"Right now," Erik Karlsson was telling me through a small smile Saturday night in Philadelphia, "everybody's focused on getting to see some sunshine."
He wasn't lying, except, of course, if he was including himself and all others headed for the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off that opens this week in Montréal. But the point very much stood as related to the Penguins: They were fried when they left Wells Fargo Center following, first, a seven-day road trip that touched all but one U.S. time zone, then a couple home games, then a couple more on the road, all within a broader, beatdown-level span of 18 games in 37 days.
They wouldn't say it, so I will: They're tired. Gassed, arguably. The visiting locker rooms at Madison Square Garden and Wells Fargo Center looked like triage units.
"I'm not going to lie," Kevin Hayes told me in Philadelphia, and he wasn't lying, either, "but we could use this time. A lot of us could use it."
I'll use it, too, to share 13 thoughts at the 13-day break:
• They're not done ...
NHL
... because of course they're not done. That's a six-point separation up there, people. And the three teams atop that wild-card pack are -- say it with me -- the Senators, Red Wings and Blue Jackets, who haven't exactly been the cream of the NHL's crop this decade. That's not to say they can't make it, but it is to say that projecting any team to need 90-plus to make the playoffs seems silly this year.
• Also and relevant, it's ... six ... points. With 25 games to go, no less.
• Since the Penguins' 3-7-1 start, back when they were defending like a set of PennDOT cones, they've gone 20-17-18, including victories over the Panthers and Oilers, the league's defending conference champions, as well as the Capitals, Maple Leafs and Kings. It's safe to say they've improved at pretty much every facet of the game, too, including goaltending since Tristan Jarry's banishment. So the issue isn't whether the team's good enough but, rather, whether it'll get better still.
• The 4 Nations doesn't have me all that stoked. Don't misunderstand: I'm a proponent and a half of highest-level international hockey. It's close to a crime that Gary Bettman hasn't allowed any since 2016. But, for as much as Russia as a nation is robustly deserving of every punishment it gets globally over the invasion of Ukraine -- I hope the hockey ban sticks for all eternity, to be honest -- this tournament will still suffer for it. There'll be no Alexander Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Artemi Panarin or Evgeni Malkin ... yeah, that's a lot to leave out while still calling it best-on-best.
• On that subject, I hated to see Sidney Crosby put into an uncomfortable position over the weekend in which he appeared to be choosing between playing hurt for the Penguins or healing up for the Canadian entry into the 4 Nations. There really wasn't a choice, I was told emphatically from within the team. Whatever happened to his left arm/side in the game before the trip, it wouldn't allow him to safely participate against the Rangers or Flyers. And there hadn’t been any sense for whether he'll be able to suit up for Canada's opener Wednesday night against Sweden. Also, it was easy to see this was killing him these past 72 hours, as he was an uncommon sight wearing civvies in the locker room after the game -- uncommon for anyone, I mean -- to be there for his teammates.
• This isn't some seismic thing, but I really liked what I saw of Emil Bemstrom over the weekend. It's one thing for him to lead the AHL affiliate in scoring, but to show up in New York telling me he's modified his game to become stronger on the puck, more effective on the forecheck, and then to see it play out in both games ... he'd best be back. He's 25, so he's hardly some prospect, but all this came with a positive feel. Some of our good talk at the Garden:
• Bear in mind, when discussing or debating possible trades Kyle Dubas can make toward the future -- the NHL's deadline is March 7, by the way -- that he doesn't need to go the full Rickard Rakell. Should he opt to move out players for prospects or picks, he's also got Hayes and Anthony Beauvillier both playing superbly, both as terrific team-first guys. It's hardly all or nothing.
• Tantalizing as a Rakell trade return might seem, given that he'll never be more valuable, I'd think long and hard before biting. If/when Dubas succeeds in building a younger, fresher roster around Sid, he'll still need a top line. And it's difficult to imagine crafting one more dangerous than Sid, Rakell and Bryan Rust. Cost efficient, too, at less than $20 million annually for all three.
• Best thing that could happen for this organization this season is to make the playoffs. I believe that wholeheartedly. Look around the NHL, and the landscape's littered with team that strip down to the bone, then never recover, never stop being losers. Not just the Sabres, either. I'd put the Red Wings, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets in similar brackets. There's a culture in Pittsburgh that, even through the playoff-series drought this decade, remains worth preserving. Losing 50 or 60 games in a season isn't easily erased.
• Second-best thing that could happen this season: Someone arrives from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and excels. And I'm talking about a younger someone than Bemstrom. It's the ultimate win-win for all involved, uplifting to the extreme. ... That said, I'm not seeing it. Maybe it'll be Ville Koivunen, who's been prolific of late, but man, Vasily Ponomarev's showing in Philadelphia was ... well, he's 22, so I'll be nice.
• I appreciated why Alex Nedeljković got all these nods of late. It was important to the players to push hard through these five games before the break, and that fit Mike Sullivan's thinking, so he chose the veteran over Joel Blomqvist. But that can't persist after the break. Nedeljković wears down upon excessive usage, for one, and the kid needs to see regular starts, as the Philadelphia game showed.
• Here's hoping the Fenway Sports Group's for-sale sign for a minority share of the Penguins falls into local hands. Nothing against them, in this case. It's just almost always better that way. (Depending on whether one considers Wheeling, W.Va., to be local, I guess.) And the same goes for replacing Kevin Acklin, the departing president of business operations and a yinzer to the core. Less Boston, more Pittsburgh.
Thanks for reading my hockey coverage. I'm bound for Bradenton, Fla., tomorrow, to cover a team that, from the top, couldn't give a crap if it ever wins. That's a violent pivot from being around the people running this one.
