SAN FRANCISCO -- "I like a lot about our team."
I'd asked Brian Burke on the Penguins' just-completed California trip, this in a talk the two of us had at ice level after a practice in Los Angeles, to comment on exactly that. The state of his team roughly three weeks out from the NHL's March 3 trade deadline. And that's where he, most predictably, began.
"I like our leadership," he proceeded. "I like our forwards. I like our defensemen. I like our goaltenders. I like our coaches. There's really everything about this team to like. It's impossible not to like this team. And I like their resilience. We've been playing with critical guys injured all year long, and we keep playing competitive hockey."
So everything's just awesome from the perspective of the president of hockey operations?
Uh, no. Burke wouldn't be Burke if he didn't shoot straight.
"What I don't like," he'd proceed without pause, "is that we haven't been consistent enough. We've had those streaks. And I don't understand that. We'll win 12 or go 12 without a regulation loss, and then we'll lose seven. I don't get that. So we've gotta sort that out."
Both Burke and Ron Hextall made this trip, and Burke, especially, exhibited his stated faith in the roster. He was visible in all settings, he spoke encouraging words for all involved and, the other night in San Jose, when Casey DeSmith bounced back with a 38-save gem to beat the Sharks, Burke was among the first with a fist-bump as his goaltender stepped off the ice. Now, that's not to suggest Burke, Hextall -- or Mike Sullivan, for that matter -- see their roster as pristine. Away from the cameras and microphones, in fact, I've heard quite the contrary, in particular as it relates to the missing production from their bottom-six forwards as a whole. Which in and of itself should be encouraging to absolutely everyone who's tracked the travails of, oh, say, Jeff Carter, Brock McGinn, Kasperi Kapanen and Teddy Blueger.
That said, the next specific name I hear from anyone regarding dissatisfaction with an individual will be the first. And I feel that's important to note because it further stresses how tight the group's become, on and off the rink. As such, it helps to explain why no move's been made yet. The loyalty element that I sense when I'm around the team as much as I just was these past nine consecutive days is ... overwhelming, to be honest. Not just the normal platitudes, either. They mean it. They show it. And that goes double for those within the locker room itself, where all four of the players I cited in the previous paragraph seem every bit as beloved and respected as anyone else.
I continue to hear that a trade's very much in play. But I hear way, way, way more of what's above, even amid similar complaints about inconsistency. And I can't fathom how those two tracks will intersect.
MORE PENGUINS
• As team officials now appear to code their responses related to Tristan Jarry's health status, I'm told that his injury's to his core area, which includes the groin. No one internally doubts the veracity of the injury, but stances vary as to its severity.
• There'll be no move to address goaltending, I'm told, barring a long-term Jarry injury.
• Jason Zucker won't surprise anyone by displaying toughness, but he's going a bit above and beyond of late in playing through something that's moving him to sit on what appeared to be a stool-type apparatus at the Penguins' bench on the California trip. He's used a stool in the past to address back pain, though I couldn't know if that's the cause this time. His skating doesn't seem to be impacted, but his output -- no goals, one assist in his past eight games -- might be. Which also would explain why, when healthy scratch Danton Heinen runs through practice drills, he rotates through the top two lines rather than the bottom two. Zero complaints from Zucker, as ever.
• Drew O'Connor will play more when he shows more snarl. That's it. That's really it.
• One element I'd love to incorporate into this feature over time is recording on video some of the one-on-one talks I'll have with people on a particular topic, like this thoughtful two-minute response from Rickard Rakell the other day in Los Angeles on his interchangeability with Bryan Rust:
• Hockey players are as ritualistic as it gets, so every group activity matters when it comes to deeming who might mean most to their environment. I'd left the press box in San Jose, Calif., the other night after two periods for logistical purposes, and that facility has an event-level press room right next to the visitors' locker room, so I saw for the first time this season that the player who leads the team out of that room -- not onto the ice, but out of the room, well ahead of everyone else -- is Carter. And anyone who thinks that's nothing would be mistaken.
