Sure, Todd Reirden has some questions about the defense corps he will be overseeing during the 2020-21 season.
After all, he's been out of the organization since 2014 and his efforts since then had been focused on coaxing everything possible out of the personnel in Washington, where he was an assistant for four years and the head coach for two.
The Penguins were just a team -- albeit an arch-rival -- that he saw first-hand only a handful of times per season (and, as often as not, in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs).
Nonetheless, Reirden, who was hired as an assistant coach during this offseason, said he likes the players who figure to be on their blue line when the season finally gets going.
That group, he said, "is mobile and able to play a fast game that we know the Pittsburgh Penguins love playing."
Conventional wisdom holds that the Penguins' defense pairings will be Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson-John Marino and Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci, with Juuso Riikola and Chad Ruhwedel in reserve.
Reirden acknowledged that those likely are the tandems that will be deployed when training camp begins, but reserved the option to give guys a new partner or shuffle some into or out of the lineup, based on what he sees during the preseason.
"From the outside, I'd say that's how it looks, but lots of things will change as we get closer to the official drop of the puck," he said. "Ultimately, it's finding the six best guys who can play. Once I get a little better chance to evaluate them in person, we'll see how they fit with things we're doing and their ability to adapt to some different things we're going to add, as well. You can start to see who develops some chemistry.
"I want to be in the situation where we have the best three pairs we can have in a game. Whatever that ends up being will play itself out. The players will help to make that decision with how they perform and how they've prepared themselves. We'll evaluate it and go from there, in terms of who's playing with whom."
While Reirden likes the unit's mobility and puck-moving ability, he withheld judgment on whether it provides sufficient physicality.
"That's something you need to see a little bit first-hand before you can (assess)," he said. "Matheson and Ceci have the ability to be hard on people when they have the opportunity.
"Size-wise, we're pretty good. We're long. We're rangy and we're mobile back there. When you have the opportunity to engage in battles at the front of the net, or before the battle gets to the front of the net, it's time to use those skills."
The bottom line, though, is that at least until he gets a chance to assess the defense corps in person -- on the ice, and on on a daily basis -- Reirden is upbeat about its potential, and what it could contribute to the Penguins' success.
"(The unit) is in a pretty good spot, in terms of what we wanted to do (during the offseason), which was building our depth and getting a bit more mobile," he said. "I think we've accomplished some of those things and added some guys, with Cody Ceci and Mike Matheson, who have played in this league for a little while, who have experience and can help us continue to improve."