Gaunce taking advantage of Penguins' depleted blue line
It's been a long road to NHL relevance for Cameron Gaunce.
Drafted in the second round (50th overall) by the Colorado Avalanche in 2008, the defenseman had appeared in only 20 NHL games prior to signing as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer.
Gaunce spent the majority of this season with the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, but was recently pressed into duty with the big club after injuries to Kris Letang, Olli Maata, Trevor Daley, and Ron Hainsey.
He scored his second career goal and added an assist in Friday's shootout loss to the New York Islanders, and seems to have found favor with Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan on the third pairing alongside Mark Streit:
Coach Sullivan on Gaunce: "He is a steady, solid player. He is strong underneath the hashmarks. He's a heavy body. He can kill penalties."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 26, 2017
Whether he sticks with the club when everyone comes back from injury remains to be seen, but, at the very least, he's raising his profile and making a case for an upgrade on his one-year, $575,000 deal.