CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Jake Guentzel tapped his helmet with a knowing grin.
He'd just gotten off the ice at the Lemieux Sports Complex, this after a one-hour informal skating session with Jack Johnson and Chad Ruhwedel, and I couldn't help but ask, if only for fun, if his head had swelled at all over the summer.
Hence, the tap.
"That can't ever happen," he'd add. "I've got a lot of people around me who keep me grounded."
No doubt. And as he'd affirm, his dad, Mike Guentzel, a 25-year coach at the University of Minnesota and now a pro scout with the NHL's Coyotes, leads that pack. Same goes for mom Sally. And brothers Ryan and Gabe. I've been around the group, and they're tighter than a perfect penalty-kill. They push and poke each other. They talk over each other. (All except for Jake, actually.) And they can't gush about one without segueing into another.
Which is undoubtedly a good thing.
Because here's some other company Jake's been keeping in recent months: Mario Lemieux. Wayne Gretzky. Mark Messier. Rocket Richard. Brett Hull. Jean Beliveau. Alexander Ovechkin. Kevin Stevens.
Oh, really: By running up 23 total goals in the past two Stanley Cup playoffs, he joined Lemieux as the only players in NHL history to score 10-plus in each of their first two playoffs. By running up 19 points in the first nine games of the 2018 playoffs, he approached the only two better performances in the past three decades, Gretzky's 21 points and Messier's 20. By scoring four goals in Game 6 at Philadelphia, he joined Lemieux and Stevens as the only players in the Penguins' history with that many in a playoff game.
This could go on a lot longer, if I point out that Guentzel's goal total through 37 playoff games is exceeded only by Richard (32), Lemieux (28), Gretzky (27), Reggie Leach (26), Joe Sakic (25), Ovechkin (24), Hull (24) ... oh, and he's had to settle for a tie with Beliveau at 23.
Insanity, right?
Well, again, the helmet size has stayed the same.
"Jake's very focused on his job and wants to be a good player," Mike Guentzel was telling me later in the day. "He’s always been very focused about hockey because he’s been around it all his life, and I know he studies other players' traits and details. We have talked about keeping a lower profile as a professional, but he really has taken to his training and diet and he is very conscientious when it comes to preparation."
That much was evident again on this morning. Jay Caufield, the one-time taskmaster for a certain other legend on the above list, was overseeing a lively set of drills for Guentzel, Johnson and Ruhwedel, not least of which was some serious wind-sprinting near the end. But through it all, it was evident Guentzel's focus was on snapping off shots.
Of all kinds. From all angles. And, primarily, as quickly as possible.
Kind of like this pristine finish March 17 against the Canadiens:
"This summer's really been about the release for me," Guentzel told me. "Just finding ways to get the puck off quicker."
All shots?
"All shots.”
Like Daniel Sprong quick?
"Ha! I wish!"
Doesn't sound like wishing has much of a role in the process, according to dad. Mike Guentzel said Jake "does a lot of forearm work but is also trying to get shots off quicker from clean pucks and dirty pucks. That means pucks that are in his wheelhouse, as well as pucks that are bouncing, down in his skates and so forth."
"It's work," Jake said, "but that's what you've got to do."
There's that humility again. Same when I asked about getting stuck with an unfortunately longer summer this year:
And when asked about the difference between being a defending champ and trying to get it back: "Our main goal is to win no matter what. I think we have that edge now that we saw what happened last year. We don't want that feeling again. We know how hard it is. We have to do whatever it takes to get there."
And when asked what he's doing here more than two weeks before camp's official opening Sept. 14: "I'm just ready to go. I'm really excited. That's why I came. Just to be back here, you kind of get that feeling that it's really coming."
And when asked about his contract expiring after the coming season, when he can be a restricted free agent: "No pressure. Whatever happens, it'll happen. Just go out and enjoy it. Have fun. You're in the National Hockey League. You're playing around good players. It's fun."
They're playing around a good player, too. It'll be fascinating to see if he'll be more.
• I asked Guentzel, by the way, if he could realistically compare Sprong's release with that of the Jets' Patrik Laine, fully expecting some kind of hedge.
"Oh, yeah, definitely," he came back.
Mind you, that's not comparing their overall games. Laine's maturation in Winnipeg, while maddening to Paul Maurice at times, has been real at both ends. The discussion was solely about release. And it honestly never stops amazing me to hear the tones with which hockey people describe Sprong's release.
• Little to do with the Penguins but while on the subject of Laine, there's nothing that isn't awesome about this photograph, taken last week in Rauma, Finland, and the accompanying article is that much better:
Liiga Alumni Game pays tribute to Finnish, Winnipeg hockey history, while raising funds for charities in Finland!
READ: https://t.co/BijoGXLJMr
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) August 29, 2018
The names involved in that event ... wow. The greatest of the great in Finnish hockey history, young and old. And an awesome testament, in and of itself, to what that tiny nation's brought to the sport in less than a half-century of playing at an elite international level.
Oh, and if you're curious, Olli Maatta and the Bruins' Tuukka Rask were the only Finns invited who were unable to attend. No word on why for either.
• Shortly after the Wednesday skating session, I filed this full column on Johnson's arrival.
It remains to be seen, of course, what kind of impact he'll have on the Penguins and, further down the road, what kind of value Jim Rutherford can cull from that surprising five-year, $16.25 million contract. I expressed skepticism upon the signing, then slight optimism about one specific facet: His advanced analytics illustrate he's among the best handful in the game at making a breakout pass. That trait absolutely will have more value in Pittsburgh than in Columbus or most places.
But even camp might not show much. Johnson shrugged off having to learn a new system with a new partner, possibly on his off-side, but there's no denying those will require adjustments across the board.
Give him time.
• Johnson barely spoke a syllable about Columbus, and good for him. Nothing to say. At least one individual out there isn't worth the first breath, and the whole matter's best off buried.
• Crosby was in town for one of these sessions, as well, sharing the ice with Johnson for a session on the same rink eight days ago — in case anyone needed a reminder of who invariably rises above any reasonable expectations.
• Ruhwedel knew the question was coming and, when I brought it, he didn't flinch: What's it like seeing another defenseman -- Johnson -- signed to very visibly bump him from the top six?
"Honestly, it's not any different for me," he told me. "Nothing changes. Nothing's changed my whole career. Every game is a battle for a roster spot or a lineup spot. I'm ready for that."
No reason not to believe that. He's an intense competitor, he's off-the-charts smart, he studies schematics as much as anyone in the organization shy of the coaches themselves, and he's got enough mobility, enough strength, to compensate for his 5-11 stature. And the fact is, those running the team saw him as worthy of a top-six spot -- including all 12 playoff games -- to the extent that none of several other viable options from Wilkes-Barre really saw the light of day.
There's something to be said for that.
In the same breath, I'll maintain the Penguins are far better positioned as a championship contender with someone of Ruhwedel's caliber in a No. 7 role. He'll still see 40-plus games because that's the nature of defense injuries in the NHL and, if he does, that'll be about the same as the 44 he played last regular season.
That's plenty palatable.
• As players continue to spill into Cranberry, the team will make them available to media once a week -- likely Wednesday again -- until the real camp gets going. We'll obviously be all over each one.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins informal practice, Cranberry Township, Pa., Aug. 29, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS