#jason mackey

[tonichelleak]

Jason Mackey and team at the Ceremonial and ReStart of Iditarod 51. Jason is the younger brother of 4-time Iditarod and Yukon Quest Champion Lance Mackey. Lance passed away in September of 2022 and Jason took his brother’s ashes onto this year’s Iditarod trail. Jason had a rough go throughout the race and was barely able to finish, but finish he did as RED LANTERN (last place). He was also voted as Most Inspirational by his fellow finishers.

[toomuchhockeylove]

too bad? too fucking bad?

more like too bad the penguins can’t wake up and realize they’re alienating a portion of their fanbase because they want to “honor the office of the presidency.”

[burning-up-ao3]

20 Penguins Thoughts: The timeless art of hating your friends

JASON MACKEY Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [email protected]

 NOV 12, 2019

As if playing against his former team wasn’t enough, Dominik Kahun wrestled with another reality last week as the Penguins prepared to host the Chicago Blackhawks.

On the other bench would be Dominik Kubalik, Kahun’s good friend and former linemate. Born in Czech Republic towns located less than an hour from one another, Kahun and Kubalik grew close during their time with Chicago.

Now, Kahun knew it was time to flip that proverbial switch, turning Kubalik from friend to foe.

“It’s fun,” Kahun said of the inevitable reality of sharing the same slab of ice with a good friend. “You usually don’t see them often. You always talk to them a little bit during warmup. I’m excited.”

 Matt Vensel

Injured Sidney Crosby won't travel with Penguins on upcoming road trip

 What transpired Saturday was exactly what one might expect: There was some talk during a close game, a 3-2 Penguins shootout win, and Kahun and Kubalik, without anything overly noticeable, went their separate ways, their second and final meetup this season not until March.

While playing against a good friend never lacks for fun — ask Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury how those meetings have gone — they usually aren’t overly physical, the opposite of former football teammates occasionally trying to exact revenge.

Well, except for that one time …

2. It was Nick Bjugstad’s first full NHL season, in 2013-14. Early November game, in Washington, and the Florida Panthers would lose in a shootout.

But it wasn’t the result that Bjugstad remembers. During one particular post-whistle scrum, Bjugstad reached for the closest Capitals player he could find and put one of the league’s more talkative defensemen into a headlock.

Turns it out it was fellow Minnesota native Nate Schmidt.

“We didn’t know it was ... each other,” Bjugstad said. “So we both kind of got each other in a headlock. Then I realized it was Nate. He realized it was me. We just kind of laughed.”

 Matt Vensel

Penguins' power play looking for someone to create chaos

 Playing against good friends — Bjugstad has another in Maple Leafs defenseman Justin Holl, a fellow former Minnesota Gopher — might produce some funny moments, and these guys aren’t out to maim one another.

But Bjugstad said playing one of your buddies is hardly approached with a laissez-faire attitude.

“You want to have the bragging rights, so you don’t want to get beat in any way,” Bjugstad said. “It’s fun to get competitive.”

3. For Jake Guentzel, yet another Minnesota guy, his awkward, on-ice confrontation revolves around Brock Nelson, who’s from ... you guessed it.

Whenever the Penguins play the Islanders, things are bound to be a little more intense, with the on-ice chatter always a little more than usual.

“It was a weird time last year in the playoffs when we were going at it,” Guentzel said.

But back home in Da Beauty League, Minnesota’s terrific summer hockey outfit, any bad blood was quickly shoved aside, even if they had wanted to rip one another’s head off just a few months prior.

“It’s just a battle,” Guentzel said. “I think guys know it. It gets intense. After the game, it’s like nothing happened.”

4. There was a fun sidebar to this story that really didn’t fit anywhere else.

In the Penguins dressing room, Bjugstad and Jared McCann are almost always seated next to one another. They’re also good-natured, almost always available and great with offbeat topics such at this one.

After chatting with Bjugstad, I went next door and posed the same question to McCann, who surprisingly wasn’t much help at all.

“I don’t really have one specific story, no,” McCann said. “A lot of my buddies I grew up with don’t play hockey anymore. I’m not from Minnesota, where everybody plays hockey.”

McCann, who does a pretty good Minnesota accent, is from Stratford, Ontario, which is about two hours west of Toronto. McCann’s dad owned his own construction company and literally created a hockey rink in his backyard.

Also, it’s Canada. Can-a-da. Where hockey trails only eating, drinking and sleeping.

5. Anyway, McCann said his best friend on another team was probably James Reimer, formerly of the Florida Panthers and currently the backup in Carolina.

One small problem here, though: There’s very little trash talk that goes on between the two good friends — McCann actually stayed at Reimer’s house to watch his dog when the latter’s wife gave birth to their first child — because they like each other so much.

“Would I chirp him? No, he’s too nice,” McCann said with a laugh. “I would feel so bad if I did. He’s just such a genuinely good person. He’s never chirping or anything. He’s just an honest hockey player.”

6. Speaking of chirping, a few of the Penguins I talked to for this story flat-out stink at talking trash.

“I’m no good,” Marcus Pettersson said. “I just try to stay out of it.”

Added Bjugstad, “Usually when I start chirping, it backfires on me.”

Jack Johnson said playing a good buddy isn’t necessarily about talking trash for him. In fact, Johnson said he’s actually liable to take it a little easy on a good friend.

“You hit each other hard, but he doesn’t get the extra slash or cross-check,” Johnson said.

He also doesn’t get any phone calls or text messages, Johnson said. Both times they’ve met in the playoffs, Johnson and Penguins captain Sidney Crosby refused to talk to one another during the series.

“First time we talked was in the handshake line,” Johnson said.

7. My favorite anecdote from this story wasn’t directly related, unfortunately.

Bryan Rust was the first player I approached, knowing he and Islanders captain Anders Lee — a pair of Notre Dame products — are close.

That playoff series was especially awkward for them, although neither one runs around like an idiot. Just good, hard fun.

“In warmups you try and make eye contact,” Rust said. “You pass each other a puck and have a little bit of fun. On the ice you might say a few things to each other from bench-to-bench.

“I think everyone is pretty good at kind of drawing that fine line between having fun but still going out there and trying to win a game.”

The funny anecdote was this: Rust actually learns other languages to try and annoy players of different nationalities on the ice. Some serious respect there.

“I try and learn a few different languages to maybe say some inappropriate things to guys and catch them off-guard,” Rust said.

Caught me off-guard, too. Definitely didn’t see that one coming from Rust.

8. Moving on.

I’ve beaten this drum plenty before, and I also know it’s early. But at this rate, assuming this sort of stuff continues, I really hope Mike Sullivan gets some love for the Jack Adams Award.

This can be kind of a funky thing. Mike Babcock has never won it, and that, by itself, is absurd. But it tends to go to the guy who has helped his team author the best story or overcome the most odds. Barry Trotz with the Islanders last year was a perfect example.

Sullivan has done that this season. Almost every forward on their roster has been injured at one point or another, including Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist. They traded Phil Kessel. Oh, and Kris Letang is hurt, too.

Coming off that playoff loss to the Islanders, Sullivan has adjusted his system to apply more puck-pressure and change how the Penguins play.

If there’s been a better coaching performance around the NHL thus far, I haven’t seen it.

9. The power play should also be factored into Sullivan’s performance this season, but I’m not sure which way to take that.

Obviously it has been terrible, but I’m also fairly confident Sullivan isn’t coaching them to over-pass, over-think or flat-out botch their breakouts. If he is, they should definitely adjust that strategy.

As Sullivan said after Saturday’s game, it’s hardly been one thing. He also admitted his guys are pressing.

Here’s a borderline insane suggestion: While Crosby is out, how about taking Alex Galchenyuk and putting him in the right circle, where he often thrived with the Coyotes?

What’s the worst that could happen, they don’t score?

10. Rust had one of the more confounding starts to a season I had ever seen in 2018-19, when he scored just one goal in his first 29 games, then exploded for a hat trick when the puck followed him all night during a 6-3 loss at Chicago on Dec. 12, 2018.

What a difference a year makes.

In an interview before the season, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford had some interesting things to say about Rust and others who were a little too content with their success.

“Not that he played poorly, but he’s an example of a guy who I don’t think played at the level he was capable of a year ago,” Rutherford said. “That just gets to contentment. But he’s not the only guy. I’m not trying to single him out or pick on him.”

Rutherford went on to say that, “Bryan Rust was our best player at camp this year.”

After Rust was forced to hit the pause button on that when he was injured blocking a shot in the final preseason game, we’re seeing what Rutherford — and others — saw all through training camp.

11. With his third-period goal on Saturday, Rust extended his point streak to a career-high six games, where he’s scored a total of five goals. All of those since he returned from injury on Oct. 26.

“I guess things feel good,” Rust said with a smile. “I might know better than anyone else that things can turn just as quickly for the bad. I just have to keep plugging away here.”

I asked Rust to describe his approach coming into training camp and what has helped him rediscover his scoring touch.

“Just a fresh start,” Rust said. “Try to put everything in the past behind me. Obviously I felt really good through training camp. Felt great to start the year. Obviously an unfortunate injury with five minutes left in the last preseason game. Kept me out of some games there. I just kept working hard off the ice and kept wanting to play well.”

12. It’s no secret that the Penguins love Rust. Sure, he’s been big in playoffs games. Has scored a bunch of huge goals for the Penguins over the years. He has also played both wings well and has moved up and down the lineup with ease. Recently he’s been very good on Malkin’s wing.

Rust’s game — being hard on pucks and an all-around pain in the butt — has also meshed extremely well with the Penguins’ new identity.

