Like normal, the Penguins still believe they are contenders

Besides being sans a franchise center or two, things were pretty normal for the Penguins on the first day of practice at their training camp Thursday in Cranberry.

Established veteran defensemen were teamed with 20-something prospects who likely will be playing in American Hockey League contests a few weeks from now.

There were a lot of jersey numbers that were more fitting of offensive tackles and linebackers than left wingers or defensemen.

And for the first time in roughly 18 months, spectators were able to watch the team practice and scrimmage in person.

“It’s just nice to have fans back in the practice rink and just getting that excitement for us to be here,” forward Jake Guentzel said. “We’re all excited to get going again and looking forward to a new year.”

There was one other “normality” that loomed over the Penguins on Thursday: the expectation of winning the Stanley Cup.

That hasn’t changed, even if they haven’t won it in four years (to say nothing of their futility in not winning even a single playoff series for the past three years).

“We still believe in our team,” said Guentzel, a member of the 2017 Stanley Cup championship squad. “We’ve still got good players. The leadership we have, we know we can get on the right track and get to the ultimate goal at the end of the year. Obviously, the last few years haven’t been what we want in the playoffs, but we have the confidence that maybe things will go right this year.”

For the most part, a lot went right for the Penguins during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign. After all, they won the makeshift East Division title during the regular season.

It’s just the postseason where they ran into trouble … for the fourth year in a row.

Despite that ineffectuality, the Penguins remain resolute in their belief they are a legit Stanley Cup contender.

“We’ve got a lot of guys in there who have been to the end before and won,” said forward Bryan Rust, owner of championship rings from 2016 and ’17. “We know what it takes. The disappointment the last few years adds a bit more fuel to the fire.”

That entropy has simmered a bit — at least externally — with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin expected to miss the start of the season because of various maladies.

“We’re up against it,” general manager Ron Hextall said. “We all know it. We’re going to have some guys that have an opportunity to show things they might not otherwise. We need some guys to step up. Just seeing the chemistry of our group last year, there’s a good feel this year. We all know we’re up against it. Our guys are up for the challenge.”

Perhaps no member of the organization faces a bigger challenge — or scrutiny — in getting the Penguins back to the heights they are accustomed to than starting goaltender Tristan Jarry, who struggled considerably in the postseason.

By his own account, he put in the hours to refine his craft over the past four months.

“I want to be better this year,” Jarry said. “It was a summer that I could take a step forward and improve. I was able to work on a lot of things in my game, and I think it will help during the season.”

Hopes were high on the first day of training camp. Like normal.

But for the Penguins to get back to what they feel is normal for them — i.e. a lengthy and successful postseason run — it will take more than just optimism.

“We, obviously, didn’t meet the expectations that we have of ourselves,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “And that’s always disappointing for all of us. We’ve got to bring that much more … hunger and energy and enthusiasm to the table to try to get what we want this year.”

Added Rust: “All in all, we had a good group (last) year and it just shows management has faith in this group. Hopefully, we can try to prove them right.”

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