by Jonathan Gruden with 03:18 remaining in the 1st period.
Calgary: 0
Pittsburgh: 1#PITvsCGY #Flames #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/Z99LSH87Lq— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 3, 2024
In managing their day-to-day salary cap figures, Penguins management had to shift Gruden between the NHL and AHL roster repeatedly and even had to expose him to waivers again March 11. After he went unclaimed, Gruden went back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the next day, only to be recalled again by March 19 (and sent back March 20).
After being recalled yet again on March 26 and getting into a fight with Carolina Hurricanes forward Stephen Noesen that same day in a 4-1 home win at PPG Paints Arena, Gruden was sent back to the AHL Penguins on March 29.
His cross-commonwealth travels might have continued, but an undisclosed injury suffered March 30 sidelined him for the final eight games of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s season.
Healthy and recovered by the opening of the postseason, Gruden appeared in both of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s playoff games and did not record a point while skating as a bottom-six center.
The future: While he is certainly not the Penguins’ most important piece of business to attend to this upcoming offseason, the Penguins have to make a decision on Gruden.
As a pending restricted free agent, the team must at the very least tender a qualifying offer to him in order to retain his NHL rights. But doing so could lead to the unpleasant specter of arbitration, which all parties involved typically try to avoid.
If Gruden is worthy of anything more than another one-year, two-way contract, that is a fair debate.
But he is a useful player to have around, even if he isn’t in a regular NHL role. A fundamentally sound bottom-six forward, he blends his fundamentals with the versatility of playing wing or center and brings the type of energy befitting a bottom-six forward fighting for an NHL paycheck.
Getting recalled to the NHL is obviously a good thing. And getting recalled seven times is even better, though there are challenges with so much transit.
Gruden’s next challenge will be staying in the NHL.
Follow the Penguins all season long.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
