CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Lining the hallway leading to the locker rooms for youth players at the Lemieux Complex are photos of Pittsburgh-area natives who went on to play in the NHL.
Among those pictured are Baldwin's John Gibson, Gibsonia's Brandon Saad, Upper St. Clair's Vince Trocheck, and Coraopolis' J.T. Miller. Each photo includes the date of the player's NHL debut and the youth hockey team they played for in Pittsburgh, along with the phrase "My dream started in Pittsburgh," serving as a source of inspiration for today's youth players on their way to their locker rooms.
One of the players pictured on the wall is defenseman Matt Bartkowski, a native of Mt. Lebanon who is looking to earn a contract and a spot on the roster of his childhood team.
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Bartkowski, 33, signed a professional tryout contract with the Penguins this offseason, allowing him to participate in training camp and the preseason.
"I want to be here," he said after Friday's training camp practice.
Bartkowski's a left-handed shot, and has primarily played on the left side of the defense pairings in his career. With the Penguins already having Brian Dumoulin, Mike Matheson, and Marcus Pettersson on the left side, with P.O Joseph looking to crack the NHL lineup as well, it would seem that Bartkowski's best shot at making the roster would be on the right side, filling the opening left by Cody Ceci's departure. Also competing for that opening are two right-handed defensemen, Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman.
Playing on the right side wouldn't be an entirely new experience. Bartkowski does have experience at the NHL level playing on his off side, spending long stretches on the right side during his time with the Canucks five, six years ago.
Bartkowski spent the last three years in the Wild organization, playing most of his games in the AHL with the Wild's affiliate in Iowa. He played 23 games in Iowa last season, scoring one goal and seven assists and recording a minus-5 rating. He was recalled to Minnesota for one game, during which he was scoreless with a minus-1 rating.
Though the first two days of camp, Bartkowski has been on a defense pairing with Ruhwedel, skating on the left side.
"It's kind of tough to self-evaluate this new into camp," Bartkowski said of the experience so far. "Physically, I feel great. Just trying to learn their systems and take those and run with it."
Leading into training camp, Bartkowski said that he skated a lot with Penguins skills coach Ty Hennes. When asked what he believes is going to be the most important thing to focus on in order to earn a full contract in Pittsburgh, he named his skating first and foremost.
"They're big on skating," he said. "Just making hard plays. I mean, I know it's kind of cliche saying 'play hard,' but playing tough, playing hard, and skating. That's a pretty big thing."
Bartkowski's first NHL game came over a decade ago, when he suited up for the Bruins in the 2010-11 season. The game was fittingly in Pittsburgh, something he called "a surreal moment, really special."
Suiting up in Pittsburgh for the Penguins would fulfill a childhood dream and bring his career full circle in the place where it began.
"Any kid growing up playing hockey here wants to play for the Pens," he said. "I have an opportunity to do that now. As far as full-circle, yeah. 100 percent."
MORE FROM TRAINING CAMP
• After leaving practice early on Thursday, Filip Hallander didn't practice at all on Friday. Mike Sullivan said that Hallander is day-to-day with a nagging lower-body injury.
• Jonathan Gruden was present at practice after missing Thursday's session, though he did return to the locker room for short period of time during his group's practice.
• The Penguins used the following lines and pairings in practice:
Team 1:
Jake Guentzel - Jeff Carter- Danton Heinen
Sam Poulin - Brian Boyle - Bryan Rust
Kasper Bjorkqvist - Lukas Svejkovsky/Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson
Mike Matheson - Will Reilly
Matt Bartkowski - Chad Ruhwedel
Isaac Belliveau - Mark Friedman
Ryan McCleary - Chris Merisier-Ortiz
Team 2:
Jason Zucker - Radim Zohorna - Kasperi Kapanen
Dominik Simon - Evan Rodrigues - Nathan Legare
Justin Almeida - Jordy Bellerive - Sam Lafferty
(Sam Houde rotating in)
Cam Lee - Brian Dumoulin
Juuso Riikola - John Marino
Niclas Almari - Mitch Reinke
Team 3:
Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
Drew O'Connor - Michael Chaput - Valtteri Puustinen
Anthony Angello - Felix Robert - Jan Drozg
(Josh Williams rotating in)
P.O Joseph - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Taylor Fedun
Chris Bigras - Josh Maniscalco
• Teams 2 and 3 scrimmaged with two 20-minute periods, and Team 2 won 4-2.
