Kovacevic: For 'emotional' Cole, Columbus' cannon now friendly fire

"Definitely a different situation," Ian Cole was telling me over the phone Monday, and he might have been understating it.

Because he wasn't talking about the Penguins, his team through two Stanley Cup championships, trading him Friday to the Senators as part of the three-team Derick Brassard package, and he wasn't talking about how it took three days for Ottawa to flip him to Columbus for center prospect Nick Moutrey and a third-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.

Nope. He was talking about becoming accustomed to that blasted cannon at Nationwide Arena.

"The other night when we were out there," he recalled of the Penguins' 5-2 rout of the Blue Jackets eight days, "we're skating around in warmups, they shoot that thing off and ... Phil ducks."

Phil Kessel, of course.

"I mean, he ducks like someone's shooting at him or something. We were all dying."

And now ...

"Now, I guess I've got to embrace the cannon."

It won't come easily. Not any of it.

Cole had told me after his final practice in Pittsburgh that he hoped to stay, particularly given that he'd entrenched himself in Mike Sullivan's lineup anew and felt the team was poised for a third run. And, true to Cole's BS-free persona, the sentiment was every bit as genuine as his frustration had been when Sullivan was making him a regular scratch.

"I wanted to stay. That was my feeling at the time," he said. "We were hot, winning a lot of games, playing really well, too. You want to be with your guys, your guys you've won Stanley Cups with."

Jim Rutherford had expressed much the same, even after the Brassard trade, in saying, "I thought we might keep him." But the Penguins' neverending cap crunch, Cole's $2.1 million salary and his pending status as an unrestricted free agent all contributed to his departure. In turn, the Senators, in full sell-off mode, immediately informed Cole that they'd flip him before the 3 p.m. trade deadline Monday.

So, Cole spent the weekend here at his Pittsburgh-area home doing laundry, packing, working out and "getting ready to go somewhere else." And it wasn't until about 9 a.m. Monday that he got a call from Jarmo Kekalainen, Columbus' general manager, letting him know of the trade, followed soon by Brad Shaw, the Blue Jackets' defensive coach and a former NHL defenseman.

"I've worked with David before, too, in St. Louis, so that's nice," Cole was telling me. "Overall, it's a good situation. Having an expiring contract, I knew this was a possibility. Pittsburgh felt like they needed to get another center and, obviously, Derick Brassard's a heck of a player. So, it's one of those business moves that have to be made sometimes. I'm happy to be going there."

Happy was part of it. I've gotten to know the man over the years. His family, too. His parents are exceptional people, and that apple didn't fall far.

I pressed him beyond being happy, and he got predictably emotional.

"Aw, man," he began. "OK, first off, my teammates. I can't say enough about how close-knit our group's been. We'll be together for life. When you win championships, those groups, groups like ours, we always stay together in that aspect. I'll miss everyone in that room. I'll miss everyone in that organization, top to bottom, from ownership to management to the equipment managers to everyone."

He also spoke with pride of the defense coming together in Kris Letang's absence last summer, when "every game, every shift was such a battle, not like the year before." He spoke of the privilege of being a fellow champion alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, "great players and great people." He spoke of eating that Roman Josi slap shot earlier this season "because that's just how I believe in competing."

As for the city itself ...

"I'll miss all the fans in Pittsburgh. And I guess that means almost everyone in Pittsburgh since everyone in Pittsburgh's a fan of the Penguins," he added with a small laugh. "They're so passionate, so knowledgeable ... it's definitely going to be tough to not have their support anymore. Being, you know, that I'm in Columbus now."

This laugh was much larger.

"Everyone's been great."

I asked his fondest memory.

"It's emotional. I don't know. The two Cups, without a doubt. Now, what aspect of those wins? I don't know. It's been the two best years of my life. It's been a great experience here. The parades certainly were amazing. But it's the time in the locker room with the boys right after the Cup, spraying each other with champagne. ... It's tough to beat memories like those. They'll last a lifetime."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY