CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Chad Ruhwedel never will have to craft a Norris Trophy acceptance speech.
He won't have to back out of plans for a family getaway because he's been selected to play in an All-Star Game, either.
And there's not much chance that he'll ever be a dominant presence in a Penguins highlights video.
Third-pairing defensemen don't often have to worry about such things.
But much like bottom-six forwards, guys who work on the No. 3 pairing have a value that often is greater than their public profile, especially on successful teams.
Indeed, men handling those duties well generally are part of the reason those teams are successful in the first place.
Ruhwedel's average ice time of 15 minutes, 46 seconds is the lowest among the six defensemen who have accounted for all but 21 man-games on the Penguins' blue line this season, in part because he's gotten a total of just 22 seconds on the power play.
A stopwatch isn't the only, let alone the best, way to measure a player's contribution, however, and the Penguins offered Ruhwedel a tangible acknowledgement of his value Saturday, re-signing him to a two-year contract.
The deal carries a salary-cap hit of $800,000, and while it's conceivable that Ruhwedel might have gotten more money if he'd explored unrestricted free agency this summer -- after all, there's always a market for capable right-handed defensemen -- he stressed that he had no interest in relocating.
"I want to be in Pittsburgh," he said after practice Tuesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. "I want to be a Penguin. This is where my heart is, for sure."
Although Ruhwedel's offensive stats are modest -- he has one goal and five assists in 48 games -- his reliable, responsible defensive work gives his partner, Mike Matheson, the latitude to get involved in the offense when an opportunity arises. It is not unlike the role Brian Dumoulin fills alongside Kris Letang on the top pairing.
"We've complemented each other well," Ruhwedel said.
That is, at least in part, because Ruhwedel has embraced the supporting-cast job he's been given.
"He plays the game within himself," Mike Sullivan said. "He defends hard. He has good mobility. He gets back to pucks. He helps us with the breakout. He's really developed his game into becoming a real effective penalty-killer. He's a guy who just plays a simple, reliable game. He's been one of those stabilizing defensemen for us."
After spending most of his previous five seasons here as a depth defenseman, Ruhwedel has played in a career-high number of games, and has held up pretty well under the increased workload.
"Right from the start of the year, I've had a good opportunity to show why I am part of this team, why I should be in the lineup," he said.
Consider the point made.
And while Ruhwedel isn't a threat to, say, bump Letang off the No. 1 pairing, his game has evolved nicely since the Penguins signed him as a free agent in 2017, after he had spent three-plus seasons in Buffalo's organization.
"His overall game has developed immensely in his time here," Sullivan said. "He's a more polished version of himself. His mobility, his puck skills, his first pass on helping us get out of our end zone, his ability to get pucks through on the offensive blue line ... all of those things have grown."
MORE FROM THE PRACTICE
• Teddy Blueger, who is recovering from a broken jaw, participated in a practice with his teammates for the first time since being injured. Sullivan said Blueger took part because the day's drills were structured for "skill development" and involved limited contact.
• Jake Guentzel, on having former teammate Matt Cullen fill in for injured assistant coach Todd Reirden: "It's different, but he has so much knowledge of the game. He's been around for so long that he knows a lot about it. ... We're happy to have him back there."
• Zach Aston-Reese had a "maintenance day," Sullivan said, which is why he did not take part in the practice. Aston-Reese is believed to have injured a foot in Toronto last Thursday, although he played against Carolina Sunday.
• Sullivan said the Jeff Carter-Evgeni Malkin-Danton Heinen unit has "shown the ability to be a real effective line. ... That line, since we made that change (in its makeup), has had more offensive-zone time. They've been pretty good since we put them together."
• The Penguins have lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since dropping three in a row Nov. 13-16. "We just have to make sure we get the next one to stop the bleeding," Guentzel said.
• Heinen suggested that the Penguins relatively inconsistent play of late stems from "a few little details, here and there" and that those issues can be corrected. "Everybody knows the way we can play when we're all going and we're all taking care of the little things," he said.
• There were no line rushes during the workout, which means there was no way of knowing if Sullivan plans to reconfigure any of his forward units for a game against the Devils Thursday.