THE ASYLUM
DK: My 13 thoughts at the NHL’s 13-day break
"Right now," Erik Karlsson was telling me through a small smile Saturday night in Philadelphia, "everybody's focused on getting to see some sunshine."
He wasn't lying, except, of course, if he was including himself and all others headed for the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off that opens this week in Montréal. But the point very much stood as related to the Penguins: They were fried when they left Wells Fargo Center following, first, a seven-day road trip that touched all but one U.S. time zone, then a couple home games, then a couple more on the road, all within a broader, beatdown-level span of 18 games in 37 days.
They wouldn't say it, so I will: They're tired. Gassed, arguably. The visiting locker rooms at Madison Square Garden and Wells Fargo Center looked like triage units.
"I'm not going to lie," Kevin Hayes told me in Philadelphia, and he wasn't lying, either, "but we could use this time. A lot of us could use it."
I'll use it, too, to share 13 thoughts at the 13-day break:
• They're not done ...
NHL
... because of course they're not done. That's a six-point separation up there, people. And the three teams atop that wild-card pack are -- say it with me -- the Senators, Red Wings and Blue Jackets, who haven't exactly been the cream of the NHL's crop this decade. That's not to say they can't make it, but it is to say that projecting any team to need 90-plus to make the playoffs seems silly this year.
• Also and relevant, it's ... six ... points. With 25 games to go, no less.
• Since the Penguins' 3-7-1 start, back when they were defending like a set of PennDOT cones, they've gone 20-17-18, including victories over the Panthers and Oilers, the league's defending conference champions, as well as the Capitals, Maple Leafs and Kings. It's safe to say they've improved at pretty much every facet of the game, too, including goaltending since Tristan Jarry's banishment. So the issue isn't whether the team's good enough but, rather, whether it'll get better still.
• The 4 Nations doesn't have me all that stoked. Don't misunderstand: I'm a proponent and a half of highest-level international hockey. It's close to a crime that Gary Bettman hasn't allowed any since 2016. But, for as much as Russia as a nation is robustly deserving of every punishment it gets globally over the invasion of Ukraine -- I hope the hockey ban sticks for all eternity, to be honest -- this tournament will still suffer for it. There'll be no Alexander Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Artemi Panarin or Evgeni Malkin ... yeah, that's a lot to leave out while still calling it best-on-best.
• On that subject, I hated to see Sidney Crosby put into an uncomfortable position over the weekend in which he appeared to be choosing between playing hurt for the Penguins or healing up for the Canadian entry into the 4 Nations. There really wasn't a choice, I was told emphatically from within the team. Whatever happened to his left arm/side in the game before the trip, it wouldn't allow him to safely participate against the Rangers or Flyers. And there hadn’t been any sense for whether he'll be able to suit up for Canada's opener Wednesday night against Sweden. Also, it was easy to see this was killing him these past 72 hours, as he was an uncommon sight wearing civvies in the locker room after the game -- uncommon for anyone, I mean -- to be there for his teammates.
• This isn't some seismic thing, but I really liked what I saw of Emil Bemstrom over the weekend. It's one thing for him to lead the AHL affiliate in scoring, but to show up in New York telling me he's modified his game to become stronger on the puck, more effective on the forecheck, and then to see it play out in both games ... he'd best be back. He's 25, so he's hardly some prospect, but all this came with a positive feel. Some of our good talk at the Garden:
• Bear in mind, when discussing or debating possible trades Kyle Dubas can make toward the future -- the NHL's deadline is March 7, by the way -- that he doesn't need to go the full Rickard Rakell. Should he opt to move out players for prospects or picks, he's also got Hayes and Anthony Beauvillier both playing superbly, both as terrific team-first guys. It's hardly all or nothing.
• Tantalizing as a Rakell trade return might seem, given that he'll never be more valuable, I'd think long and hard before biting. If/when Dubas succeeds in building a younger, fresher roster around Sid, he'll still need a top line. And it's difficult to imagine crafting one more dangerous than Sid, Rakell and Bryan Rust. Cost efficient, too, at less than $20 million annually for all three.
• Best thing that could happen for this organization this season is to make the playoffs. I believe that wholeheartedly. Look around the NHL, and the landscape's littered with team that strip down to the bone, then never recover, never stop being losers. Not just the Sabres, either. I'd put the Red Wings, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets in similar brackets. There's a culture in Pittsburgh that, even through the playoff-series drought this decade, remains worth preserving. Losing 50 or 60 games in a season isn't easily erased.
• Second-best thing that could happen this season: Someone arrives from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and excels. And I'm talking about a younger someone than Bemstrom. It's the ultimate win-win for all involved, uplifting to the extreme. ... That said, I'm not seeing it. Maybe it'll be Ville Koivunen, who's been prolific of late, but man, Vasily Ponomarev's showing in Philadelphia was ... well, he's 22, so I'll be nice.
• I appreciated why Alex Nedeljković got all these nods of late. It was important to the players to push hard through these five games before the break, and that fit Mike Sullivan's thinking, so he chose the veteran over Joel Blomqvist. But that can't persist after the break. Nedeljković wears down upon excessive usage, for one, and the kid needs to see regular starts, as the Philadelphia game showed.
• Here's hoping the Fenway Sports Group's for-sale sign for a minority share of the Penguins falls into local hands. Nothing against them, in this case. It's just almost always better that way. (Depending on whether one considers Wheeling, W.Va., to be local, I guess.) And the same goes for replacing Kevin Acklin, the departing president of business operations and a yinzer to the core. Less Boston, more Pittsburgh.
Thanks for reading my hockey coverage. I'm bound for Bradenton, Fla., tomorrow, to cover a team that, from the top, couldn't give a crap if it ever wins. That's a violent pivot from being around the people running this one.
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