Penguins believe they can three-peat, no matter what the roster looks like
PITTSBURGH 鈥� As is natural in the aftermath of a championship, talks have begun of the Penguins being able to win the Stanley Cup for the third year in a row.
But in this case, those talks haven鈥檛 only been coming from your local bar, but from the coach of the Penguins himself, Mike Sullivan. The man who is so careful in choosing his words, in not stoking the fire, threw out the possibility at the Penguins victory parade Wednesday.
鈥淚 wonder if we could repeat, or three-peat, should I say,鈥� Sullivan said while addressing the crowd at the parade.
On locker clean-out day Thursday, Sullivan explained those comments.
鈥淚 thought it was an opportunity to maybe throw out a challenge to our core players right away,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淎nd, obviously, that will be our goal and that will be our expectation.鈥�
The Penguins players mostly echoed those comments. They know it will be tough to three-peat, but after winning two in a row, it鈥檚 naturally their goal. Certainly, history bears out just how difficult it is to win three consecutive Stanley Cups. The Islanders, from 1980-84, were the last team to win three or more Cups in a row. Before that, the Canadiens won the four years before the Islanders鈥� run.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty tough trophy to win. We just have a great group here and we find ways to get it done,鈥� Phil Kessel said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to try.鈥�
Having experienced the unrivaled feeling in the sport of winning the Stanley Cup, the Penguins certainly want to feel it again. It鈥檚 the combination of winning it and the events that follow that makes it so special, from ending the season knowing you鈥檝e reached the pinnacle, to the victory parade, which forward Chris Kunitz said, 鈥渁lmost takes your breath away.鈥�
鈥淣othing tops this. Nothing鈥檚 better than winning the Stanley Cup. Once you do you just want to keep doing it,鈥� forward Carl Hagelin said. 鈥淲e have a great team to do it, but I think right now we鈥檙e just happy with what we did this year and we鈥檙e gonna think about this win for awhile before focusing on next season.鈥�
As the Penguins roster shifts, next year will provide new challenges. Matt Cullen, Nick Bonino, Chris Kunitz, Trevor Daley and Ron Hainsey will be unrestricted free agents. Though none of those five were necessarily core components to the Penguins鈥� run this year, they all played reasonably significant parts, especially Daley and Hainsey. Will that make three-peating more difficult? Sullivan doesn鈥檛 think so.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always difficult. It doesn鈥檛 matter if there鈥檚 turnover or if there isn鈥檛 turnover,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淲hen (Penguins general manager) Jim (Rutherford) assembles our team like he will over the next couple of months, we鈥檙e going to have to start from Day 1 of training camp and try to become a team once again.鈥�
Some of Sullivan鈥檚 response is typical coachspeak, but there鈥檚 a confidence among Sullivan and the team that Rutherford and his staff will be able to construct a championship roster again. The evidence of Rutherford鈥檚 savvy includes trading for Justin Schultz last season to trading for Ian Cole two seasons ago or acquiring Hainsey at the trade deadline this season. In his three years in Pittsburgh, the veteran general manager has proved adept at plugging holes and acquiring undervalued players on the cheap.
鈥淓nough can鈥檛 be said for how good of a job our scouting staff and general manager have been in finding guys that are in not as ideal situations and getting them for pretty cheap and having these decisions pay off,鈥� Cole said.
Over the next few months, the players will celebrate, but they also will keep an eye on how the roster shapes up. Sullivan and his staff will be eyeing improvement, looking inward and outward for ways to get better. And then, eventually, the Penguins will turn their focus on further etching their names in history.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 gotta be your mindset,鈥� Sidney Crosby said of winning the Stanley Cup again. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 go in there expecting anything different.鈥