SUNRISE, Fla. -- It's been just over a year since the Penguins traded Patric Hornqvist to the Panthers.
For Hornqvist, his time in Pittsburgh feels even further in the rearview mirror than that.
"Last year with the COVID situation, no fans, it feels like a long time ago that I was in Pittsburgh," he said Thursday after the Panthers' morning skate.
With teams only playing teams within their division last season, the Penguins and Hornqvist haven't had a chance to play each other since the trade. When the puck drops Thursday night at FLA Live Arena, it'll be the first opportunity Hornqvist has had to line up against his former team.
"It feels kind of weird," he said. "The first came back with real fans, new season. But at the same time it's always fun to play against your old team and teammates and friends. It'll be a fun night."
The feeling is mutual with his former teammates.
"It'll be weird I'm sure," Teddy Blueger said of playing against Hornqvist. "You know, obviously on the ice it'll be no friends. He'll play hard against us and we'll play hard against him and it'll be all business that way. But it'll be good to see him."
Hornqvist found success in his first season in Florida. He scored 14 goals and 18 assists in 44 games for a rate of .73 points per game, the second-highest rate of points per game of his career.
Hornqvist appears slated to begin the Panthers' season on the third line, alongside Frank Vatrano and 2020 first-round pick Anton Lundell, who will be making his NHL debut. Naturally, Hornqvist remains on the Panthers' top power play, playing in the net-front role.
"He only knows how to play one way," Mike Sullivan said of Hornqvist after the Penguins' practice on Wednesday. "He's going to be a pain in the neck in front of our net. I know he is. We're going to have a tiger by the tail. That's Horny's game, that's why we love him."
Off the ice, Sullivan said that he still holds Hornqvist in high regard.
"He's a great person first and foremost, he's the most positive guy I've ever been around," Sullivan said. "You know, he's never had a bad day in his life. That's the type of guy that he is. He comes to the rink every day with so much energy and so much enthusiasm and it's contagious. He just has such a positive influence on the people around him, and he's the ultimate competitor. He's a warrior, there's no other way to describe it."
Sullivan said that the Hornqvist trade was hard for him personally after everything they had been through together, with Sullivan being the coach for five of Hornqvist's six seasons in Pittsburgh, including two Stanley Cup championships.
Reflecting on the trade, Hornqvist said that he felt "shocked and emotional" when the Penguins asked him to waive his no-trade clause, but that he's found happiness in his new home in Florida.
"I'm not living in the past," he said. "I'm living right now, and good things happen for me and for Pittsburgh. I'm happy to be here and I'm happy to play them."
