Kovacevic: Gudbranson's fight for a better fit taken in Cranberry, Pa. (DK'S GRIND)

Nick Bjugstad and Erik Gudbranson at practice Wednesday in Cranberry. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Everyone gets a little bigger.

For all the advanced metrics now influencing ice hockey across the globe, there remains none to measure the immediate impact of Erik Gudbranson on the Penguins' roster. And I'm not talking about his first practice Wednesday at the Lemieux Sports Complex. I'm not talking about his first game, coming up Friday in Buffalo. I'm not even talking about his first fight, whenever that might occur.

Nope. I'm talking about this ...

"We're a bigger, stronger team," Zach Aston-Reese was telling me after the practice. "Look around. You can see it. You can feel it."

Feel it?

"Everyone feels it. When you lose a guy like Rig, everyone feels it. So you feel this, too."

"Rig" is Jamie Oleksiak, of course.

Beautifully worded. And pretty much echoed from stall to stall.

Because it's not just Gudbranson, his 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame and his 27 NHL fights having that effect. It's been the addition of Nick Bjugstad, who's 6-6, 215. It's been the earlier addition of Marcus Pettersson, who's a terribly wiry 6-3, 177, but uses that size for length and range. It's been the increased prominence of Garrett Wilson. It's been the return to health of Aston-Reese. And yeah, it's been a couple of the best games anyone's seen from Jack Johnson in a good while.

No, the Penguins aren't exactly the Grant Street Bullies. They aren't even the current Jets, who strikingly just added 6-5 Kevin Hayes to what already had been the league's biggest lineup.

But they are bigger. And to hear them tell it -- not any analysts, reporters, bloggers or fans, but the participants themselves -- they're feeling bigger.

"It makes a difference," Johnson was telling me. "I think everyone can appreciate it."

"There's still room for size and toughness in the game," Matt Cullen said. "In the modern game, everyone's got to be able to play, but you can still see the effect of having more size, more strength."

That's certainly what Gudbranson hopes to add, from the sound of his candidly stated expectations.

"I'll add some physicality, for sure," he spoke, standing with hands on hips, to the assembled media. "Obviously, I just want to come here and solidify the back end as much as possible. My game's pretty simple. Keep stuff in front of me. Be tough in front of the net. Be physical on guys. That's my plan."

It's evidently part of a broader plan on the Penguins' part, too. That starts with Jim Rutherford adding the aforementioned pieces -- while sending out far softer players in Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan and Tanner Pearson, I might add -- and it extends to Mike Sullivan.

Honestly, it does.

Yeah, yeah, I'm aware Sullivan didn't utilize Ryan Reaves when he had him. I'm also aware that Reaves could have been one hell of a counter for Tom Wilson in the playoff loss to the Capitals last spring. But I'm equally aware that this is a coach who isn't timid about adjusting based on altered circumstance. And though he still mostly downplays anything that doesn't involve speed, skill and defensive diligence, he's also made more references to being "physical," at least by his definition, this season than in his first three seasons combined.

His definition: Do what you've got to do to win the puck.

"We certainly want to bring a physical element to our game, because that's part of being hard to play against," he'd explain on this day when the topic was broached. "But I would almost argue that, if you have too many hits, you probably don't have the puck very much."

At the same time, all concerned have cringed for far too long now at seeing their best players get punished, as happened over the past week against the Sharks, Flyers and Blue Jackets. When San Jose's Evander Kane stood near the Penguins' bench during a TV timeout, brazenly staring at the coaches' whiteboard feigning to get a glimpse at their coming strategy, he's known to have comically spoken to someone nearby, "Who over there's going to stop me?"

Cheap, cheesy machismo?

Sure, but sports is filled with the stuff. Let's not pretend it doesn't matter to those at ice level, to their psyche, to their sense of confidence. Let's not pretend it doesn't affect actual performance.

Gudbranson, very clearly, gets that.

"You always have to be there to support your teammates," as he'd tell me. "That's always been part of the hockey culture, sticking together, caring about one another, letting them know you'll be there for them."

As Gudbranson was speaking, Pettersson, his partner in this practice, sat at the next stall listening attentively. It hit me in that moment that Pettersson, at least conceptually, just got a whole lot tougher, like all the rest.

So, naturally, I mentioned instead to Gudbranson that it was he who was getting a whole lot tougher by being partnered with the mighty Pettersson. To which Gudbranson laughed but Pettersson didn't.

"Hey, I've been in four fights this year," Pettersson said, turning to his new mate.

"You have?" Gudbranson came back.

"Yeah. I didn't throw a single punch in any of them," Pettersson giggled, "but I've been in four fights."

"Well," Gudbranson replied, "you're done with that."

I'm not overstating this concept, but again, don't tell me it doesn't matter. If it matters to them, then it matters.

But what'll matter more, without a doubt, is how Gudbranson shows as a defenseman. And to that end, as he freely acknowledged in our long talk, he's got work ahead. His minus-27 rating is the league's worst and, even with that stat being devalued over time, that figure hits hard over 60-plus games. He was reading and hearing much of the same criticism in Vancouver that Johnson's attracted here, some of that due to advanced metrics that were even less flattering, some due to simply being seen far too often when the Canucks would concede a goal.

Kind of like this miserable collection from a single evening a year ago:

Yikes.

But check out this candor when I brought up the change that might be ahead:

Maybe that's the pride of a former No. 3 overall NHL Draft pick shining through. Maybe it's plain old hope. But maybe, too, he's onto something with his remarks up there about the system change.

I'll leave this here: Much, much more was shared about the difference in the Vancouver and Pittsburgh systems, and Sullivan's hard enforcement of multiple-player support in all zones -- but particularly on defense -- was being welcomed as if by a child on Christmas morning. Even just a few of the drills in the very first practice. And I'll also add that this stance was supported firmly by those who knew him from shared time in Florida.

"Even out there on the ice just now, I felt a lot better than I did in Vancouver," Gudbranson said. "That's nothing against them. We worked hard there, and I learned a lot there. But that style we were playing in the D-zone today, that worked very well for me. They support the puck very well here."

Maybe he'll get a little bigger, too.

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