1 week Ago By Seth Rorabaugh
Jack St. Ivany reached a minor milestone Friday, but he wasn’t aware it was approaching when the topic was brought up earlier in the week. The right-handed defenseman set a career high in games played when he dressed for his 15th contest of the season Friday, a 6-2 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He appeared in 14 games last season upon being recalled to the NHL roster. He isn’t particularly fixated on the quantity of games he has played. He’s just grateful for any that he gets to play.
“Anytime you get to put on an NHL sweater, it’s the coolest thing in the world,” St. Ivany said on Tuesday in Cranberry. “It’s definitely not something that I’m taking for granted.
Every chance I get to walk into a rink and see my name in the lineup, it’s an honor. ..
. That’s the coolest part about it. In terms of personal (accomplishments), it’s nothing much.
” (Note: St. Ivany still qualifies for rookie status based on having limited service time as an NHLer). The Penguins initially summoned St.
Ivany to the NHL roster last season on March 15 and — from his station on the third defensive pairing — he helped the club make a furious but futile dash for a playoff berth during the final stretches of the 2023-24 season. A pending restricted free agent this past offseason, he signed a three-year contract extension May 21 and entered training camp seemingly a favorite to open the season on the third NHL pairing. He acknowledges his first 15 games this season don’t have the same feel as the 14 he saw last season.
“It’s definitely different,” St. Ivany said. “Obviously, last year, the first couple of games were getting your feet wet.
And we were in a big playoff push. That was a different style of hockey, I felt like. We’ve played some really good teams so far this year.
It’s definitely been eye-opening. I feel like every game, I’m learning something. I’m not playing as high as my standards are.
I’m not playing at that level yet. Trying to continue to get better. It’s such a learning experience.
Every game, I feel like there’s something that I’m picking up.” St. Ivany has also picked up a few more minutes per game this season.
Before Saturday, he averaged 16 minutes, 13 seconds of ice time, an increase from the 13:42 he clocked last season. That increased workload is tied to the higher hopes he established thanks to his mostly satisfactory 14-game stretch last season. “The biggest difference is this year, there’s expectations,” coach Mike Sullivan said.
“Last year, there really wasn’t. He came up from (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), was a real pleasant surprise at how well he progressed and developed as a player and he played a really strong game for us. This year, he’s coming into training camp with with a whole different mindset and a belief that he could crack our opening night roster.
When expectations are on players, it’s very different.” St. Ivany appeared to be a lock to make the opening night roster in October.
That presumption was not shared by St. Ivany himself, but now that the team is nearly two months into the campaign, he is allowing himself to feel a bit more secure in being an NHLer. “Coming into camp, there was nothing guaranteed,” St.
Ivany said. “At least in my mind, I wasn’t 100% sure I would be on the team. In my head, if I’m going to be there, I’m going to work hard, I’m going to try to earn that spot.
But it wasn’t guaranteed. I was really coming in day by day. “Last week, I was able to move into a place.
It’s nice to be able to get that set up, that certainty that you can just get your own lifestyle established. ..
. (Team staffers) do a great job here with nutrition and staying on top of that. But it’s another thing to have a life away from the rink.
I can get myself settled in, and you can just build off that. All aspects of life, whether it be working out, eating right, coming to the rink with the right attitude and being positive, all those things will continue to make me a better player.”.