“The biggest thing for me that Rusty has shown since Day 1 of training camp is just a sense of urgency and a certain hunger to his game,” Sullivan said. “When he plays his way, that’s when he’s at his best. I think he’s done that consistently game in and game out, day in and day out, even in practice.”

13. In that preseason interview, Rutherford also said he thought the addition of Brandon Tanev — another versatile and tenacious wing — would be good for Rust. Turns out that was probably right, too.

“We always talk with our players about being a next-effort team,” Sullivan said. “I think Rusty right now probably personifies next-effort play. He’s like a dog on a bone on the puck. He’s relentless.”

With some pretty solid scoring touch to boot.

14. Funny quote from Rust after Saturday’s win: “[Coming back from another deficit] shows a lot of character in this room, but we’re really not making it very easy on ourselves.”

The Penguins spotted their opponent three-goal leads on Monday and Thursday of last week. On Saturday, it was a 2-0 hole they had to erase.

Not exactly a recipe for success, but give the Penguins credit: They’ve found ways to win.

“We have a great group,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got good people. They’re buying in right now, and they’re playing hard for one another.

“I give our leadership a lot of credit. The guys in the room, our veteran guys, they’re leading the way there. And then some of our younger [guys] are bringing a certain level of enthusiasm.

“When you get that combination, for me, that’s a fun combination to be around. And we’ve had that a lot of this year.”

15. The impact of Malkin is absolutely noticeable.

I know it’s hardly a surprise, but similar to Rust, what happened to Malkin last season was hard to describe; at times it was like he suddenly forgot how to play hockey.

That’s in the past now.

I thought Sullivan captured this perfectly after Saturday’s game in talking about Malkin’s game, saying that they don’t want to stifle the star center’s playmaking ability, but they do need to compromise on some things.

“He’s buying in to how we’re trying to play,” Sullivan said. “He’s trying to play a more north-south game even though his instinct sometimes is to play east-west.

“We’re not trying to change Geno. That’s what makes him what he is. That’s what makes him unique. All we’re trying to do is we’re asking him to meet us halfway a little bit, and he’s done that. He’s done a great job since he’s been back.”

16. I thought Justin Schultz quietly bounced back very nicely during an eventful game Saturday night.

His ill-timed pinch, with zero support, led to the Blackhawks’ first goal. A Schultz shot attempt that never found the net inadvertently led to Chicago’s second goal.

But in overtime, Schultz made a terrific play to knock the puck away from Alex DeBrincat on a two-on-one.

It doesn’t show up on the scoresheet, but it was a huge play at the time.

17. Loved the pass by John Marino on Rust’s goal. Such poise for a young kid. Most players Marino’s age would’ve taken that shot, but he wisely took an extra second and found Rust all alone at the bottom of the left circle for a beautiful back-door goal.

“He’s just getting better with every game that he plays,” Sullivan said of Marino. “I think he’s getting more confident every game that he plays. That was a real nice play he made. Just the puck poise, the patience, the vision to see Rusty on the back side. It was just a terrific play.”

It’s pretty much impossible to think of the Penguins’ top-six on defense at this point without Marino. He has absolutely earned a regular spot in the lineup.

18. It’s noticeable that Galchenyuk is lacking confidence.

Three times in the first period Saturday, Galchenyuk had chances to put the Penguins ahead early. Three times, Galchenyuk could not beat Corey Crawford, including one nifty attempt between his legs.

Wrote about this some last week, but the Penguins need Galchenyuk to find it. It’s there, but he’s thinking entirely too much when the puck is on his stick.

19. Number of the week: Plus-12.

That’s McCann’s rating over the past five games, the best on the team. He also has two goals and six points during that stretch.

I’ll admit that I was a little surprised that Sullivan sent McCann out as his third shooter in the shootout, but McCann made his coach look smart by firing high over Crawford’s right shoulder for the shootout-deciding goal.

I’m not backing off my prediction that I think McCann will get 20 goals this season.

20. Non-hockey thought of the week:

I was saddened to learn last week the Wilson’s BBQ on the North Side burned down. Incredible place. My favorite to get BBQ in Pittsburgh. Their spicy sauce was nothing short of incredible.

I’m glad everyone is OK, but I’m also rooting for owner George Wilson Jr., hoping he’s able to build his business back up.

Pittsburgh is what it is because of awesome local businesses like Wilson’s and also Nancy B’s, where I went last week for my birthday. Another have-to-go recommendation.

Jason Mackey: [email protected] and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

[burning-up-ao3]

20 Penguins Thoughts 11 5 2019

20 Penguins Thoughts: Talking hockey and history with Bob GroveJason Mackey/Post-Gazette

JASON MACKEYPittsburgh Post-Gazette

[email protected]

NOV 5, 2019 8:00 AM

Hockey can be a subjective game, the most of the major North American professional team sports. You thought so-and-so played a pretty decent game. Your buddy didn’t. There are only so many numbers to break the tie. Given it’s not a start-and-stop game, plus the speed inherent to hockey, some things can be tough to quantify.

Here’s one thing, however, that’s not subjective, especially when you’re around the Pittsburgh Penguins every day: Bob Grove, who’s unofficially considered the team’s historian, is nothing short of brilliant.

And also just a really, really nice person.

I’ve known Grove for years, since I worked where he once did, at the Washington Observer-Reporter. We chatted plenty when I was on the Penguins beat, too, and I’ve always been fascinated by how Grove does what he does. So, on Monday, I sort of invited myself into his Canonsburg home to check it out.

Matt VenselKris Letang leaves Penguins loss in Boston with injury

Picked a heck of a game, too, as we watched the Penguins dig themselves a pretty big hole in Boston — more on this shortly — rally, then lose a heartbreaker at the end.

2. “People have ways of scraping data,” Grove said as he sat at an upstairs computer, beginning the process of explaining to me how he’s able to look up some of the most nuanced facts about the Penguins in mere minutes. “I don’t have any idea how to do that.”

Scraping data is essentially taking the official game data from the NHL — say shots on goal or time on ice — and writing a computer program to where it will automatically update. It’s how sites such as naturalstattrick.com or the former war-on-ice.com pull info.

Grove does none of that. He has somewhere around 80 or 100 Excel files on his desktop computer (that syncs with his work laptop), 35 or 40 of them spreadsheets that he manually updates after every game.

“Anybody could do this,” Grove insisted to me. “It’s all available on NHL.com.”

With all due respect, Grover, you’re wrong here. I’m pretty sure there are very few people on the planet who can do what you do, which is what makes this all so neat to me.

3. The amount of data Grove has accumulated is incredible.

Matt VenselShaky goaltending costs Penguins game in Boston

His most often used spreadsheet has data logged from all 4,062 games throughout Penguins history. An abbreviated list of what’s tracked includes attendance; whether it’s a division or conference game; whether it’s a part of a home-and-home series; the game time; shots on goal; power-play opportunities for both teams; who scored the first goal and in overtime, if necessary; goalie information; short-handed goals; who was coaching the Penguins; the officials; whether they were winning or losing after two periods.

Did I mention that Grove enters this stuff manually after every game?

Two summers ago Grove got an itch. Like many of his research ideas, it started with something that he wanted to know. So he broke down each game even further, logging how many goals and shots the Penguins had per period for each game in their history.

This came in handy after the second period Monday, as Grove rushed upstairs to see how 21 shots and four goals fared throughout Penguins history. It took him less than 4 minutes.

Tonight marks just the fourth time Pens have scored 4 goals in one period @ Boston. Last time was Feb. 8, 2003, when they also got 4 in the second period.

See Bob Grove's other Tweets

Pens had 21 shots in the second period, most shots they've ever had in one period of a game @ Boston.

See Bob Grove's other Tweets

“I guess you just have to have a natural curiosity about stuff,” Grove said.

Ugh, yeah. Something like that.

4. The Penguins are currently in an 0-for-21 power-play funk. That, too, has had Grove’s wheels spinning. So this past weekend, instead of enjoying some gorgeous weather, he sifted through his own game logs, looking for games with extended strings of zeros, then counting up the missed chances inside each group.

“It took me a few hours just to go back 20 years,” Grove said.

Eventually he settled on this:

So far, the longest PP drought I've seen for Pens (not done looking) is 42 straight from Dec. 3-23, 1967. Since the turn of the century, longest was 33 straight, from Dec. 23 to Jan. 6 in the 08-09 season.

See Bob Grove's other Tweets

5. Grove has another spreadsheet with player info: Everybody who has ever played for the team, complete with their date of birth, where they were born, how the Penguins acquired them, where they played college or junior hockey, what they did in their first/last games with the club, etc.

“If someone says, ‘Who from Oshawa has played for the Penguins?’ I can just sort it,” Grove said.

There are also files including the Penguins’ trade history, how other goalies have fared against them, power-play information, all of them updated after each game. Ditto for probably 20 or so files specifically dedicated to Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Matt Murray. On the shootout spreadsheet that Grove keeps, he invented a stat called Game on Stick, where he tracks whether the shooter had a chance to win the game right then and there.

While updating, Grove will notice trends, those thoughts producing the next day’s notes.

“I always thought it would be so much easier if this information flowed in here,” Grove said, alluding to the scraping of data. “It would be a lot less time consuming, but I wouldn’t notice the things I notice by putting them in by hand. That’s the good thing about it. I’ve got it down to kind of a science the way I do it after the game.”

6. To better understand Grove, and why he does what he does, I suppose we should probably back up a little bit.

The Sarver native attended his first Penguins game on Dec. 26, 1970, a 4-2 Penguins victory over the Boston Bruins at Civic Arena. On the other team, of course, was Bobby Orr.

Grove, who was 11 at the time, had been a hockey fan before that, but this was sort of the point of no return. He was enraptured.

“You think you have an interest in this game, you go watch it live, and your life is never the same afterward,” Grove said. “At least that’s the way it’s been for me.”

7. Grove went to Penn State and interviewed for a job at the Observer-Reporter in 1981, where he would work until 1998 before getting out of the newspaper business and ascending to his current role: vice president of public relations for Comcast’s Keystone Region.

During his time at the O-R, Grove — like all of us who worked there — did a variety of things, though his most notable work came covering the Penguins.

But Grove, unlike writers for the bigger Pittsburgh papers, did not travel for road games in the regular season, only during the playoffs. The 60-year-old began charting stats and trends by hand as a way to find stuff to write when the team was on the road.

“I would look at this stuff, and it would give me some notes for a notebook,” Grove said.

8. Grove actually used to call a fax number given out by the NHL, where you could request game sheets from specific teams.

Those helped, though the ink eventually smeared. Former Penguins PR man Steve Bonino once came up big when he handed Grove copies of every game sheet ever. Grove keeps the hard copies, scanned into his computer.

“He said, ‘We have all the game summaries since 1967. Do you want a copy?’ ” Grove recalled. “I said, ‘Think about what you just asked me.’ ”

(Grove and I had a separate, lengthy discussion about how different journalism is today, but we’ll save that for another time. I did tell Grove I’m jealous of those who covered sports 20 or 30 years ago and were actually able to watch what they were writing about.)

9. Grove didn’t play a ton of ice hockey growing up. He could skate, sure, and he and his friends routinely played street hockey, but hockey just wasn’t as much of a thing back then.

Recently, though, Grove’s neighbor and his son, Brent, have gotten him into playing pickup games.

“I’m definitely not the best one out there,” Bob said. “But I love it.”

10. What Grove does scratches an important itch for him.

In August 2015, the Penguins decided to change up their pre- and postgame shows on the radio side, which effectively removed Grove from the role he held for the previous 10 years.

Coming off a lackluster season, the Penguins wanted someone full-time in that role, and Grove couldn’t be around the team as much as the job would require. The position eventually went to Josh Getzoff, another friend and a talented broadcaster who’s incredibly deserving.

“For me it’s simply a way to stay close to a game that I love and stay close to the team,” Grove said.

11. I also give Grove a lot of credit for this next one: I think it would be easy for someone in his position to be upset over how things went down.

Sure, Getzoff is beyond capable. It’s not about that. Grove’s voice, to me, is synonymous with the club’s history, the same way you think of Mike Lange or Paul Steigerwald. You don’t hear any of the three and think anything other than Penguins hockey.

Grove is a trove of information, and he’s just a really smart hockey guy. He was also all class in how he addressed my next question on whether he misses broadcasting and if it was hard to remain a fan given how things went down.

“I don’t have any hard feelings,” Grove said. “It hit me hard. I really do miss it a lot. But the team, look, they had reasons for doing it.

“I have no complaints by the way I was treated by the Penguins. Are you kidding me? They gave me an opportunity to write a book about the team, which was a thrill. Gave me a chance to do 10 years of the radio show. I never had more fun than I did doing that.

“It gave me a chance to be on the broadcast team with Mike Lange and Phil Bourque. I was listening to Mike when I was a teenager, so you can imagine what a thrill that was for me to work on the same broadcast team as Mike Lange. They gave me a chance to ride with those guys during the Stanley Cup parade in ’09.

“I got treated tremendously by the Penguins. They made a decision. That’s how it goes. At the end of the day, I gave that job everything I had and more. That’s really all you can ask of yourself.”

12. Now, Grove said he spends around two or three hours a day researching various Penguins-related items, in addition to his Comcast work. He also writes columns and makes regular appearances on 93.7 the Fan.

Grove is active on Twitter, and it’s not uncommon for fans to pose random questions to him involving Penguins history.

“I enjoy interacting with the fans,” Grove said. “I really enjoy that. I can’t answer them all. But there’s few times people get back to me and ask me a question that I can look up and I enjoy sharing that with them.”

13. If you follow Grove on Twitter, he’ll tweet out a flurry of info before games. When I was on the beat, I would sit in the press box, crank up some Grateful Dead or Jason Isbell and type those notes into a separate file for easy reference once the game started.

Grove told me he actually schedules the tweets the night before.

“Because I couldn’t be at practice, it was how I got ready for the broadcasts,” Grove said of his pregame notes. “That gave me stuff to lean on in the pregame and postgame and between periods. I just started to take some of those notes that I had prepped and tweeted them out. Then it grew from there.”

14. Couple more random Grove tidbits before I move on …

Around five or six years ago, Grove took on one of his biggest research projects: Gordie Howe hat tricks. This is not an official NHL stat — it’s when a player has a fight, a goal and an assist in the same game — so Grove had to figure it on his own.

He started by weeding out games where the Penguins were shut out or scored one goal. Then he’d look for fights. If someone fought, he’d look to see if that player scored a goal, then if he had an assist.

“You have to lay eyes on the game summary of every game they’ve ever played,” Grove said. “It took months, but I just got this bug and said, ‘I’m going to get this list.’ ”

15. Grove, like many in the local media, is a big English Premier League soccer fan. Specifically he’s a Manchester City supporter after he became hooked on the final day of the 2012 season when City scored twice in extra time to claim their first league title since 1968.

“I was the guy rooting for the Cubs and Red Sox to win the World Series,” Grove said. “I love teams that haven’t won in forever finally finding a way.

“[Manchester City winning] struck me. I said, ‘This is my team.’ I could identify with how long they had suffered until they won.”

Now, Grove listens to multiple soccer podcasts every week. The sport has become a close second to hockey for him.

“It’s so different than North American sports,” Grove said. “I think that’s what I like about it.”

16. We also spent time talking about the current Penguins beat, how competitive it is and how much good work is being done there.

(It’s true. It’s probably the most competitive beat in the city.)

“There’s never been more coverage of the Penguins than there is now,” Grove said. “And there’s some really, really good writing going on about the Penguins. I never remember seeing the kind of coverage that is put forth these days.”

Couldn’t agree more with that. Some very talented people over there, and I’m especially proud of the work our guys, Matt Vensel and Mike DeFabo, have done recently.

17. Moving on …

I’d really like to start seeing more out of Alex Galchenyuk. I think it’s in there, but if you’re going to play with Evgeni Malkin — where he probably fits the best — the Penguins absolutely need more finish out of him.

Saw it last night again. I get that he’s had a tough start with health, but now, with Patric Hornqvist out, it’s time to get going.

18. Brian Dumoulin doesn’t get nearly enough credit.

So steady, so quiet. His game isn’t sexy, and it doesn’t need to be. He’s the perfect running mate for Kris Letang.

“He doesn’t get his due, does he?” Grove said at one point during our discussion.

No, he most certainly does not.

19. Why not try Jared McCann up with Crosby and Guentzel?

I was definitely in the camp of letting Dominik Simon work it out. We’ve been there, we’ve seen it, and it’s .... well, not exactly perfect.

The Penguins could also be getting more out of McCann than they have thus far, at least in terms of him consistently having an impact on games.

Would love to see coach Mike Sullivan revisit that trio later in the week, although I’m not terribly confident we’re going to see it.

20. I like the way the Penguins are playing right now.

I realize they’ve lost five of seven, four of those coming in regulation, but I don’t care. Grove and I agreed: There’s something different about the Penguins right now, something more repeatable, a tenacious style that will matter once they get their power play going and (finally) get healthy.

This isn’t the sloppy, lackadaisical brand of hockey that had the Penguins languishing through the first couple months each of the past couple seasons.

Jason Mackey: [email protected] and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

[burning-up-ao3]

20 Penguin Thoughts: What’s It Really Like Returning From Injury

20 Penguins Thoughts: What it’s really like returning from injury

March 26, 2019 8:19 AMBy Jason Mackey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

NEW YORK — Let’s start with a personal anecdote for a change.

The summer before my senior year playing baseball at Westminster College, I split my kneecap in half, the result of a line drive up the middle that knocked me head over heels and caromed all the way to the dugout fence.

After spending the next six months rehabbing from two separate surgeries, I was hesitant and nervous the next time I toed the rubber. On the very first pitch — a low-and-outside fastball— a shot up the middle whizzed an inch past my left leg.

I threw my glove in the air and jokingly said that was it; I quit.

With opening day approaching, that injury and coming back from it got me thinking about the process of recovering from a serious injury at the NHL level, all the work Penguins players put in to get back on the ice and what it’s like once they get there.

“It almost feels like there’s different phases of it,’ Nick Bjugstad was telling me last week in Nashville. “It doesn’t really set in until a few days later, it seems like. Once it hits, you’re watching your team play. It’s no fun. Obviously you want to be out there on the ice.

“Toward the end, you get anxious to get out there. There’s a lot of excitement. It’s kind of a cycle … but not one you want to go through too often.”

So, what happens when a player gets hurt? Let’s take a look.

2. The hardest part is being alone, several players said.

While everyone who’s healthy is going on road trips, game-planning for opponents and has an actual shot at making a difference, you’re unable to contribute much of anything.

Yes, guys watch the games, but it’s not even close to the same sort of thing. Or even remotely satisfying.

“It is a little bit depressing,” Bryan Rust said. “You come to the rink in the morning. Nobody’s there. You’re kinda dragging your feet around there a little bit. It definitely [stinks].”

3. To combat the monotony, players often focus on small goals, whether that’s incremental increases in what they’re allowed to do or meeting certain benchmarks set by the strength and conditioning staff.

None of this includes being measured by goals or points, the usual stuff. More it’s tracking progress, things feeling the way players would like them to feel and graduating to more difficult drills.

“I think they do a really good job here of keeping that process moving along day-to-day and slowly progressing,” Rust said.

4. If they have to pick one, players would seemingly take an injury that allows them to keep skating versus one that does not.

At least that way, their lungs and legs stay in shape; the feel for shooting and puck-handling is seemingly a little easier to get back.

When you’re rehabbing a lower-body injury, that first skate back can often be ugly. In those cases, it’s probably a good thing nobody’s around.

“That first skate is usually just a twirl, 15-20 minutes to test things out,” Rust said.

“It’s like you’re stuck in mud,” Garrett Wilson added. “It’s kind of a confidence-shredder there for a bit. For the first couple, you’re like, ‘Holy [crap], I’ve been off this long?’ ”

5. Those before-practice skates are typically handled by skating and skills coach Ty Hennes, whose voice is almost always raspy from yelling to push players and keep the intensity up.

The guys love Hennes for this reason.

If there’s one good thing they can say about getting hurt, it’s that even then they’re getting pushed to get better, to meet the goals the team’s medical staff has set out for them.

“We’re really lucky to have Ty,” Matt Cullen said. “Honestly, he’s as good as there is. He’s a really upbeat, positive, high-energy guy. His drills, the way that he skates you, it’s so good.”

6. Nobody would prefer to get hurt, obviously, but Cullen said he’s actually noticed an improvement in his play whenever he’s been out of the lineup for a stretch.

For Cullen, it has allowed him to work on things that he might’ve forgotten about over the course of a long season.

“When you come back your hands and feet often feel better,” Cullen said. “Sometimes during the course of a season you get into your routine, but Ty will take you out there and he’ll work on skill stuff that you haven’t worked on much during the season. Sometimes it can be a good refresher.

“For me, whenever I’ve had some time with Ty, I came back and felt probably better than when I went in as far as handling the puck.”

7. I can relate a little bit to what Cullen is talking about.

Whenever I came back — after that initial pitch — my arm actually had a surprising amount of life. I found my mechanics were a lot better, too, and I paid attention to little details that seemed new.

Wilson, who separated his shoulder last year in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, liked how there were several people working together, from the top in Pittsburgh to the organization’s AHL staff.

“The strength coach and the trainers kind of work together,” Wilson said. “I think that helps a lot instead of just one guy doing what he thinks. They put their brains together. They go from a health aspect to a strength aspect. That really helps.”

Still, when everyone else leaves for long road trips like the one the Penguins just completed, it’s hard to not be with your teammates, doing what you love so much.

“Guys are getting fired up to go on the road. You’re stuck back at home, knowing that you’re going to get bag skated, it’s tough,” Wilson said. “But it’s part of the job. It takes a lot of mental strength to come back from an injury.”

8-9. Moving on …

Sidney Crosby is on pace for more than 100 points and should get some serious consideration for the Selke Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL’s best two-way forward.

Yes, the two of them are related. Not just in my eyes, either.

“I do think they are related,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I’ve never been a believer that you have to sacrifice defense to be good offensively and that you can generate offense from playing solid defense.”

I spent some time earlier on this trip asking guys how Crosby is able to use his two-way play to put up points. There are obviously several factors at play here, but here are the most common:

• There’s the direct relation between the two. If a player forces a turnover in the opponent’s defensive end, it puts his team in a great position to capitalize.

Nobody is expecting a turnover. The Penguins might have numbers. The other team is likely on its heels.

“A lot of the highest-quality chances that occur in a game usually occur off of a transition opportunity or a turnover, where the possession changes from one team to the other,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think Sid does that better than anyone.”

• There’s also the idea of where the game is typically being played when Crosby is on the ice.

If Crosby’s line is setting up shop in the offensive zone, the opponent has to spend energy there trying to prevent a goal. Defending, theoretically anyway, should be made easier if the other team is only entering the offensive zone at the end of a long shift.

“They go hand-in-hand,” Matt Cullen said. “The way he plays defensively allows him to play more time in the offensive zone.”

• It’s also a a smart-player-who’s-good-at-hockey sort of thing. Crosby has innumerable physical gifts, but his mental capacity is really something else. He understands what he’s doing on the ice and why he’s doing it.

Which serves as a huge benefit here, Nick Bjugstad said.

Before we get to Bjugstad’s quote, I did want to point out that Bjugstad and Cullen were sitting side-by-side when I brought this up in Carolina. Even Cullen seemed impressed by the thoroughness of Bjugstad’s answer.

“He’s on the right end of the puck everywhere he goes,” Bjugstad said. “He creates the puck luck for himself because he’s in the right position.

“As a center, a lot of times you want to go and help. But a lot of times that’s doing too much. You almost have to stop and slow it down, be below that winger breaking out the puck. Otherwise it will come back the other way, and it’s a good chance in the middle for the other team.

“Being patient but also supporting your wingers at the same time is super important, and he seems to do that very well.”

10. Crosby attributed the whole offense-from-defense thing more to execution than anything else. And, truth be told, I expected him to swat my question away like Dikembe Mutombo.

But you also have to put yourself in position to get those chances, and obviously Crosby does a tremendous job of that.

“As far as producing, it comes down to execution and making sure you take advantage of the chances you get,” Crosby said. “I do think it helps when you have the puck more and you’re able to get out of your zone.”

11. Crosby’s season is somewhat baffling to me, in the sense that I fail to understand why more people aren’t talking about it.

It almost seems like his defense is ignored because he’s labeled an offensive player. Then when it comes to that stuff, it’s assumed that he puts up numbers because he’s Sidney Crosby.

I asked general manager Jim Rutherford about that during our chat last Friday in Dallas, and he agreed. He, too, can’t believe so many people seem to be overlooking the season Crosby is having.

“There’s such a high standard set for Sid. When he does something, everybody just takes it for granted,” Rutherford said. “The fact of the matter is not only this year but over the last few years he should be in the Selke Trophy conversation. He has truly become an all-around player.”

12. The NHLPA recently did a study where Crosby was voted as most likely among current players to one day wind up as a general manager.

I don’t know if I agree with it. I could see Crosby going back to Nova Scotia and preferring some anonymity for once or maybe working on the developmental side of the game.

His current GM, though, can definitely see Crosby one day running his own team — if that’s what he wants to do.

“He’s going to be able to do whatever he wants when he finishes playing,” Rutherford said. “He has a lot of years left in him to play. He knows the game inside and out. He knows talent. He’s going to have his choice to do whatever he wants.”

13. Sticking with Rutherford here …

One of the things I asked him was about Erik Gudbranson and why it’s worked so well here compared to what he did in Vancouver.

“Don’t get me going where you guys [media] start with players,” Rutherford said. “I don’t even need to play it out. You guys know how you started off with Jack Johnson and how you started out with Gudbranson.”

I pointed out to Rutherford this story I wrote, although he seemed unmoved. He remains unhappy with how Johnson was treated at his introductory press conference.

“You guys have no point of return on how you started out with him,” Rutherford said.

14. As for Gudbranson, Rutherford said — and I agree — that he simply needed a change of scenery.

I think the culture around the Canucks was probably wearing on Gudbranson more than we knew at the time. Everything he did was criticized, and more was being asked of him than could probably be reasonably expected.

In Pittsburgh, Gudbranson has been appreciated for what he is instead of being criticized for what he’s not.

“He’s a good player,” Rutherford said. “We were aware that it wasn’t working in Vancouver. We were looking for a guy who could come in and play and give some pushback in games where they got a little more physical, bring some leadership and put him in a role where he could be successful. That role that we were looking for got expanded because of the injuries. He was put in a tougher spot when he first got here and handled it very well.”

15. Remember when Rutherford last summer ripped Tom Wilson for running away from Jamie Oleksiak in the playoffs?

Wilson read Rutherford’s comments, and they seemed to set the stage for the Oleksiak-Wilson bout on Dec. 19, the one that ended with Wilson one-punching Oleksiak and concussing him.

When we talked on Friday at the Stars practice facility, I asked Oleksiak whether he had a problem with Rutherford saying what he said. If maybe he would’ve wished for Rutherford to just have kept quiet.

“Rutherford is entitled to say what’s going to say. It’s his team, and that’s your boss,” Oleksiak said. “That’s not going to dictate whether I have to go fight somebody. It’s a new kind of game. I just try and pride myself on being a guy who can make his own decisions.”

16. Have you noticed what Rick Tocchet’s Coyotes have been doing?

Yes, they’re two points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, but that’s better than pretty much anybody expected given the team’s youth.

Penguins players are obviously plenty busy worrying about their own season, but Crosby, for one, has been following what Arizona has been doing.

“Having Tocc here, knowing him and having won with him, I think you probably look at them a little closer than you would if he wasn’t there,” Crosby said. “Seeing the job that he’s done with the injuries that they’ve had and still finding a way to hang in there and having a shot at the playoffs, that would be great for him and great for their team.”

17. You can sense Teddy Blueger’s confidence growing.

When he was first flexed to Evgeni Malkin’s spot, I worried that maybe Blueger was in over his head. I was wrong.

That line has generated plenty, and Blueger has comported himself well. If Phil Kessel buried a few of the Grade A opportunities he had in Nashville, that whole line might’ve been the story of this trip.

“I think just try to play my game — play the same way that got me there in the first place,” Blueger said. “I don’t want to try and change anything and be something that I’m not. Just try and be as consistent as I can be.

18. Credit where it’s due: Many of us in the media were extremely critical of Dominik Simon a few weeks ago, pointing out his lack of goal-scoring.

I still think Simon needs to score more. The Penguins’ whole third line, too.

But lately, Simon has been one of the big reasons that line has been so good. His offensive instincts have been on display, and he’s done a terrific job helping the Penguins break the puck out of their zone.

