CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Brian Boyle remembers what it was like to line up against Matt Cullen at the faceoff dot in a game.
"Particularly when he was here in Pittsburgh," Boyle recalled after Thursday's practice at the Lemieux Complex. "If you'd look at a sheet at the end of the game, it has your stats there. He'd find ways if he was losing (faceoffs) to tie him up, or he find ways that if he was winning them just to switch it up and keep a guy guessing."
With his playing days over, Cullen is now hoping to impart that wisdom onto the Penguins' current forwards.
The Penguins hired Cullen back in August 2019 in a player development role, a month after he announced his retirement as a player.
Cullen primarily works remotely in his role, allowing him to remain based in Minnesota. When he's at home, he communicates with the Penguins' centers through Zoom meetings, allowing him to conduct virtual video sessions and provide feedback that way.
Once a month, for about three or four days each time, Cullen flies into Pittsburgh to provide more hands-on instruction for the Penguins' forwards.
Mike Sullivan said that in their offseason meetings, he spoke with Cullen about two areas of the Penguins' game where he believed Cullen could help and play an active role in that instruction -- faceoffs and the penalty kill.
"I think he can be a great help to our coaching staff and to our players, and two areas where we think there's an opportunity for us to get better," Mike Sullivan said of Cullen's contributions.
Cullen's a pretty good person to turn to for help in the faceoff circle. In 12 of Cullen's 13 NHL seasons, he finished with a success rate in the faceoff circle of 50 percent or better, with a 49 percent season in Ottawa in 2009-10 being the lone exception. Five of his seasons -- including the 2015-16 Stanley Cup year -- saw success rates of 55 percent or better.
In his first trip to Pittsburgh this season, Cullen is focusing heavily on faceoffs with the Penguins' forwards.
Cullen's first day on the ice with the team this season was on Monday in the Penguins' optional morning skate, during which he worked with the forwards who chose to participate. During the Penguins' 40-minute practice on Wednesday, players were broken up into mini-groups for specialized instruction, and Cullen led a full faceoff class for the Penguins' centers and a couple of wingers who joined in. Following Thursday's practice, Cullen held a video meeting with the Penguins' centers to go over faceoffs and different strategies.
"He's got great insight," Boyle said of working with Cullen. "As he put it today, just figuring out kind of a bread and butter move, and then having a few other moves to -- I think as he put it -- have different clubs in your bag, just to be able to mix it up and have different options when you're going into a draw."
Evan Rodrigues -- the de facto No. 1 center after Jeff Carter was sidelined with COVID -- took advantage of the full 40-minute session with Cullen on Wednesday, and spoke one-on-one with him for awhile longer after the practice ended.
"It's big," Rodrigues said of having Cullen around. "You're always trying to get better at every aspect of the game, and he's obviously a guy who's had success with faceoffs. Just picking his brain, seeing what you can add to your own game."
Cullen was a player who continued to see faceoff success in the postseason, at times elevating his performance. His best postseason in the faceoff circle was in 2009-10, when he won 65.38 percent of his faceoffs. In his three postseason performances in Pittsburgh, he won 52.16 percent in 2015-16, 56.43 percent in 2016-17, and 55.23 percent in 2018-19.
If the Penguins are to make a run in the playoffs, the centers know that their work in the faceoff circle is going to become even more key.
"I think it's really important and as the season progresses," Boyle said. "In the playoffs, stuff tends to get more and more important, there's a lot less ice to move around on. Faceoffs become bigger and bigger."
With the Penguins' depth at center being hit hard early on, some players who are more often wings are going to see time at center, and a young player like Drew O'Connor is likely going to be playing center in the NHL for the first time.
"Young guys come in, and if you look for the most part, you start 30, 40 percent success (in faceoffs)," Boyle said. "You work your way up from there, just because you learn new tricks, you learn better timing, and it just takes repetition and practice."
The Penguins are hoping that Cullen is able to teach their centers those new tricks.
"It's great to have him here," Boyle said. "A good voice, obviously a guy who was really good at it. He has a lot of knowledge."
