CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Nobody is mistaking the Penguins' prospect pool for one of the better groups across the NHL, but following the final day of rookie camp at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex here in Cranberry, it's clear there's some subtle confidence among their prospects that drips down from the very top of the organization.
I mean, how could that not be the case when three of the greatest players the franchise has ever seen are putting in work just a rink over?
That alone isn't going to wildly change the trajectory of any prospect, but it certainly doesn't hurt.
"When you go in the gym and you see guys like (Sidney) Crosby, (Kris) Letang, (Evgeni) Malkin and guys like that, you want to come to the rink and work as hard as they work," Nathan Legare told me following rookie camp practice Tuesday. "And I think that’s pretty much the mindset of the entire organization. Every day, everybody comes to the rink and works 100%, and they have a winning mindset. … I try to bring that every day."
Legare is looking forwarding to building on top of his noteworthy pest-like performance in Saturday's Prospects Challenge victory in Buffalo when training camp begins on Thursday, especially now that he's entering his fourth season with the organization.
"It’s my fourth camp now, so the system is pretty much in my brain," Legare said. "Sometimes when you come in at 18 or 19 years old, you think too much about the systems and stuff like that and you don’t really play your game, but now that the system is in my mindset, I just gotta play my game, be physical and just play like I want to play and show the best part of me."
While it's unlikely Legare pushes for a spot on the NHL roster out of training camp -- his overall game would definitely benefit from more time in the AHL -- the willingness he's showing to not only improve, but do whatever he can to improve his team's chances of victory, regardless of what that looks like, speaks volumes.
"I want to be part of pretty much everything to help the team win, so I’m gonna accept every role they’re gonna give me," Legare said. "If it’s in the stands or whatever, I’m gonna accept it and just work as hard as I can to be in the lineup. But that’s pretty much my mindset, just control whatever you can, and we’ll see what happens."
Control whatever you can. Yeah, he's definitely been hanging around Mike Sullivan.
"I was pretty confident about myself after summer, but after one game I felt pretty good out there and I can’t wait to show what I can do with real veterans," Legare said.
That confidence is exuding from Sam Poulin, as well, who has made major strides since this time a year ago. He doesn't figure to push for an NHL roster spot out of camp, either, but he's posturing himself quite nicely for a mid-season call-up if he continues trending in the right direction.
Poulin noted the integrity and competitive edge of the Penguins' organization as fuel for his fire before crediting each of his peers for coming to the rink with the right attitude.
"During the summer there’s not a lot of skates that are similar to here," Poulin told me. "It’s pretty intense, guys are here to prove themselves, the pace is pretty high. ... I know the pace is gonna be much higher at main camp and guys are gonna be even better."
Even going from one of the best players at rookie camp to one of the lesser players at NHL training camp, Poulin's demeanor isn't wavering. He plans to allow his confidence to help him simplify his game to be a more effective player.
"I think it’s just doing the simple plays right and not overcomplicating my game and over-trying stuff, so it’s just about making the right plays when it’s time, and then making good decisions," Poulin said. "I think if I do this, they’re gonna like what I show on the ice."
Then there's Corey Andonovski, who is entering his first training camp with the Penguins, but feels just as confident as Poulin and Legare despite not carrying their same pedigree.
He spoke with Taylor Haase on Tuesday.
"I kind of know where my game's at and kind of how I need to play to hopefully get an opportunity to play with the big club this year," Andonovski said. "So for me, I think it's just kind of staying consistent and trying to get better every single day and obviously contributing in as many ways as I can."
MORE FROM ROOKIE CAMP
• There's still no firm timetable that we've been made aware of for Owen Pickering's return to on-ice activities.
"I'm not exactly sure, you'd have to talk to the training staff," Tom Kostopoulos said when I asked him for a timeframe on the first round pick's injury. "I know he's itching to get out there. It's tough for him to be off the ice right now, he wants to get back out there."
• Nolan Collins yet again skated in a non-contact fashion on Tuesday, but he was a bit more involved in drills than he was previously. It turns out he is rehabbing from a shoulder injury. Taylor has more on his injury here.
• The lines and pairings were the same as they've been throughout camp:
Filip Hallander - Sam Poulin - Valtteri Puustinen
Lukas Svejkovsky - Sam Houde - Nathan Legare
Raivis Ansons - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson
Ty Glover - Jordan Frasca - Corey Andonovski
Isaac Belliveau - Josh Maniscalco
Chris Ortiz - Jack St. Ivany
Colin Swoyer - Ryan McCleary
• I'm hopeful that Filip Lindberg stays healthy and goes on to have a really strong season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Nothing against Tommy Nappier or Taylor Gauthier, but Lindberg has a really calming demeanor in the crease and is pretty clearly the best of the three netminders. Lindberg posted a .915 save percentage in 7 games in the AHL last season after posting a stellar .932 save percentage across three seasons (50 games) with UMass-Amherst.
• I promise I wrote the previous bullet during practice and before I started talking to players afterward, but Poulin and Legare both told me that the player they've been impressed with the most throughout camp is Lindberg.
"I think Lindberg did a really good job," Poulin said. "Last year we didn’t really see him a whole lot, but during practice he was good and hard to score against. And in the game (Saturday in Buffalo) he played a really big first half for us, so he would be the guy that showed himself the best."
"I’ll say Lindberg," Legare said. "Last year he spent a lot of time with us, but he was injured a lot, so we didn’t see him a lot (on the ice). But he’s very fast as a goalie. … It’s fun when you score against him because he’s pretty good. Sometimes when I score against him I’m pretty happy and I just go and chirp him a little bit."
• When I asked Puustinen who has impressed him the most throughout camp, he couldn't pick one individual. He then laughed and punted on the question by telling me: "All the players here are very, very good." He's funny. And he knows it.
• The NHL veterans skated in an informal, makeshift scrimmage on the other rink while rookie camp was going on. Do not read into them too much, but here are the lines and pairings that were used:
(Team Black)
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Danton Heinen
Drew O’Connor - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
Brian Dumoulin - Chad Ruhwedel
Xavier Ouellet - Mark Friedman
John Lizotte - Mitch Reinke
(Team Gold)
Rickard Rakell - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Josh Archibald - Radim Zohorna - Alex Nylander
Drake Caggiula - Ryan Poehling - Jamie Devane
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
Ty Smith - Jan Rutta
P.O Joseph - Taylor Fedun
Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith and Dustin Tokarski rotated in goal.
• Have we been underrating the effect a completely healthy offseason would have on Malkin? At 36 and after a career's worth of significant injuries, Malkin isn't as spry as he once was, but his skating during Tuesday's informal scrimmage -- and throughout all of the informal skates since he made it back in town -- was perhaps the best I've seen it in the past couple of years.
I've been sounding the alarm for some time that Malkin could be in for a big season thanks to the addition of Petry. He might be in for an even better season than I originally suspected if the current juice in his legs holds up.
• Wednesday is a scheduled day off before training camp opens on Thursday. All non-gameday training camp practices at the Lemieux Complex here in Cranberry will be free and open to the public. The full camp schedule can be found here.