As a result, Simon, Bjugstad and Patric Hornqvist have enjoyed a ton of offensive chances.

“I think we’ve been playing well,” Hornqvist said. “We’ve been playing both sides of the puck. We’re creating a lot of chances. We haven’t scored that many goals, but if we keep playing the same way, we’re going to get goals.”

19. Number of the week: 40

Since 2006-07, the Penguins and Sharks are the only NHL teams to win at least 40 games in every full season — excluding, of course, the lockout year.

That’s a crazy amount of consistency.

With all the talk in our city over what the Steelers have become, I don’t think we give the Penguins enough credit when it comes to consistently being in the thick of things.

20. Non-hockey Thought of the week: I don’t understand all the fuss over Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo.

So he yelled at a kid? And this is a problem?

Some of the feedback I got from people on Twitter was that there are other ways of getting through to kids. I agree. But calm reasoning also doesn’t ensure your message gets through, especially when talking about college kids.

If you send your son to play for Izzo, you know what you’re getting into. I also don’t think he was physically trying to harm anyone.

He’s being intense and he’s trying to motivate players in any way possible. Is that a crime?

Jason Mackey: [email protected] and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published March 26, 2019 8:00 AM

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20 Penguins Thoughts: OK, so is Matt Cullen really retiring?

March 12, 2019 9:55 AM   By Jason Mackey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s as resolute as Matt Cullen has sounded regarding his potential retirement.

Asked the night of his 1,500th NHL game whether he might have any interest in trying for 1,600, Cullen didn’t hesitate.

“Nope,” he said with a smile.

Saturday morning in Columbus, I brought that moment up to Cullen, explaining that I thought he sounded rather convincing.

“I feel like this is it,” Cullen said. “That this is the last run.”

Then he paused.

“I know I’ve said that before.”

The subject of retirement is going to come up when you’re 42 years old and the NHL’s eldest statesmen. Shoot, even Cullen’s own dad, Terry, has been giving him grief about all the will-he-or-won’t-he talk that’s surrounded his son for, oh, about half a decade now.

After talking to Matt Cullen a little bit about his future, I still genuinely have no idea what he’s going to do. And I don’t think he does, either.

“I’m not thinking down the road like that at all,” Cullen said. “When you’re at this point in the season, that feels 100 miles away.”

2. A couple years ago — not sure exactly when — Cullen decided to change how he looks at things.

He essentially wanted to stop thinking so much about the bigger picture and narrow his focus. It’s one of the reasons he’s been able to keep playing this long and enjoy it so much.

“I’ve always been guilty at looking too far ahead in my career,” Cullen said. “The last few years I’ve enjoyed playing a lot more by being right in the moment and enjoying it for what it’s worth.

“It’s easy to say that. It’s harder to do it, in our game especially.”

3. The Cullen retirement talk is interesting to me because of what it might mean for his teammates. They obviously adore him. The Penguins have also been incredibly inconsistent this season.

I wonder if they think about this potentially being his last run and whether that serves as any extra motivation to get it together? To maybe get Cullen a fourth Stanley Cup, pass it to him first (how could Sidney Crosby not?) and let him go out on top.

It certainly wouldn’t hurt as a source of motivation, but they’d also have to know that’s where Cullen’s head is at. But again, I just don’t think he’s anywhere close to that at this point.

And he’s not wrong for handling it that way.

4. One funny thing about Cullen’s 1,500th game: His wife, Bridget, put together a surprise party for him at Mambo Italia in Sewickley last Monday, the night before the game. A few former teammates flew in. There was a bunch of family and current teammates, there, too.

Matt fell for it hook, line and sinker. (Full disclosure: Terry Cullen told me about it during the story I did on the two of them, and I, too, had to keep my mouth shut.)

“I don’t know if I’m really gullible or what, but I had no idea it was happening,” Matt said. “I had no expectations going into the whole thing. It was really cool seeing family and friends. It was a pretty special night.

“The whole thing was crazy. It was beyond anything I would’ve ever expected.”

5. Apparently Bridget duped Matt by saying they needed to head into downtown Sewickley to load up his truck with a bunch of boxes from a local juice bar. Bridget drove and had Matt walk with their three boys.

When Matt and Co. arrived, Bridget said that everything had been canceled — no boxes — but she had to pick up something from a store.

“We walked past that store, we got to the restaurant, walked in, and a bunch of family and friends were just sitting there waiting,” Matt said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

6. Moving on …

Penguins players wear monitors strapped to their chest during practice that monitor their activity.

That data is collected by the team’s strength and conditioning staff, and it gives coach Mike Sullivan input when it comes to deciding how hard to push his club. It’s not new in pro sports.

But Zach Trotman goes above and beyond.

A self-described “exercise science nerd from college,” Trotman wears what’s called a “WHOOP” on his wrist. It’s essentially fitness tracker that looks a lot like an Apple Watch.

Using a program called Strain, it measures your heart-rate variability and sleep.

“It gives me an idea of how recovered my body is and how much work I should be doing the next day,” Trotman said.

7. This is not a team-issued thing. Trotman does it entirely on his own, but he loves it.

“I’m kinda big into all of that stuff,” Trotman said. “The team does a lot of stuff for us, but I like to have my own numbers, too.”

Trotman started wearing the WHOOP this summer, and so far he’s been very happy with the purchase.

“The more I’ve done it, the better I’ve got at predicting how I’m going to be the next day,” Trotman said. “I’ve learned whether I should take it easy and go lay on the couch or if I should go out and take a walk.

“I kinda can tell how it’s going to affect me the next day and where I need to be at. It’s really cool.”

8. To be sure, Trotman still adheres to what the team wants him to do. By no means is this a replacement for that. It’s more so he can think along with the training staff.

He said he loves learning more about preparation, rest and recovery and views it as a possible career after hockey.

“I still have a year left on my degree, so I’m by no means anywhere near where they are,” said Trotman, who attended Lake Superior State in his native Michigan. “It’s fun for me to be able to bounce ideas ideas off of them and ask why we do certain things and get their feedback, the reasoning behind everything. That helps me learn, too.”

By the way, good for Trotman. Whether it’s here or elsewhere — he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer — the guy might be earning himself a nice next contract on July 1.

9. Garrett Wilson was sporting a few stitches on the top of his forehead Saturday, the result of his fight two days earlier with Columbus captain Nick Foligno. You’ve probably seen the picture of Wilson in the penalty box, blood streaming down his face.

Turns out Wilson’s hands were caught in Foligno’s jersey. As they tumbled to the ice, Wilson couldn’t get his hands free and brace for impact.

“I just had to eat it,” he said.

Wilson was not subject to the concussion spotter’s intervention — fortunately he was fine — because his head hit the ice, not another player’s fist.

Yeah, because the human brain can tell the difference.

10. Wilson told me that he had a similar thing happen to him in junior, when he couldn’t get his hands free and “smashed my head off the ice at the end of the fight.” That sounds … not fun.

More full disclosure: I’ve watched hockey fights my whole life … been in a few scraps myself, though never on skates, and I never thought about what Wilson brought up next.

“I’ve always been taught to not to put your hands on the ice,” Wilson said. “The linesmen coming in to break up the fight can skate over your fingers. I’m always hesitant putting my hands on the ice.

“Those are the scariest ones I see. When you fall and the linesmen are coming in to break it up. They skate right over your fingers.”

That sounds … not fun.

11. Moving on … I thought Sullivan’s answer to my question Sunday night on why Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann have had so much success here was pretty telling.

“They’re two real good players. They’ve embraced the roles that we’ve put them in. When guys bring a certain level of enthusiasm and they embrace the challenge, that, for me, is where it starts, with that attitude of wanting to make a difference and wanting to help this team win games. I think both of these guys are really excited to be Penguins. They’re excited about the roles that we’ve put them in. They’ve done a great job for us.”

Derick Brassard was a “real good player” — or at least came here with that reputation — but he definitely did not embrace the role he was put in. Or, at minimum, was never fully comfortable in it.

I also don’t think Sullivan was any intentionally saying anything to bury Brassard. But I think the Penguins appreciate how much those guys appreciate being here. And they definitely do.

By the way, how about this for a trade comparison:

In the 19 games since Jared McCann & Nick Bjugstad joined the Pens: McCann: 8g-3a-11pts +9 Bjugstad: 5g-3a-8pts +/-0 In 17 games since leaving Pittsburgh, Derick Brassard: 3g-3a-6pts -10

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Update: Brassard still has three goals and six points, and he’s a minus-12 in 18 games.

12. Am I the only one who thinks the Penguins should be leading the Metropolitan Division right now? Stay with me here.

The Penguins are six points back of the Capitals.

They’re just 6-9 in overtime, which is obviously terrible. But from 2015-16, the Penguins won 34 of 59 games that required more than 60 minutes, a winning percentage of .576.

Apply that to this season and the Penguins theoretically should’ve gone 9-6 in extra time, giving them three more points.

Furthermore, there are three games that stand out for me when it comes to Sullivan’s choice in his starting goaltender: Jan. 19 at Vegas, Jan. 9 at Tampa Bay and Feb. 21 at home against San Jose.

Those are three of the best teams in the NHL, and Sullivan started his backup netminder each time; Casey DeSmith lost all three.

I don’t think it’s insane to think Matt Murray could’ve earned three of a possible six points.

13. So here we are — without delving into the Penguins’ other issues with inconsistency and underperformance this season — talking about potentially leading the division.

The Penguins and Capitals, in this scenario, would both have 89 points. If one of those wins against Golden Knights, Lightning or Sharks came in regulation, they’d be tied in what’s used as the first tiebreaker — regulation wins.

Head-to-head, the Penguins have beaten the Capitals in two of three meetings. Thus, the Penguins would be in first via tiebreaker. At worst, Tuesday’s game could be for first place.

