Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Muse said that despite Caleb Jones’s suspension ending this week, he would not play again this season because of an injury, and a statement would be forthcoming.
Friday, that statement came as the Penguins announced Jones, 28, is done for the year after shoulder surgery. He will be out for six months, which puts his return timeline somewhere near the start of next season.
This season, Jones earned a roster spot out of training camp and played seven games, primary beside defenseman Harrison Brunicke, but then he suffered a lower-body injury which kept him out for months. He was injured again on Jan. 30 during the first game of his conditioning assignment with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The final blow to Jones’s season came via the NHL, which issued a 20-game suspension for Jones testing positive for a performance enhancing substance, which he attributed to tainted material during his exosome therapy.
Cruz Lucius
The Penguins prospect pool took a small hit, and their return for the Jake Guentzel trade took a larger one this week when Kyle Dubas announced on his team-hosted radio show that collegiate forward Cruz Lucius would not sign with the club.
Lucius was eligible to sign with the Penguins following the conclusion of his season with the Arizona State hockey club. However, Dubas said Lucious declined.
Dubas also declined to provide Lucius’s reasons.
“He informed us that he was not going to be signing in Pittsburgh for a few reasons. That’s up to him to share. It’s a personal thing for him,” Dubas said on the show. “We felt we had a great opportunity for him, and the proof is in the pudding on the development side. But players are entitled to make their decision, and I don’t think we’re at the position here anymore where we have to beg people to come.”
After a couple of successful seasons at the University of Wisconsin, Lucius transferred to Arizona State. He had 15 goals and 46 points in 36 games this season, but Arizona State’s season did not extend to the NCAA tournament.
The prospect did not rate in the top 10 of PHN’s Penguins prospect pool, but was one of three prospects obtained in the Jake Guentzel trade. Vasily Ponomarev and Ville Koivunen were the other two.
Ponomarev left the organization last summer to join the KHL, but the Penguins retained his rights. Through other trades of draft picks, the Guentzel trade tree also includes 2024 second-round pick, Harrison Brunicke.
Lucius will become a free agent on Aug. 15, but the Penguins can trade his rights before then. The team acquired defenseman John Marino for a sixth-round pick in a similar swap of a player who would not sign (Edmonton).
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