Samuel Poulin, the Penguins' premier prospect, skated across the attacking blue line, peeled a bit to his right and saw both linemates bolt deeper into the zone.
Poulin made a drop pass. Soft one, too. On his forehand. To an opponent.
Pierre-Olivier Joseph, the Penguins' premier defense prospect, held the puck at the left point as part of an extended possession. He had traffic in front, others down deep.
Joseph tried a lateral bank pass off the far boards to ... someone he'd likely imagined. It died a gory death. Caromed right to the blade of Evgeni Malkin, creating a three-on-none the other way and, ultimately, a goal for Bryan Rust.
This was Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena. First scrimmage of training camp. So, theoretically, it should've meant as much as this mesmerizing practice drill later in the afternoon:
Thirty seconds you'll never have back. Sorry.
Look, what I shared above, about a couple genuinely promising kids, should be unfair.
And yet, things aren't what they were in life or in hockey. We're in peak pandemic time. The NHL's pared its regular season to 56 games, and this camp's comprised of seven whole days, five scrimmages like this one and zero exhibitions. The opener's a week from Wednesday in Philadelphia. That magnifies every mistake, as well as every positive moment, especially so for those striving to make an impression, or even make the NHL roster.
Well, let the record show that mindless turnovers aren't the way into Mike Sullivan's heart. Trust me, Poulin could've whipped up a hat trick, and Joseph could've carved up the ice with coast-to-coast rushes, and neither would've offset those errors.
Which is fine. Those two will have their time.
It's just that this isn't it.
Not for them. Not for anyone outside the obvious script.
It's helpful that Poulin's here, including for him, considering he's dominated the Quebec League to an uncomfortable extent. It's only the taxi squad, but it's a good thing. It'll accelerate his growth. It's healthy that Joseph's here, also on the taxi squad, in that new assistant coach Mike Vellucci saw Joseph as NHL material while he was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's head coach last winter. Respect the viewpoint, and see what he offers. Same applies for Anthony Angello, Nathan Legare, Josh Maniscalco, Cam Lee and Drew O'Connor.
To single out O'Connor, the skilled winger freshly arrived from Dartmouth, he was part of the main group for the opening of camp Monday, with Colton Sceviour excused for the birth of a child, and he stayed with that group Tuesday when Sceviour returned. His action was reduced, but he also spent extra time with skills specialist Ty Hennes, attention he might not otherwise receive.
But again, this isn't it.
There isn't the time. And, if we're being honest, there isn't the talent. At least not at this stage of anyone's development.
I'm bringing all this up not to bury the entire system, although that's not hard to do, nor to bury Jim Rutherford for allowing it on his watch. His practice of moving first-round picks for veteran help contributed to two Stanley Cup rings, and that supersedes any rookie rankings in any year.
Rather, I'm bringing it up because, maybe, seeing this collection on the ice for the first time in such a long time -- 10 months since the first meaningful activity in this building -- I felt forcefully reminded of two things:
1. The talent's still within the core.
2. That talent's still real.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are still here, and still energized judging by their showing on this day. Sid was buzzing around, bumping people off the puck and creating chances. Geno had the wheels going at a higher rate than his hands, but that'll catch up. They're generational greats, both coming off strong 2019-20 seasons, statistically and otherwise.
Kris Letang's still here, still making the game look a little too easy. He's coming off a strong 2019-20 season, as well, even if his gets all the usual asterisks for the occasional headache he'll cause.
Oh, and Jake Guentzel's back. Probably for real this time.
He was pinballing all over the place alongside Sid, and he created chances, too, both for the captain and for temp linemate Evan Rodrigues. He generated two breakaways -- both stuffed by Tristan Jarry, I should note -- and just generally skated ... with joy.
Not sure if that's an over-the-top assessment, but Guentzel didn't look anything like what I'd covered in Cranberry this past summer, when he was making a cold return from major shoulder surgery.
I brought this up with him after practice, and his response surprised me:
It's rare for any athlete, much less one as proud as this guy, to concede ever performing tentatively, no matter how understandable. Good for him for acknowledging it. He wasn't himself in that camp, and he wasn't himself against the Canadiens, but that never should've been the expectation after an injury so severe.
If he can regain 40-goal form -- or whatever the ratio would mean in the shortened schedule -- that'd be huge for this and, really, for this franchise moving forward. It's common these days to discuss life after Sid and Geno. Well, Jake is life after Sid and Geno.
Now, add to that quartet a young player at the most important position, Tristan Jarry, who just finished in the NHL's top 10 in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts. And John Marino, who justified a six-year extension after a remarkable rookie performance. And Bryan Rust, who'd broken through for a 30-goal pace before the shutdown. And Jason Zucker, who fit Sullivan's system better than anyone on Sullivan's roster from the moment he'd arrived from St. Paul.
Oh, and Kasperi Kapanen, if/when he ever escapes his bureaucratic hell in Finland. He'll be the fastest skater on an already faster-than-before team, and he'll have the highest ceiling for his production when placed alongside Sid and Jake.
Projected lines, based on camp to date and Kapanen's return:
Guentzel-Crosby-Kapanen
Zucker-Malkin-Rust
McCann-Jankowski-Lafferty
Tanev-Blueger-Rodrigues/Sceviour
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ceci
That's a pretty good hockey team, people.
The bottom six forwards will be, as Sullivan reiterated Tuesday, "more of the hard-to-play-against types than we've had," and he's right. They'll also likely upgrade an already good penalty-kill.
The defense will be deep enough, provided Mike Matheson can overcome his defensive flaws in Sunrise -- and he acknowledged Tuesday that's been "the full focus" of his work to date with Todd Reirden and the staff -- that Chad Ruhwedel and Juuso Riikola are stuck at Nos. 7 and 8 on that depth chart, with Joseph way down there at 9.
Overall, with Kapanen replacing Patric Hornqvist, and Matheson replacing Jack Johnson, the team figures to be markedly faster.
It's been the biggest topic here to date.
"I think we got a lot faster, to be honest," Letang said. "Every guy that's coming in, they bring an element of speed."
Matheson shared something similar, saying, "I've been really impressed with the pace."
What's left?
The power play will remain a problem seeking a solution, particularly with Hornqvist's rear end no longer planted in creases, but Reirden's an ace at this stuff and was added to Sullivan's staff largely because of it. Guentzel observed Tuesday, "He's got so many ideas. He's really going to make a difference," and I'd have no cause to disagree. Reirden will be an upgrade over Mark Recchi in this area. What's more, it's not as if the participants plunge off a figurative cliff in Hornqvist's absence. On the first day, Sullivan sent out Rust in his place.
Anything else?
I mean, Jack's gone. Dominik Simon's shanks are gone. Matt Murray's glove is gone. Justin Schultz's two-year tiptoe is gone. Even the most cynical of cynics have to scrap those scripts.
Pretty. Good. Hockey. Team.
Absolutely good enough to extend professional sports' longest active streak of playoff appearances to 15. Absolutely fast, skilled and smart enough to skate with anyone in the new East on any given night. And absolutely, if you ask me, a contender in the context of first getting off to an energetic start to instill -- or re-instill, in some cases -- needed confidence.
Make no mistake: It'll be a wonderful day for the franchise when there are more Marinos making a push. It'll be fun, in a way, to look forward to a new future with something other than fear. But this isn't that day, and the day at hand looks fairly bright as is.