None of this, of course, means a blessed thing. But it’s interesting to me anyway.

14. The Fan’s Andrew Fillipponi host and I got into an interesting discussion on-air last week about the Hart Trophy.

I made the point that Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov should be considered the front-runner at this point because of the incredible offensive numbers he’s produced this season; he has 111 points, 13 more than second-place Patrick Kane of Chicago.

Fillipponi’s rebuttal — it’s fair and accurate — was that, since the most recent lockout, a Hart Trophy winner has never come from the team that had the most points.

15. I do think there’s a couple things that should be considered here, though.

And no, I don’t know if I fully subscribe to this line of thinking. Just presenting it. I still think Kane (if Chicago makes it) and Crosby have extremely compelling cases for the Hart and should maybe win it. My point is that we shouldn’t immediately discount Kucherov, and here’s why.

The guy has points in 53 of the Lightning’s 70 games thus far. That, by itself, is crazy.

But Tampa is also a bad team when Kucherov doesn’t score; the Lighting are 46-4-3 when Kucherov has at least one point, 7-9-1 when he does not.

So, yeah, you can say that he’s just compiled on a top team, but Tampa has definitely benefitted from his steady-if-not-specular offense.

16. Patric Hornqvist has one goal in his past 23 games.

It doesn’t look, to me anyway, like he’s doing anything that would lessen his chances of scoring — not going to the net, giving the puck away all the time, shooting less, that sort of thing. You certainly can’t question the effort, and he does have points in six of eight.

What confuses me here is this: Did the Penguins really give Hornqvist $26.5 million on a five-year deal that runs through 2023 to play on the third line? I can’t imagine so.

Hornqvist doesn’t generate enough of his own offense. He needs the puck around the net to hack and whack and do what he does probably better than anyone else in the league.

Many of you have brought up his lack of goal-scoring, wondering if it’s concussion-related. I don’t think it is. But I do think it’s linemate- and role-related.

17. It’s tough, though, because what do you do?

McCann has looked really good with Crosby, you’re not moving Jake Guentzel, and those three create an important speed element together.

Until you get Phil Kessel going, your best option for helping Kessel find his game is probably to keep him with Evgeni Malkin, then maybe think about trying Kessel on his own line. But until that point, best-case scenario, you’d be taking a pretty big chance.

It would help the Penguins if Kessel got it together, and they could use Hornqvist next to Malkin and allow Hornqvist to do his thing.

18. Had an interesting chat with David Savard, Jack Johnson’s former defense partner with the Blue Jackets, over the weekend in Columbus.

Savard was interesting on the whole kerfuffle that started over the summer — “I think it just came out weird,” Savard said. “I think he’s glad to be with Pittsburgh, it’s a great organization, and he was glad for a new beginning.”

Savard also credited Johnson with doing a lot to change the culture in the Blue Jackets’ dressing room.

“He was really professional in all of his time here,” Savard said. “I know it didn’t end really well for him, but he gave everything he had when he was playing for our team. You can only respect what he did for this team and how he helped us get to the next level.

“From the time he showed up here, he kind of changed the culture. He’s a guy who works really hard. If you ask anybody in the room, I think they would only have good comments about him.”

I could be crazy, but I’m starting to sense a small change in the fan sentiment relative to Johnson. Or maybe people have just directed their ire at Dominik Simon. Either way …

19. Number of the week: 1

That’s the number of five-on-five goals for which Erik Gudbranson has been on the ice in six games since the Feb. 25 trade, none of them coming in the past five.

Furthermore, Gudbranson ranks No. 1 among Penguins defenseman during that time in five-on-five shot share at 57.23 percent. He’s second only to partner Marcus Pettersson in scoring-chance percentage (61.29) and high-danger percentage (76.47), both of those also coming five-on-five.

This is all a fancy way of saying Gudbranson has been solid.

Yes, the minutes are (relatively) sheltered. And no, he’s not a one-man breakout. But remember that general manager Jim Rutherford took Tanner Pearson — the missing Pearson, as Post-Gazette columnist Joe Starkey calls him — and turned him into Gudbranson, when then Penguins were in a pinch and had four of their top eight defensemen hurt.

20. Non-hockey Thought of the week: If you’ve read something better than this recently, I’d love to see it.

Sally Jenkins, No. 1, is incredible in her own right, an absolute legend and titan in our field. But I found this piece interesting for how she paints the picture of family life in a sports writer’s house.

Let’s just say that my wife and I can relate.

We’re all weird people, let’s admit. It just depends where your quirks or eccentricities manifest themselves. And kids get a unique taste of what it’s like growing up around professional sports, in this wacky field, and I’m willing to bet it’s a heck of a lot different than growing up in a traditional household.

“Don’t rob old people,” might’ve been my favorite line in the whole thing. Definitely can relate to that. Life in our world is … just a little different, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jason Mackey: [email protected] and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published March 12, 2019 8:00 AM

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20 Penguins Thoughts: Mad about Erik Gudbranson? Blame the Flyers.February 26, 2019 8:06 AMBy Jason Mackey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There are two ways of viewing the Penguins’ trade Monday for defenseman Erik Gudbranson.

On one hand, there’s a large group of fans who like the deal. They think the Penguins could use someone with Gudbranson’s toughness and presence in the dressing room and figured what the heck, Tanner Pearson wasn’t doing much anyway.

The second sect haaaaaates the deal. Like in a steal-kids’-Christmas-presents sort of way.

Here, though, are two things I think we can agree on:

It’s all the Flyers’ fault.

And this surely will be a fun experiment to see play out.

I figured we’d work through these two items and more from Monday in this week’s 20 Thoughts.

2. An important starting date here is Feb. 11. In a game at Wells Fargo Center, Olli Maatta separated his shoulder in an awkward collision with Flyers winger Phil Varone.

According to an industry source, Maatta is expected to miss at least a month while his shoulder heals, and the Penguins remain hopeful that Maatta can avoid surgery.

But given Maatta’s history of shoulder issues and the uncertainty surrounding the possibility of re-injury once he does get back, getting a depth defenseman remained a possibility for Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford.

Then Saturday happened.

3. That’s when Brian Dumoulin was concussed, the result of Wayne Simmonds’ hit along the boards — for which he was not disciplined. Kris Letang was injured by Shayne Gostisbehere in a wrestling match while sticking up for Dumoulin.

Watching from above, Rutherford clearly was not happy.

During the 2016-17 Stanley Cup run, Rutherford sounded off to Ken Campbell of the Hockey News on the mistreatment of his star players — saying the NHL had devolved into a “[expletive] show” — and backed up his words that summer by acquiring Ryan Reaves.

Since trading Jamie Oleksiak to make room for Justin Schultz, Rutherford had been missing an element of the game he really likes and feels the Penguins need, even though there’s many who disagree with that approach.

“In Erik’s case, he’s a real heart-and-soul guy,” Rutherford said Monday. “He’s a good dressing room guy. He’s got good character. He can protect our players, and puts us in a stronger position to push back when we get into more physical games.”

4. This, though, isn’t about so much about Gudbranson as it is about how we got here, and I think that much is fascinating.

A key question to ask is this: Does Rutherford do this deal if neither the Feb. 11 injury to Maatta nor the Stadium Series shenanigans happen?

I don’t think so.

Rutherford can talk about team toughness all he wants, and I do see the value in what Gudbranson could potentially bring (more on that shortly). But I’m sorry, I just don’t see how Rutherford would’ve done this with a full complement of defensemen, and that could be scary given Gudbranson’s contract ($4 million per season through 2021).

5. What happens when everyone gets healthy?

Let’s say, for instance, that Dumoulin and Letang return soon as Rutherford indicated Monday; he said the team wanted to avoid putting them on injured reserve and expressed optimism they could be back this weekend.

By March 11, the Penguins’ blue line could consist of Dumoulin, Letang, Maatta, Schultz, Jack Johnson, Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel, Juuso Riikola and Erik Gudbranson.

Two things there. One, that’s nine, a number that, before Schultz returned, was untenable. Either Rutherford doesn’t care because it’ll be mid-March, or two, they’re not nearly as optimistic on Maatta’s injury as they once were.

It’s also worth mentioning that everybody but Ruhwedel is either under contract or a restricted free agent whom the Penguins plan on re-signing (Riikola and Pettersson) for 2019-20.

6. Leave that for another day, though. What’s important this season is whether Gudbranson can add anything of value or whether things go the way they did in Vancouver, which is really bad.

Traditional or advanced, the numbers stink:

• League-worst minus-27.

• Last among defensemen who’ve played at least 600 minutes in five-on-five goals-for percentage (34.4) and scoring-chance percentage (38.6).

Try to make any sort of case that Gudbranson’s defense, at least on paper, represents an upgrade, and it’s tough sledding.

7. But games aren’t played on paper. We can predict a lot of outcomes, just not all of them. I’ll be curious to see how this plays out for that reason.

One, the Penguins deserve the benefit of the doubt based on what they’ve done with other defensemen who’ve struggled elsewhere: Ian Cole, Schultz, Oleksiak, etc.

The problem with Gudbranson, however, is that he’s played 448 NHL games. He is who he is at this point, and that’s a big body who hits and fights and doesn’t really skate all that well. Can he help their transition game? Maybe, but I certainly understand why people have questions.

8. The second part of this is the human element, the stuff people who’ve crushed the deal on social media don’t see.

Far too often this season, the Penguins dressing room has been quiet. There are no issues, as far as I can tell, and it’s full of some very good people. But you need a mix of personalities, the sort of thing the Penguins had while winning back-to-back Stanley Cups.

