Dana Heinze worked as an equipment manager in professional hockey for a total of 2,306 games over 33 years before retiring this summer.
Before the puck drops for the Penguins' 7 p.m. game against the Lightning at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday, the Penguins will have a ceremony to recognize and honor Heinze for all those long hours he spent at the rink over the years.
It's a fitting matchup for the ceremony to take place. Heinze spent six years with the Lightning before joining the Penguins as head equipment manager in 2006, and won a combined four Stanley Cups between the two teams -- first with the Lightning in 2004, and then again with the Penguins in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
Mike Sullivan was around for the last seven of those 33 seasons in which Heinze worked, and he said that Heinze left a lasting impression of just being a "terrific person, a really hard worker."
"I know our players, our coaching staff have so much respect for Dana and the support that he gave to all of us," Sullivan told me after the Penguins' optional morning skate on Saturday. "He certainly made our jobs a whole lot easier. I think sometimes the equipment staff is just an under-appreciated staff by most. I do think the players themselves and the coaching staff appreciate everything that they do for us. They work extremely hard. And I think Dana exemplified that for as long as he did when he was the equipment trainer here in Pittsburgh.
"I think he's very deserving of this tribute tonight. And we're all excited to be a part of it."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• Teddy Blueger skated with skills coach Ty Hennes prior to the skate and then stayed on the ice for the skate. He was wearing a regular jersey. Sullivan said that Blueger's status remains the same and he remains sidelined for tonight's game, but added that he's "making progress."
When Blueger and Hennes were on the ice together it was easy to hear what they were saying to each other. Hennes asked Blueger how he felt Friday as the day went on after practice and Blueger said he felt "fine." Hennes asked if that was the best he's felt in any day in the rehab process and Blueger said "I'd say the day before was."
• It was a small optional morning skate. Attendees were Casey DeSmith, Blueger, Jeff Carter, Ryan Poehling, Marcus Pettersson, P.O Joseph, Chad Ruhwedel and Jeff Petry
• Tristan Jarry will start.
• Jan Rutta will face his former team tonight. Sullivan said that he thinks Rutta has lived up to expectations since he was signed on the opening day of free agency.
"My observation of every time we played Tampa was that he was hard to play against," Sullivan said. "He just gets in the way. He defends well, he has a good stick. He has good size. He's hard at the net front. He was just one of those guys that is hard to play against. That was our observation, playing against him for a few years when he was down in Tampa, and we were hopeful that he'd be able to bring that to our team. And to this point, that's exactly what we've seen."
• Sullivan was asked to reflect on what it's like to see Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos both still playing at such a high level at this point in their careers.
"It's a testament to both of those players, their passion for the sport, their character and how hard they work to keep their games at such a high level," Sullivan said. "That doesn't happen by accident. You know, these guys work extremely hard off the ice in the offseason and on the ice to continue to keep their game at such an elite level. I just think it's such a testament of their character and their passion for the sport. I think they represent so many things that are good about hockey. The way they carry themselves with such integrity, they're such great representatives of our sport and their respective teams. We're fortunate as coaches sometimes to have the privilege to watch these guys compete against each other up close, and we have a number of them around the league. I think we're fortunate as a league because we've got a number of these guys that have really carried the torch for our league for a long time, and they just represent everything that's good about the game."
• The Lightning are on the second half of a back-to-back, so they did not have a morning skate.
