CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Reilly Smith said that it was a little hard for him to recover this summer.
"You can't push it as hard as you did when you were 25," he quipped.
He wasn't talking about recovering from the season or anything he did in his offseason training, of course. He was talking about recovering from the parade and celebrations that came with lifting the Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights.
"It was great to be able to celebrate with that team," Smith said Thursday during the Penguins' opening day of training camp. "It's something I'll remember for the rest of my life. But halfway through the summer, after my day with the Cup, you're able to change the page and move on to the next chapter."
This season being the "next chapter" for Smith is right. The Penguins acquired the 32-year-old winger in June from the Golden Knights in exchange for a third-round pick, the third-round pick that the Penguins had initially received from Vegas in the Teddy Blueger trade.
Smith, who has two years left on his contract that carries a $5 million cap hit, was a cap casualty as Vegas was trying to re-sign Ivan Barbashev. Even knowing that the Golden Knights were up against the cap this summer, it was still a bit of a surprise to Smith when the call came that he had been traded. But he's pretty happy with where he ended up and sees the trade as an opportunity to repeat what he accomplished last summer with Vegas.
"You're not really expecting anything," Smith said. "But it was a summer full of highs for me and my family. To be here with this group pushing for a Stanley Cup, it's one of the things you dream of. To be able to play with some of the guys that I looked up to and grew up and idolized is pretty special. It's a great opportunity for me and my family, and we're just trying to take everything in right now."
There's a great chance that Smith will get to play with both of the Penguins' top two centers throughout this early part of the season.
You can't read too much into the line combinations used during the opening days of training camp. Something Mike Sullivan does is take two players who have history together or might be paired together, then make the third player on their line a depth player or someone from Wilkes-Barre. Something you might be able to read into, however, is the line of Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Andreas Johnsson. Johnsson is certainly a player more likely to skate in a bottom-six or depth role this season, but Smith-Malkin is a pretty likely forward combination this season.
The group that included Smith and Malkin scrimmaged one of the other training camp groups midway through Thursday's opening day of training camp, and they sure looked like they had some great chemistry to start. They were finding each other with passes in the offensive zone through traffic that looked impossible. Smith said that he hasn't really gotten to know Malkin off the ice too well yet, noting that Malkin seems "quiet." But on the ice, they're getting pretty familiar with one another.
"He's a world-class player," Smith said of his initial impressions of Malkin "You know, he sees the ice so well, he creates so many options by creating space for himself and his teammates. I'm just trying to do my best to complement him right now and to try to create some chemistry. Obviously, lines juggle a million times throughout the year. But it's nice if you can create something fast and get off to a hot start. The first month is very important in winning games and getting off to a good start. Creating chemistry can go a long way."
The Smith-Malkin pairing was a decision made deliberately by the coaching staff due to Smith's hockey IQ and strong two-way game. Given that Malkin can at times be a bit ... adventurous, Smith looks like he could be a good complement to Malkin's game.
"He's a cerebral player," Sullivan said of Smith. "I think he sees the game really well on both sides of the puck. He makes good decisions. You know, Geno is a dynamic player. As we know, offensively, there's an element of unpredictability in his game that can present a challenge sometimes for his linemates. We think Reilly might be a real good fit there, because he's a cerebral player and he sees the game as well as he does. He has a good defensive conscience. He has awareness away from the puck. But he also has the offensive skill to play with a guy like Geno. So those are some of the reasons why we thought we would try him there."
With Jake Guentzel also being a left wing and out of the lineup for the first few games of the season, there's also a good chance that Smith will be moved up to Sidney Crosby's line to start. Crosby skated in a different group than Smith and Malkin to open camp, but it wouldn't be surprising to see Smith-Crosby tested out as camp progresses over the next few weeks.
Smith isn't too familiar with Sullivan yet. He's been in town for a couple of weeks for the informal skates before training camp started, but Sullivan isn't permitted to be on the ice for those voluntary sessions. They had some initial conversations over the summer and were on the ice together on Day 1 of camp, and Smith's initial impressions of his new head coach are positive.
"He seems like he's pretty detail-oriented," Smith observed. "In playing this team year after year, the pace of play is important here. I think that's one thing that they're trying to implement in camp for sure."
One of the biggest takeaways Smith had of his new team is just the drive this group has. He said that it's reminiscent of the vibe he had going into last season in Vegas. He and the Golden Knights missed the playoffs in 2022, and then were champions a year later. In addition to having that drive, missing the playoffs can help in that the team is all the more rested heading into the following season.
"I think there's a big positive of being able to rest throughout the summer," Smith said. "Obviously, this group's hungry. You can tell it from the first day I stepped into this locker room. But having a fresh team is as important as almost anything right now."
More important than having the drive and the fresh legs, Smith sees this personnel group as one that's strong enough to actually bounce back and be a contender. And he's hoping that leads to another summer of partying with the Cup.
"This team is built to win a Stanley Cup," Smith said. "From the top to bottom, from management all the way down to every forward, defenseman and goalie on this team. The sky's the limit. ... It's pretty tough to win back-to-back. So hopefully, this puts me in a better opportunity to chase another one."