Earlier this season, I was watching a morning skate with a former Penguins player who couldn’t believe how stoic everyone was, stunned at the lack of chatter. “They need someone to stir the [expletive],” the player said.

Gudbranson should bring that.

9. I remember a couple years ago a game I covered in Vancouver. Believe it was the first time Derrick Pouliot played against his former team post-trade.

We were all waiting in the dressing room for Pouliot, and Gudbranson came bounding in the room, chiding a few of teammates. His personality and voice were unmistakable. They should really stand out at PPG Paints Arena or UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

Does this mean Gudbranson should stay in the lineup because he’s funny, even if he stinks? Of course not. And $4 million is a lot to pay for a character guy.

All I’m saying is the guy hasn’t played a game here yet. There are some elements the Penguins could use, if they can somehow figure out how to make the hockey part better — which, admittedly, is a steep hill to climb.

10. But one of the things that worries me about the deal involves the Flyers. Because of what the Penguins’ cross-state rival did, they made a trade out of need rather than want. That’s not always a great thing, although it has worked before.

Given the divide on this, it should be nothing short of fascinating to see it play out.

Especially given the heightened stakes, as Gudbranson was technically acquired for Carl Hagelin ... and has two more years left at a high cap hit for someone who does what he does.

11. Moving on …

Good on Rutherford keeping his first-round pick. If this trade turns out to be terrible, or if the Penguins can’t figure it out and ultimately either exit the playoffs early or miss them entirely, at least he has that.

It’s been far too long since Rutherford has stepped tp the podium on the first night of the NHL Draft … which ironically will take place in Vancouver this summer.

“This is a year that we’re on the bubble to get in. I did not want to risk that,” Rutherford said of potentially trading his first-round pick. “Also it’s a very good draft. It was important this year to keep that pick.”

12. It’s too bad for Pearson.

One, his wife is pregnant, and he’s on his third team — and second time criss-crossing coasts — since November. That can’t be easy.

Two, I got the sense he was beating himself up pretty good over how little he did here.

13. It started the summer after the second Cup with the Matt Hunwick and Antti Niemi signings, but at some point Rutherford needs to stop having to redo things.

I think it's one of his strengths as a general manager, his willingness to admit mistakes and correct them. Many in his position won't, whether it's because of ego or whatever.

But a couple years ago, the Penguins pushed this thing forward because Rutherford kept hitting on deals. They've been spinning their wheels lately, at least in part, because he has missed more often than he or anyone else would like.

14. Willing to bet Jean-Sebastien Dea is thrilled to be done with the Penguins.

They released Dea at the start of the season after deciding against using him in their bottom-six, then reclaimed him from the Devils and again stashed him in the minors.

On Monday, Dea went to Florida for another depth defenseman, Chris Wideman, who could potentially help the Penguins down the road.

Yes, the Penguins are Wideman’s fourth team this season, which isn't a great sign. But he's a decent puck-mover who isn't too far removed from being an NHL regular.

"In Wideman’s case, he gives us depth at defense," Rutherford said. "He’s a smaller guy, a puck-moving guy. He’s played some games in the league. He’s got some experience. He could see some time here at some point, too."

15. I think a lot of you were surprised that Ethan Prow didn't get a shot for Tuesday's game in Columbus with Gudbranson sorting out some immigration stuff.

My sense on Prow is that they'd rather see him push and win a job out of camp instead of the Penguins having to drop him into the lineup and pray that things went OK.

Zach Trotman is a much safer bet for something like that. Now, that being said, with the contract situation I outlined up top, I do wonder if there's going to be a spot available for Prow in 2019-20.

16. Some Stadium Series stuff ...

There's ample reason to dismiss outdoor hockey. Sightlines stink. Sometimes the weather, too. The NHL has had approximately 4,596 outdoor games since 2008, with 90 percent of them involving the Chicago Blackhawks. I get it.

But after walking through the parking lots Saturday, and seeing how that translated into a packed and raucous Lincoln Financial Field, I see why the league keeps pushing these.

They put butts in seats, and honestly, they're fun. That was a really good atmosphere Saturday.

17. And also, from what several players have said, the ice was actually pretty good.

It wasn't until the third period, when the rain really picked up, that things started to get ugly. All in all, I have yet to hear anyone say it was a huge issue.

18. Before the Stadium Series, I did a story about Jared McCann and the backyard rink his dad built him.

Something McCann mentioned made me laugh. He said his dad would even go so far as to put up protective netting. I was a little dumfounded when McCann said that.

"I missed the net a lot as a kid," McCann said. "At first we didn’t have the mesh, so I was losing a lot of pucks. The lawn cutters was getting [ticked] off at me because he kept running over the pucks. Put the mesh up. Started to hit the net a bit more."

Ironically, Gudbranson and McCann were actually traded for each other (plus draft picks on both sides) back in 2016.

19. I couldn't not share this. Might be one of the funniest things I've ever seen on social media:

After a lot of deep thought I think I finally figured out a lineup that the Pittsburgh Penguins Twitter and Facebook crowds would approve of #LetsGoPens

344 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

20. A couple quick thoughts on deadline day around the league ...

I kinda love what Columbus did. The same old thing wasn't working, clearly, so give Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen this: He's certainly taking a different approach. With Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky potentially/likely leaving, talk about loading up for a run.

I like Colorado as a fit for Derick Brassard, although I couldn’t believe the minimal return he netted; along with a conditional sixth-round pick in 2020, the Panthers sent Brassard to the Avalanche for a third-round draft choice in 2020.

But Brassard will get top-six minutes, as he should represent an upgrade over Carl Soderberg.

Here's a random one: Last year the Penguins acquired Tobias Lindberg in the Ryan Reaves deal, although he stayed with the Chicago Wolves because of an AHL agreement the teams worked out.

Lindberg re-signed with the Penguins this summer, but they traded him to Ottawa, the team that drafted him, on Dec. 5. On Monday, the Senators included Lindberg in the deal that sent Mark Stone to Vegas.

So, I guess, what, next year the Penguins get Lindberg back?

I liked what Nashville did a lot, maybe more than Columbus, bringing in Simmonds and Mikael Granlund.

Jason Mackey: [email protected] and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published February 26, 2019 8:00 AM

[burning-up-ao3]

NEWARK, N.J. — While on a five-day trip to Jackson Hole, Wyo. during the Penguins’ bye week late last month, Sidney Crosby began to feel something he had not felt in years, since the most recent NHL lockout in 2004-05.

On the second-to-last day of what was supposed to be an enjoyable vacation, the Penguins captain wound up a couple thousand miles away from either of his two homes, miserable and sick, unable to do much of anything.

“You get used to having to play through colds and stuff like that,” Crosby said. “People go to work with them. It’s a part of life. But sometimes it stops you in your tracks like that. There’s nothing you can do.”

What Crosby went through is common for NHL players, who are constantly shuttling on and off airplanes, checking in and out of hotels and entering and leaving (entirely too) cold buildings, all during the darkest days of winter.

Ron CookRon Cook: Evgeni Malkin may be ready to break out of long slump

No matter how many vitamins they take or calcium they consume, they’re inevitably going to get sick. Sometimes it might get ugly. And they’re well aware that sick days are almost never an option.

Which means that Crosby, given what he contracted, was actually one of the lucky ones, in that he could rest some. More often than probably anyone realizes, NHL players have to play through some ugly stuff, flu bugs and stomach illnesses the public never hears about.

“It happens every winter, where half the team gets sick,” Matt Cullen said. “The training room is busy. Guys are looking for anything to help them get over the hump so they can feel well enough to play.

“It’s why you try so hard to take care of what you can control. You’re getting your sleep and fluids because it [stinks] as a player when you’re sick. You have to play regardless.

“You see it every once in a while, when guys are throwing up in the bathroom during warmup or between periods. I’ve had teammates run off the bench. It’s part of the deal.”

2. And when it happens on the road, Bryan Rust said, there’s nothing worse.

“It’s miserable,” Rust said. “It’s kind of a helpless feeling; it’s not like you’re in your own bed, and you can rely on someone.

Matt VenselPenguins blue line hopes to keep up its contributions on offense

“You also feel bad for the maids who have to come in there afterward and clean up.”

It’s a feeling Rust knows well, too. He said he was knock-down, drag-out sick twice: once in college at Notre Dame and another time during the early days of his Penguins career.

What does the versatile winger do when it happens?

“Lie in bed, turn the lights off, close the shades,” Rust said. “And hope it goes away as fast as possible.”

3. It was a funny topic to take around the Penguins dressing room: Have you ever been sick on the road?

Those who hadn’t, immediately found some wood on which to knock. Those who had, launched into some humorous tales.

In 2013, Olli Maatta was playing for Finland at the World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia. Maatta thought he ate something funky, food that was potentially undercooked. The next few days were brutal.

“Not the best thing that ever happened,” Maatta said with a smile. “Although being stuck in my room and trying to watch whatever it was on Russian TV might’ve been the worst thing.”

4. Before he was traded, Riley Sheahan told me a good one about when he was with the Detroit Red Wings a couple years ago. He vacationed in Mexico during the All-Star break and brought back a little present.

“I caught a virus or something,” Sheahan said. “I was sick for like five weeks. I actually had to miss a game, on the Moms’ trip, in Florida. It wasn’t fun.”

Garrett Wilson was a proud member of the knock-on-wood club. Despite playing for San Antonio in the AHL — where they’d have to leave for a month every winter because the rodeo came to town — Wilson has never been sick on the road.

“I don’t puke too often, either,” Wilson said. “Even drinking or anything, I don’t puke. Pretty lucky that way.”

Wilson said he did play with a guy — John McFarland, in the Florida Panthers system — who didn’t feel right until he forced himself to vomit before a game, although that wasn’t related to being sick.

