CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Sidney Crosby, forever a World War II history buff, invested the better part of his summer traveling across Europe to see both the sites and the sights. Austria. Germany. Switzerland. Spain. England. Places where civilization-changing events occurred, and other places that were just pleasing to the eye.
"Amazing experience," the captain was telling me Wednesday. "Really puts everything into perspective."
Yeah, like a little loss in a hockey game.
And yet, there he was, with 13 other Penguins likely to make the opening-night lineup, chewing up the Lemieux Sports Complex ice for an hour-plus informal skate under the dogged supervision of one Patric Hornqvist -- "I don't think they like me anymore," the de facto drill instructor would muse later -- all while making clear that the collective intent is to get back in business.
Seriously, nine days before camp, nearly three quarters of the team was present: Crosby, Hornqvist, Carl Hagelin, Derick Brassard, Jake Guentzel, Matt Cullen, Dominik Simon, Zach Aston-Reese, Olli Maatta, Jack Johnson, Chad Ruhwedel, Jamie Oleksiak, Juuso Riikola and ... eventually, Brian Dumoulin.
He'd take the ice 15 minutes into the session, to a few playful sticktaps from his teammates and a high-five from Oleksiak, but he had an excuse: Dumoulin and his wife had driven from Boston, spent the night in Wilkes-Barre, then ran into a little traffic.
"My U-Haul's out back," Dumoulin cracked.
Why were so many already here?
"Because it's close to camp," as Brassard would tell me before a nod toward the stall with No. 87, "and because he's here."
As ever. Crosby had his overseas adventure, then spent the standard few weeks training in his native Nova Scotia, but he'd been back in Pittsburgh for a couple weeks and has been skating with teammates since then, though this was the first such session in which he participated that was open to the media.
I asked him about this past summer purely from the hockey perspective. You know, with someone else having been the Stanley Cup champion for the first time in three years:
He touched on a few other topics:
• On maybe feeling a little more rested: "Yeah, a little bit, I think. I don't think you can replicate going that deep into the playoffs. It's good to get a full summer and train, probably more mentally than anything. You know, coming in fresh and knowing that you lost the year before, you want to prove something."
• On seeing Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals finally win the Cup: "I don't know. I think you still think the same way. That's the team that beat you, and that's where you want to be, in that position. I wasn't watching the games in the Final. I was away. But definitely in the conference final, you could tell they seemed to get another gear. Maybe kind of getting over that hump in the second round was some weight off their shoulders and they just continued to elevate their game. They obviously deserved it."
• On adding Cullen and Johnson: "It was good. Our team's always looking to get better, and Jim Rutherford's always looking for ways to improve us. It's just exciting ... it's always good to bring in new guys ... well, in Cully's case, I guess he's not new ... but just guys who are excited to be here, who bring that energy. And combine that with youth, too, that helps a lot."
• On how little the overall roster has changed: "Yeah. Yeah, it does. I mean, we had a lot of turnover last year, so to see a lot of the same faces is nice. It's hard to do these days. It's hard to keep teams together. The more you can do that, the better it is, I think, especially at the start as far as getting everyone on the same page."
There's only one of this guy. Never forget it.
• Want it to feel like hockey season when it's still 90-plus degrees outside?
Here's Hagelin flying toward the crease:
You're welcome.
• Seeing Aston-Reese smile -- meaning seeing that jaw moving -- was the most uplifting scene of the morning. Our Cody Tucker spent a ton of time with him afterward, and he had a lot to share.
• Brassard, who arrived last Thursday after working out in Quebec with Kris Letang, hasn't been informed by anyone if he'll be tried on left wing, he told me after the session -- Rutherford and Mike Sullivan were in the building, by the way -- but he did make clear he wouldn't mind either way.
"I'm open for everything," Brassard told me. "We have a lot of good centers, and that's a good thing to have on your team. We've got Matt, who's an experienced guy, really good on faceoffs, good on PK."
I reminded Brassard that he's pretty good at some of that stuff, too.
"Oh, I know, I'm just saying I'm open for anything. Anything that helps the team, I'm going to do whatever."
• Brassard's early showing was a surprise, if only because the Quebec guys -- in general -- usually show right for the start of camp. He downplayed that when I brought it up, but he did acknowledge wanting to show the Penguins much more than he did in his initial stint following the seismic trade last spring.
"I've got to earn it. I know that," Brassard told me. "I'm playing on a good team. I'm with good players. I'm going to have to get on the ice, get some chemistry with guys and play well. I feel like I'll be starting from scratch, and I think that's going to help a lot."
• Cullen will turn 42 in early November, but he literally burst out laughing when I asked if he'd be looking at any kind of reduced role. With good reason: He's viewing this as his final NHL season, an approach he's never taken, and he'd rather just go for broke.
"I'm going all out. Why not?" Cullen told me with that familiar broad smile. "I've got no reason to hold anything back."
He looks ... different, by the way. Seven pounds lighter. Super-tight.
"I feel great. I really do."
• There might not be anyone in the NHL more deserving of a longer summer break than Maatta, after multiple offseasons of recovering from cancer, shoulder surgeries, hip ailments and, of course, two championships and a chugging walk on the Boulevard with Justin Schultz.
Wow, Maatta showed it, too. He was vocal, joking in the room, in a way I'm not sure I'd previously witnessed.
"I'm a new man!" he told me, still clearly joking. "No, really, I just feel good. It was a good summer. Couple months back in Finland, then I was back in London and getting ready. Relaxed a little. It's good. I'm ready to go."
The London he referenced is the one in Ontario, by the way. That's where his junior team's based, as well as the family that housed him while there.
• Another Finnish defenseman, Riikola, was staying much quieter, undoubtedly because he was the newest member of this group. He's 24, he spent the past three seasons with KalPa of Finland's top league, and he signed over the summer with Rutherford immediately -- and emphatically -- stating he's expected to compete for an NHL job.
For the moment, though, he sounded like he'd rather seek autographs.
"I am so excited to be here," the kid told me. "I am so grateful to be here."
I asked why.
"Why? Because this is my favorite team!"
Since ... ?
"Since I was a little boy. I've always liked how they play. I like to play the way the Penguins play. I skate a lot, move the puck, get aggressive. It's my style. It's the same style."
Upon first glance at these drills, that was easy to see. He stands 6 feet, 190 pounds, skates tall and controls the puck with an effortlessness beyond his years. That'll be fun to observe.
• Crosby gained the right edge of the blue line on a three-on-three drill, fed across to Guentzel, got the puck back at the right dot, looked up, saw the random minor-league goaltender delighted to be helping out on this day, decided he had nothing to gain from a slam dunk, then dished on his backhand -- from hash to hash -- to a wide-open Cullen for a one-timer.
Hockey's almost here.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins practice, Cranberry Township, Sept. 5, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
