CRANBERRY, Pa. -- An hour or so before any of the 32 prospects attending the Penguins' development camp had set a solitary skate blade onto the ice Monday morning at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, the civic icon who still, two decades later, represents the past, present and future of the franchise stepped out for a solo session of his own.
Because Sidney Crosby, like his relative importance in these parts, never stops.
That's Captain Obvious content on the captain, I know, but it might bear a reminder after these whirlwind few weeks since Sid, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and all the rest of the boys somehow were sunk by the Rockford IceHogs ...
... to miss out on the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 17 years.
I know. Remains completely mindblowing, huh?
All of it: Blackhawks actively trying to lose to enhance their chance at drafting Connor Bedard. Calling up a carload of AHL journeymen in hopes they wouldn't score, only to watch them score. Winding up winning the Bedard lottery, anyway. And from another perspective, because the Penguins flopped, the Panthers were handed a get-out-of-jail-free card all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
But whatever. That's the past. And the present, yet again, is one with the future.
See, for all the stones that've been unturned since that April 11 scene -- Ron Hextall and Brian Burke fired, Kyle Dubas hired, Reilly Smith acquired, Jason Zucker and Brian Dumoulin dismissed, and Ryan Graves, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto, Alex Nedeljković signed as free agents and, Mother of God, Tristan Jarry being brought back at five years and nearly $27 million -- there's still likely a ton left, all aimed at succeeding in the 2023-24 NHL season and not necessarily a blessed day beyond that.
In fact, everything I detected at the rink Monday strongly suggested Dubas isn't done, this coming on top of the man himself piping up publicly over the weekend that he's reached out to the Sharks to inquire about Erik Karlsson, of all people. And if that were to occur, of course, the Penguins' future, in whatever context anyone could even conceive of such a thing, would be pushed back that much further because San Jose will want prospects, draft picks and probably more draft picks.
Want to have some fun?
Try to picture Mike Sullivan's lineup for the Oct. 10. opener against, amusingly enough, the Blackhawks again ... but only after a mythical trade that sends Jeff Petry and Mikael Granlund to the Sharks to offset Karlsson's $11.5 million cap hit -- plus pretty much anything they'd want in prospects/picks. Put Smith on Geno's line. Build a bottom six in which Drew O'Connor can barely squeeze into a spot. Stack Karlsson, remarkably, under Letang on the depth chart for right-handed defensemen.
Quick, who'd be the roster's youngest player?
If anyone answered Jeff Carter, it'd take me at least a second to spot the sarcasm.
That won't change. And I'm OK with that.
Hextall once told me at a skate in Toronto that, the way the Penguins viewed it, every season that Crosby's here is a season that they've got to commit to the Cup. He made a slew of mistakes in his time, and his firing was richly deserved, but that was dead-on. And more relevant by far, it's since been shared by the Fenway Sports Group, by Sullivan and now, very clearly, by Dubas. The hockey constellations might never again converge on Pittsburgh the way they've done not once but twice, first with the Mario Lemieux generation, now with this one, and there's no shame in stretching this one as far it'll go.
To stress for effect: This is Sid's team until he flat-out isn't here anymore. And for everything he's done, he's owed an all-in right back.
Which isn't to suggest that a sixth championship, a fourth under Sid, is imminent. I'm not an idiot and, presumably, neither are the people taking this stance. There are at least three question marks, I'd say, that dig deeper beneath the surface than the ages of the Core and, for that matter, all the 30-somethings now surrounding them:
1. Jarry? Why?
Look, no one's been tougher on him than I have, but I'm maintained throughout that he's a top-10 talent, even a top-five at times. If his lingering injury issue can be sufficiently addressed -- and here's hoping that was done to the team's firm satisfaction before pen was put to paper -- that'll be a big part of the battle, and he could become a bargain.
And if it doesn't click ... hey, last I checked, there's nothing preventing the Penguins from adding another No. 1 or a bona fide competitor in the future. He'll still be making half of what the NHL's truly elite goaltenders make. He can be moved or demoted.
This is what it cost to keep him for the time being, and it's a lot less than anyone had envisioned as recently as this past Christmas.
2. Enough scoring depth?
Among the bottom-six forwards, no, not at all. But I'm not sure that's ever been needed with this version of this team as much as solid defending, superlative penalty-killing, and at least enough possession/pressure to force an opponent to expend some sweat when Sid and company are on the bench. That, to me, has been the killer.
I'm an Eller guy. I've been one for a long time, and that won't abate just because he's coming off a modest dip in production over the past couple seasons with the Capitals and Avalanche, from 31 points to 23. He's smart, he's skilled, he's a character machine and, believe it or not, despite the production he's as capable as anyone of sliding up to top-six duty, certainly as a fill-in, without being blown away.
Acciari and Nieto both represent upgrades over the bottom-six wingers they're replacing and, before I damn them with that faint praise, I'll emphasize that all three of these forwards, including Eller, excel on the penalty-kill. That seldom comes up with the casual fan, but it's massive for Sullivan, who had no use for the team's mediocre 16th ranking in the NHL this past season. Nor for the 79.1% kill rate. Nor for the five shorties allowed.
It's not ideal. I'd like a little more blood and guts, and a lot more youth. But it's better than I thought Dubas would do under the cap.
3. Defensive mobility?
It's no coincidence that the teams that stuck in the playoffs had defensemen who could move. And not just one Alex Pietrangelo or Brandon Montour, but a few.
I feel like I've seen this as a shortcoming more than most, but that's OK by me, since it'll help push a point I'll carry into September that Ty Smith needs to get a real chance to crack the third pairing. I'm aware of the warts, too, but this team can't drag through six months of Letang being their only skating option in the back. That goes double if Petry stays. Breakouts need to become so much smoother than they've been, or those scorers will have to retreat too far for the puck.
For sure, Graves is a plus over the current Dumoulin in this regard. He'll help. But he can't be it.
As for that future I'd cited ...
I prefer to go easy on younger athletes, so I won't be unkind about the development camp scrimmage I covered here on this day. It was legit better than the past couple, from a talent pool standpoint, especially the size and speed. The overall skill level, the shooting, the passing, the vision ... like I said, I'll go easy.
If there's a positive individually, it's that the two players who stood out the most for me were the past two first-round picks in the NHL Draft, exactly who anyone would hope.
Brayden Yager, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound whirling wisp of a center, buzzed about both ends of the rink, his skating style and in-tight finish reminding me of a baby-faced Daniel Briere, but he also brought the trademark longer-range wrister that reminded of Phil Kessel, especially when he'd flamingo-plant on one leg to let it go.
In speaking one-on-one with the kid afterward, I asked about the odd combination he's got of speed coupled with a soft, often outright slow touch to his passing:
Owen Pickering, the 6-foot-4 and suddenly 200-pound -- way up from 181 this past September -- defenseman who was taken first in 2022, appeared at times to be too big for this setting. It wasn't just his stature but also the ease with which he covered way too much even in a three-on-three format. He had an active stick and reliable presence defensively but also was plenty poised on the attack. No flash. No dash. But a lot of what Sullivan values.
In speaking one-on-one with Pickering, I asked about looming expectations in light of his having made an AHL cameo late last season:
As we finished, Pickering walked over to Yager's stall to tease him while the latter was doing a TV interview, trying to get him to crack a smile. It's cool to think about how they'll project someday in Pittsburgh, on and off the ice.
Yeah, I know. Way too far ahead, right?