“You definitely hear the odd time a guy is hurling in the bathroom before a game, whether they’re sick or nervous,” Wilson said. “It almost makes you sick hearing it.”

5. Whether or not it’s better to get sick in a hotel room versus at home sparked a lively debate. Matt Murray is all for the road option.

“I think a hotel room is a good place to be,” Murray said before taking his knuckles to his dressing room stall. “You’re not bugging your family or anything like that. You get to sleep it off.”

Wilson agreed.

“I don’t think it’s too bad on the road,” Wilson said. “You’re with the trainers all the time. They’re usually at the same hotel. If you do get really sick, they’re just a text or phone call away.”

6. My personal opinion: These guys are nuts. It’s much worse to be sick in a hotel, with none of the comforts of home.

It happened to me recently, too, around the same time as Crosby. In San Jose, Calif. for the NHL All-Star Game, I literally could not stand at Media Day because I was dizzy and nauseous.

Eventually, with neither Crosby nor Letang there, I decided to cut bait take an Uber back to my hotel room — backpack open the entire way, praying there were no issues.

Yada, yada, yada … the next 24 hours were not fun.

“Hotel room, being stuck in a little space there, it’s terrible,” Maatta (correctly) said.

7. Back to the war stories, though, which turned out to be my favorite part of reporting this.

In Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Rust’s next-door neighbor in the dressing room was former Penguins prospect Jayson Megna.

“One game, between periods, he was hugging a trash can,” Rust said. “On the bench, same thing. It was impressive to see him play through it. I don’t think I would have been able to. It was pretty wild.”

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan experienced the same thing when he played for the Calgary Flames.

“I had the flu,” Sullivan recalled. “Played through it to the point where I was throwing up between periods, and they had to put an IV in me to replace all the fluids I had lost. That was the hardest one from a personal standpoint.”

8. When he was with Minnesota — the first time — Cullen once played with walking pneumonia. To conserve as much energy as possible, Cullen skipped the morning skate and stayed home basically until puck drop.

With the Wild apparently short on players and unable to make a roster move in time, Cullen said there wasn’t another option.

“That was a tough one, running to the bathroom between periods,” Cullen said. “We were in a pinch. Just had to do it.”

Being able to rely on a routine, Cullen said, does help.

“It helps to normalize everything even if you feel terrible,” Cullen said. “You get out and do warmup, get some blood flowing, you’re out in front of the fans, it gives you some adrenaline. But after the game, you feel it.”

9. Tanner Pearson had some good perspective on the matter because he nearly wound up disgustingly sick on the road while with the Kings last February.

Los Angeles had arrived home from a four-game road trip that actually included its annual Dads’ trip — maybe we should blame the parents? — when Pearson started to feel dizzy and nauseous.

“I don’t know if it was something I ate on the plane or what,” Pearson said. “Just hit me like a ton of bricks. We landed, and that was the end of me.”

But there was the benefit, Pearson said, of making it home. He could sleep in his own bed. His wife was there. At least he wasn’t in a hotel room.

“I see guys who are sick on the road,” Pearson said, “and it looks like pure torture.”

10. It can also be downright scary.

Marcus Pettersson had a couple stories, one funny, the other not so much. The first was the 2016 World Junior Championship, in Helsinki, Finland. A couple of Pettersson’s teammates contracted the stomach flu.

“It’s crazy how quickly something like that can spread,” Pettersson said. “You just have to isolate yourself.”

Pettersson also heard a story about Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson’s brother, Jimmie, when he was playing with SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL in 2014-15. When Jimmie Ericsson told the team’s doctors he didn’t feel well, they treated it like some sort of illness — but never checked anything else.

Turns out Ericsson had a partially ruptured spleen, which they only discovered upon returning home.

“They just thought he was sick,” Pettersson said. “He got medicine shots in his [butt]. They said, ‘You’re good. You can play.’ It was crazy.”

11. The Penguins would never allow something like that to happen.

Sullivan explained the lengths to which the team goes to try and stack the odds in their favor, all while realizing that sickness during a winter sport are pretty much inevitable.

On the road, the Penguins will ensure that sick players get their own rooms, Sullivan said. They also get their own water bottles on the bench, the equipment staff will wash and sanitize things even more than they already do, and Sullivan has no problem sending a guy home if he’s sick.

“It’s difficult when you’re in close quarters like this,” Sullivan said. “But we do everything within our power to see if we can’t contain it when those types of things arise.”

12. Wanted to close with this anecdote from Crosby on not participating in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition when he was probably extremely contagious. Made me laugh, anyway.

“The last thing I wanted to do was get everyone sick. That’s all I need,” Crosby said before cracking a smile. “Of course, I guess it was our division … “

13. Moving on …

The more I think about it, Carl Hagelin would be a perfect fit for the Penguins at the NHL trade deadline, provided they can convince the Los Angeles Kings or or someone else to take Pearson.

Small problem: The deal actually isn’t possible.

I didn’t learn this until recently, and I’m guessing you didn’t know it, either. It’s a CBA quirk that’s actually pretty dumb, in my opinion.

Once a team retains salary in a trade — the Penguins retained $250,000 — they can’t reacquire that player for a minimum of one year after the transaction or until the player's contract expires or is terminated prior to the one-year date.

It’s a shame, too, because I think Hagelin would’ve been worth checking on.

For his penalty killing (Penguins are just 25 for their last 36, 69.4 percent), Hagelin’s fit with Evgeni Malkin and what Hagelin could potentially do for good friend Patric Hornqvist, who doesn’t have a point in 12 games.

14. As for what the Penguins could realistically do, I’m not in favor of anything big. Maybe add a depth forward or defenseman, depending on who’s out there.

But at some point, this group should be allowed to actually play together for a stretch, and we’re running out of time for that to happen.

Many of you have suggested a 1a goalie type as well. There’s a variety of problems with this. One, cost. That guy wouldn’t come cheap, if he was worth anything. Two, what do you do with Casey DeSmith? Three, how does that play with Murray?

I know he’s been hurt a lot, but I can’t imagine that would go over well. Murray is your No. 1. You paid DeSmith to be your backup. Hold onto Tristan Jarry. I’d stick with that.

15. Without Hagelin, I’m curious to see where this goes with Zach Aston-Reese alongside Malkin and Phil Kessel. It’s a tremendous opportunity for him and one for which he’s actually well-suited.

“Any time you can stay on your natural side, it’s a little bit easier,” Aston-Reese said after Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the New York Rangers. “Phil kind of has that signature shot, too, coming down on his strong side. I like to work hard defensively. It’s definitely nice to balance out those two.”

I like Aston-Reese as a lot, as a player and person. He’s extremely smart, quotable and great to deal with from our perspective. If we were ranking most media-friendly players in the Penguins dressing room, he’d surely be up there.

But hockey-wise, he’s going to make a lot of people happy if he’s able to blend some physicality with offense and a willingness to play defense. He’s still rounding out his game in a few different ways, but I think the Penguins definitely got a good one here.

16. It’s obvious — and Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook wrote this off of Sunday’s game — but the Penguins need to get Hornqvist going. How do they do that?

I see two options. One, I’d consider playing Hornqvist with Sidney Crosby. Nothing against Rust. He’s been great there. But they need more out of Hornqvist.

My second possible solution would be trying Kessel on the third line with Nick Bjugstad — they had some chemistry — and using Hornqvist with Malkin, a situation where the feisty Swede thrived last season.

I hate Hornqvist in the bottom-six, as I’ve never seen his production give the Penguins a competitive advantage in that spot the way Kessel’s has at various times throughout his Penguins tenure.

17. This won’t be a popular opinion, but I’ve actually liked Jack Johnson on his natural left side the past couple of games.

I know what the goals-for numbers are — they’re awful — and I know how Johnson is perceived by the fan base. But if Rutherford or Sullivan are frustrated with Johnson’s play this season, they’re doing one heck of a job hiding it.

Whether you want to admit it or not, Johnson won’t be a healthy scratch. And what I’ve seen the past couple of games — Johnson’s been with Juuso Riikola with one and Justin Schultz for two — has actually been pretty decent.

18. Shut up, Don Cherry. Can we all agree on that?

He scolded the Carolina Hurricanes for, of all things, having fun. I hate giving this any airspace whatsoever, so I’m going to twist it another way: Forget about Dino Don and think of this from a Hurricanes perspective.

Great organization. Great city. A lot of fun to watch. If this gets their fans excited, my goodness, go for it. I think it’s tremendous. And I love seeing the Old (Canadian) Guard get upset over it.

19. Stat of the week: 12

That’s the number of points for Pettersson since the Dec. 3 trade that brought him to Pittsburgh. It’s also one less than Daniel Sprong has during that same stretch.

20. Non-hockey thought of the week: Apparently MLB commissioner Rob Manfred thinks we’re all stupid. Did you see this story from the Post-Gazette’s new baseball writer, Nubyjas Wilborn? Two quotes struck me.

“This narrative that our teams aren’t trying is just not supported by the facts. Our teams are trying. Every single one of them wants to win.”

Yes, they are trying, and they do want to win. I don’t doubt that the Pirates try and prefer winning to losing. But I could race Usain Bolt, and I’d still try. I’d still want to win. The problem is that I would not have taken the requisite steps to do so.

Then this gem: “I reject the notion that payroll is a good measure for how hard a team is trying or how successful that team is going to be.”

There are certainly outliers here: small-market teams that compete and big spenders that don’t. But the two teams in the World Series last year spent the most. Generally if you’re actually paying to play, you have a chance.

The only thing I hate more than baseball’s financial structure is when people in positions of power try to sell us this garbage.

Jason Mackey: [email protected] and Twitter @JMackeyPG.