Defenseman Niclas Almari opened the scoring for Team 2 with a snipe from the left circle that beat Louis Domingue. Something Penguins director of player development Scott Young mentioned to me over the summer was that they'd like to see Almari gain more confidence to move up in the play and contribute offensively, and that was definitely on display here. He had to have had somewhere around five shot attempts and was one of the standouts in the scrimmage.
Team 3 answered when a scramble in front of Tristan Jarry's net resulted in a goal. It was hard to tell who touched the puck last, but it looked like the players knew it was Felix Robert based on the reactions after. Robert thrives in chaos.
Kris Letang tripped Jordy Bellerive, giving Bellerive a penalty shot, but Domingue made the save.
Team 2 took a 2-1 lead when an Almari shot from the point was stopped by Domingue, then Radim Zohorna picked up the rebound and popped it over Domingue's pad.
The teams switched goaltenders after the first 20-minute half, with Alex D'Orio replacing Jarry and AHL-contracted goaltender Tommy Nappier replacing Domingue.
Nathan Legare and Bellerive had a rush up ice early in the second half. Bellerive drove to the net and redirected Legare's shot from the right circle past Nappier to put Team 2 up 3-1.
Jason Zucker extended the lead to 4-1, beating Nappier from the left circle.
D'Orio had a really, really strong period, and held the shutout until the final 1:40 when Brock McGinn beat him with a shot from close-range. McGinn had a couple of other good opportunities in the second half, and had a shot between his own legs that D'Orio got a pad on. He nearly had a breakaway midway through the period, but Almari hustled and prevented McGinn from getting a shot off.
• Kasperi Kapanen got a little choked up talking about Brandon Tanev being claimed in the expansion draft, and said that the question almost made him tear up.
"It sucks," he said. "But you know, he's going to be a lifelong friend. And he's funny guy. He's a fan favorite here. So I was lucky to know him for at least a year and we still talk almost daily. I miss him a lot."
• Casey DeSmith called being reunited with Andy Chiodo "a seamless transition," after Chiodo previously was DeSmith's goaltending coach in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
"He's someone I really like working with," DeSmith said. "He pushes us hard and he's very detail-oriented.
• DeSmith said that he feels "100 percent" after suffering a soft-tissue groin injury before the start of the postseason last year.
"It's tough sitting at home and watching the games on TV and not be able to do anything or help the guys," he said of the playoffs. "Definitely a frustrating spot, somewhere I've never been before. But hopefully this is the last time."
• Jason Zucker was pretty honest about his unhappiness with his performance last season.
"Last year was was awful, to be honest," he said. "I mean, I didn't like my game at all. I thought there were some good points, some really bad points. For me it was a good summer to be able to adjust my game."
Zucker added that one of his focuses this season is just shooting the puck more, something he thinks he lacked last season."
"I don't feel like I shot the puck nearly as much as I have in years past," he said. "I'd be shocked if it was even 50 percent of my normal total."
• Sullivan spoke highly of his impressions of Legare so far in camp.
"I think Nathan's done a nice job," he said. "He's got good speed. I think his ability to shoot the puck really jumps out at you, that's an obvious skill that he possesses. A lot of guys don't have that ability and that certainly jumps out at me when I watch him play. He can one-time pucks, his wheelhouse to get to pucks to one-time pucks is big. For example, he has the ability to get to pucks off his front foot and still one-time the puck with some accuracy and get some velocity on the shot. ... I think his speed is improved, I think his overall confidence has improved."
• Evgeni Malkin shared this on Instagram with the caption "I will (be) back soon"
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•In the meantime, Tyler Kennedy has apparently thrown his name into the mix for one of the Penguins' openings at center:
