BANFF, Alberta -- It was, as Jim Rutherford was explaining Sunday morning, a "coach's decision."
It was the brainchild of Mike Sullivan and his staff for the Penguins to get away from it all for a few days while the season schedule still allowed. And really, you can't get much further away than way up here in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, an absolutely breathtaking resort area west of Calgary.
Cranberry Township, it is not.
A few lucky kids from the area youth team -- many wearing the No. 87 Penguins and Team Canada jerseys of Sidney Crosby -- were distributed tickets for Sunday's 90-minute practice inside the Fenlands Rec Center, seating capacity of 100. At most.
As you can imagine, it was like a scene from part "A Hard Days Night" and part "Mystery, Alaska" as Penguins players filed back onto their bus as fans behind barricades reached out, trying to get jerseys, pucks and sticks autographed.
Later, many players were planning a hike up to one of the overwhelming snow-peaked mountains. And perhaps the boys would go out after for a pop in downtown Banff, the Canadian equivalent of Aspen or Vail.
"We're really lucky to come to a place like this to have a couple days off between games, a smaller city where we get to hang out and have some experiences and see some cool stuff," Matt Murray was saying. "We're very lucky hockey brings us to these really cool places. This is a fun trip and one that we circled pretty early."
In the grander scheme though, the purpose of this trip was to bring the team together. Playing in the Metropolitan Division, road games are usually no more than an hour's flight away. It becomes a monotonous daily routine of airport, hotel, rink, rinse and repeat.
But with four days between Thursday's impressive win over Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs in Toronto and this coming Tuesday's showdown against Connor McDavid and the Oilers in Edmonton, Sullivan wanted the team to gel during this extended trip through Western Canada.
What better place than Banff?
"My experience being around teams is that the teams that build relationships, they become closer off the ice, and they play hard for each other on the ice," Sullivan was saying.
That, Brian Dumoulin stressed, is what the Penguins had in 2015-16 and in 2016-17. The Penguins were a band of brothers in winning consecutive Stanley Cups. With so many players still around from those teams, it can be that way again, he said.
"We've got a lot of experiences together," Dumoulin said. "When you win, it brings everyone that much closer. I think we're getting closer and closer by the day. The tighter we can be, the better we'll be."
Matt Cullen has played for eight different teams and says the Penguins are the most welcoming bunch he's known in his 21 NHL seasons. It's a winning culture that has been developed throughout the organization.
"That's something you just gain through trust and being together a lot and playing and winning," Cullen said. "You sort of grow to trust each other and become a tight group. The core here is a strong core of guys that are very inclusive, so as new guys come in it's easy to come and find your fit. That's part of being successful."
Dumoulin pointed to Crosby, the captain, as the usual the ringleader for getting the team together, whether formally or informally, but added, "Everyone jumps in."
• The Penguins do not lack for leaders, but not all leaders wear letters on their sweater. And if history is any indication, almost certainly one of the players on the current roster will one day be coaching an NHL team of their own.
So I asked Crosby: Who did he think would make the best coach?
"Good question ... maybe Dumo? Personality? Hags. Good communicators, good guys. Both know the game," Crosby was saying, straining his neck to peek at the names on the top of the locker stalls around him. "Cully would be a good coach. Yeah, that's right. I'd say Cully."
Dumoulin said Cullen, too.
"He's seen a lot of (stuff) and is a good guy," Dumoulin said. "Can relate to younger players as well as older players. He'd be my first pick."
Naturally, I asked Cullen. After all, he's on the back nine -- if not teeing off on No. 18 -- on his career. Even he says he hasn't looked that far down the road, but he wouldn't rule it out either. He does enjoy coaching his kids' teams in the summer, though. So who would be his coach?
"Actually, I think I would answer that question with Sid," he said. "He'd be a very good coach. He has a great hockey mind. I think Horny has a real good understanding of the game and the way it should be played. I like his views on the game when we talk hockey. Along with Sid, he's got a pretty elite hockey mind. Horny would be a bit of a surprise too many."
Apparently, Patric Hornqvist wasn't that big of a surprise to at least two of his teammates.
"NHL coach? Horny," said Derick Brassard. "Yeah, I think so. He's so intense and everything and can really bring out the best of players."
"Hornqvist," said Jamie Oleksiak. "He's an intense guy. Plays to win, plays smart."
But, ultimately, it was Sullivan's decision to come to beautiful Banff. Just as it was his decision to practice his team last week in Cranberry on what had been a scheduled off day. As a former player and one of the most accomplished in his profession, he intrinsically knows the temperature of his team. He knows who he has to coddle and who he has to kick. He began his coaching career at age 35, just two years removed from his playing days.
So, finally, I asked Sullivan: Which of his players does he think would make the best coach?
"We've got a few of them," the coach said with a smile. "We've got some guys who are real students of the game, real intuitive guys. Sid's the obvious one. He's so engaged in the learning process in every aspect. I've said on numerous occasions, I think our coaching staff has learned as much from Sid as he's learned from us with some of his insights and the way he sees the game. I think he's a guy who'd be a good coach some day.
"Matt Cullen jumps out as a cerebral player, loves the game. Just has an appetite for the learning process. It's been my experience, being around players and watching certain players that have evolved into coaches some day, it tends to be the common denominator is just their appetite for trying to learn more about the game and evolutions of the game and through the use of video and practice and all those things. Those are two guys who are engaged in all those processes."
• Sullivan deemed Sunday's on-ice session a "good, quality practice" and commended the locals on the quality of the facility. The Penguins will practice here again Monday morning before heading north to Edmonton.
• The Penguins practiced Sunday with the following lines and pairs, unchanged from their practice Friday in Toronto:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Sprong-Brassard-Hornqvist
Cullen-Sheahan-Sprong
(Grant)
Dumoulin-Letang
Johnson-Riikola
Maatta-Oleksiak
(Ruhwedel)
CHRIS BRADFORD GALLERY
Penguins practice, Banff, Alberta, Oct. 21, 2018 - CHRIS BRADFORD / DKPS