PIRATES
• This one applies to the Penguins, as well, since both have their local broadcasting rights held by the AT&T SportsNet family, but such regional networks are in massive financial trouble, with Sportico having reported yesterday that they're missing payments to their respective teams. (The Pirates were included among teams to have had a payment shorted, but I'm told that's inaccurate in that Pittsburgh's payment isn't even due yet). Both the NHL and Major League Baseball made statements yesterday, expressing awareness and concern, but I'll say this: If there ever weren't an AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, the Pirates and Penguins could easily revisit a discussion they once had a decade ago about creating their own common channel, combining to form the year-round programming that'd be necessary to sustain it. And they'd be in fine position to succeed since both fare very well in local ratings -- yeah, the Pirates, too -- and would simply keep all the revenues in lieu of rights payments.
• I should add that this was, based on my exclusive reporting in 2010, the primary motivation of Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle in their bid to buy the Pirates from Bob Nutting a decade ago. They loved the concept of holding both teams' broadcast rights.
• I reported in this space a week ago that I'd been hearing the Pirates and Bryan Reynolds would 'make peace,' and that's obviously how the week played out. The team couldn't have known -- and didn't know, in fact -- what Reynolds would say upon speaking first thing Wednesday morning with reporters in Bradenton, Fla., and he not only emphasized that he'll give his all to the team, but also -- and most striking, by far -- publicly reiterated that his "No. 1" preference from this whole scenario would be to sign a long-term contract to stay in Pittsburgh. He'd told me that countless times, but I didn't expect he'd put that out in this current circumstance.
• Reynolds' representation at CAA wouldn't want anyone to read that their reputation is to go scorched-earth upon hearing an offer they don't like. But hey.
• Feels like it's worth reiterating, given the broadcasting news above, but the Pirates have the money to make up the $50 million gap in the sides' contract stances. Without digging into decimal points, it's this simple: The payroll was over $100 million for three consecutive years, 2014-16, and all that's occurred in the interim is that baseball's national revenues have exploded ... while the projected payroll for the coming season is seen as having a ceiling of $70 million or so. Still obscenely low.
• Confirmed: Tickets are selling well. Further confirmed: Andrew McCutchen is beloved.
• Freshly back from California, I'm flying this Sunday to Bradenton, Fla., and my main focus will be Derek Shelton's demeanor, now that all involved are openly talking about winning mattering. More for him than maybe anyone, it'll take a 180 to make that pop. Really will. And that's not even a knock. He grasped the situation upon taking the job, and he'd set himself to be a combination of casual and stoic in dealing with the losses that'd come. He didn't like the perception that he wasn't invested at a Jim-Leyland-flips-the-food-table level, but he liked having his job more. My prediction is that it'll be a hard, hard pivot.
STEELERS
• Management's preference is to keep both of the biggest in-house pending free agents in the fold, Cam Sutton and Larry Ogunjobi, but it'll be Sutton as a top priority. And probably more expensive than anyone they'll land from the outside. Don't expect this one to take long. Losing him won't be worth the risk, since he'd only have to be replaced and, in all likelihood, it'd be with someone lesser based on the current market. My estimation is it'll take three years and $9 million per, and my certainty is that Cam's got no interest in going anywhere else. Not guessing at that.
• One significant factor, I'm told, in management's wish to keep -- rather than cut -- Mitch Trubisky is that he was an exemplary teammate and supporting figure for Kenny Pickett. That didn't surprise anyone, as that also was the word they're received from the Bills a year ago regarding Trubisky's relationship with Josh Allen. I can add that, in watching Trubisky and Pickett interact, whether at a practice or after a tough loss, there was an unflinching mutual respect. Not easily replaced, I might add.
• Kenny's striving to get bigger and stronger for his sophomore season, and that's neither news nor anything outside the norm. He's stated as much and, even if he hadn't, Mike Tomlin makes that mandatory for all rookies to get into what he calls 'NFL shape' once they've experienced the league. But Kenny's main motivation, I've heard, has less to do with his passing or running and more to do with his ability to withstand NFL-level hits. Which seems logical in that I felt his feet were never happier than in the Steelers' final two games.
• Adding to any internal sentiment toward upgrading the defensive front: Not a soul with whom I speak will suggest that either DeMarvin Leal or Mark Robinson will challenge for starting duty in 2023, especially not the extra-raw Robinson.
• Aiming high for a football lede to next week's edition. Just not enough meat on the figurative bone yet. Hopeful.
