PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was important to forward Bryan Rust to stay in Pittsburgh. He started his career here, won championships, met his wife, they had a son. Now he’s excited to finish it here.
It seems more routine for Pens fans because of having Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang here for 16 seasons. Mario Lemieux spanning three decades. Now Rust would spend 14 years here assuming he finishes out his six-year contract signed Saturday night.
“The opportunity to have that happen,” Rust said about staying in Pittsburgh. “It’s cool. A lot of pride comes with being able to say you played with one organization for most, if not all, your career. That definitely played a little bit of a factor when making this decision.”
The whole day on Saturday was cool for Rust. He had his son’s first birthday party during the day and then had a contract celebration party with the same family and friends at night.
He took less to stay here, but did get the extended time. He says he’s not sure what else could have been out there in free agency, but he couldn’t be happier with the deal that was done.
“Terms of the contract was important,” Rust said. “Six years was a long time. Talking to my agent we were going back and forth about what could have happened. Our mindset was to get something done in Pittsburgh.”
“There was a little bit of a discount taken, but we are happy here. This is a number (6-years, $30.75 million) we are really happy with, I am happy with. If that helps add some other guys that would like to be here and like a chance to win with this team. That is awesome.”
Did Rust have conversations with Malkin and Letang about their futures before deciding to lock into this deal with the Pens?
“I would love to have those guys around,” Rust said Sunday. “They have become good friends of mine. I’m not sure where they stand. As a player on this team, we would love to have those players back. We will see where the rest of the summer goes, but they are guys we want to keep.”
Rust can’t control their decision, but is glad to get six more seasons with the Pens. Coming from scoring five goals in his first 55 games to now become nearly a point-per-game forward.
“Everybody does such a good job of making Pittsburgh an unbelievable place to play,” Rust said. “We get treated so well. We pretty much get anything we would want. The facilities are fantastic. All of that is above and beyond.”
“Away from the rink, we love the City of Pittsburgh. It’s pretty close to home for me, not too far for my wife. Good to have our families visit us. This is where Kelsey and I met. This is where we had a son. This is definitely near and dear to our heart.”
And now six more seasons to make new memories.