PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It had been 18 years since the Pens organization has had this much time between hockey games. 58 players invited as training camp, which began Thursday afternoon in Cranberry with the talk of getting it going quickly.
“I think we all left frustrated and in disbelief (last year),” said Pens defenseman Kris Letang. “We all have something to prove to ourselves, to our teammates that we are way better than that and we can accomplish better.”
Gone are the director of hockey operations and general manager, replaced, currently, by one man, Kyle Dubas. The former Toronto GM was busy adding Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, Stanley Cup champs Reilly Smith and Lars Eller, veteran defenseman Ryan Graves, forwards Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto and committing long-term to goalie Tristan Jarry.
“Obviously spent a lot of time away from the rink, to be able to get back in the room and see the guys, new faces,” Letang said. “It’s always exciting. We were able to get the butterflies out of our stomach and get going.”
“It’s a little different,” said defenseman Marcus Pettersson. “Once you get in here and meet everybody, not only the players, but staff. All the new faces, there is a real feeling of excitement around this room now and the whole organization with so much change.
We can start with a fresh slate.”
The move of Karlsson improves not only scoring from the blue line, as the first defenseman since 1992 to reach 100 points, but helps a power play that was inconsistent at best last season.
“I thought it was unbelievable,” Letang said of the Karlsson trade. “Any time you have a chance to bring a guy of that caliber, especially what he just accomplished last year. It’s incredible. Just this morning he was in the gym doing different things. I ended up chatting with him for 10-15 minutes about what he does and how he prepares.”
“It’s fun to have another elite guy in the room and maybe see different things and pick his brain.”
Pettersson said he looks forward to talking to his fellow countryman. An opportunity for he and Karlsson to sit down in their native language and discuss the season, organization, Pittsburgh off the ice, whatever. Starting his sixth year with the Pens, the 27-year-old feels an energy in the building that hasn’t been there.
“I think everybody is very excited,” Pettersson said. “Everybody feels like it’s been a long summer. We thought about it a lot, what happened last year. Certainly no one is happy about it. Hopefully it can be a real competitive camp that will help us get a good start to the season. We need it.”