Patric Hornqvist prepared to return to Penguins lineup Thursday at Islanders
Patric Hornqvist warned reporters after practice Wednesday that he was going to limit questioning to less than 2 minutes. True to his word, the Pittsburgh Penguins veteran forward politely but firmly ended his media session after less than 100 seconds.
Fitting for a player who often only needs a few words to make a significant impact in the Penguins locker room.
“Short and sweet,” teammate Jared McCann said with a smile, of Hornqvist’s vocal leadership style.
“He always says the right thing, and that’s a quality that not a lot of people have. He’s a guy who commands the room, so to speak, and you’ve got to respect it. He’s obviously been in the league a while and a guy who you want to listen to a lot. You want to learn from him.”
After a six-game, three-week absence, the Penguins are almost certainly getting one of their leaders back in the lineup. Hornqvist said he is prepared to return from an unspecified injury.
Hornqvist was a full-contact participant in a full practice Wednesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. He’s on track to return for Thursday’s game at the New York Islanders.
“Yeah, it feels good,” Hornqvist said after the hour-long practice. “It’s nice to get that practice with the team and get those line rushes and battles in the corners and game-like situations, so it was good, felt good, and I am excited everything is going the right way.”
Hornqvist has not played since leaving a Nov. 2 game against the Edmonton Oilers. He took part in practice Sunday — but was in a non-contact jersey. He took the morning skate Tuesday but noted that a practice is entirely different in regards to intensity. Hornqvist skated on a line with Alex Galchenyuk between alternating centers Joseph Blandini and Sam Lafferty during the practice Wednesday.
As is custom for hockey coaches in general and Mike Sullivan in particular, Sullivan stopped short of saying that Hornqvist will absolutely play Thursday.
“He will be a game-time decision, but he certainly had a good practice today and that’s encouraging from our standpoint,” Sullivan said.
“He’s hard to play against. He’s one of the best net-front guys in the league. We think he’s had a good start to the year. He’s a good player in so many ways. He’s unique to our team because we don’t have a lot of guys who are like him, so when he’s in our lineup, I think we’re a better team.”
Hey everybody, that’s Patric Hornqvist, a full participant in Penguins practice pic.twitter.com/gtk5CtHFY1
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 20, 2019
The player with the sixth-highest salary-cap hit on the Penguins’ roster at $5.3 million, Hornqvist remains tied for fourth on the team in goals with five. He has 226 in his 12-year career, including 120 in five-plus seasons with the Penguins.
“It’s hard to replace his net-front presence and the energy he brings on the bench,” winger Zach Aston-Reese said. “He’s a leader with his play that goes beyond the things he says, just the things he does. So that’s hard to replace, and it’s definitely nice to have him back.”
Hornqvist’s rugged style has taken a toll on him in recent years. He’s missed 12, 12 and 13 games over the past three seasons. The silver lining is that, at 33, he’s become accustomed to coming back after a layoff and trusts his body can seamlessly re-acclimate itself to the rigors of NHL game speed.
“It depends on how the first game goes. If you are playing well, I think it goes pretty quick,” he said. “But if you have a few rough shifts in the start, you start over-thinking things. But … I know what I am doing well and what I am supposed to do out there.”
Sullivan indicated he wouldn’t necessarily put any ice-time restrictions on Hornqvist. The Penguins are without injured forwards Sidney Crosby and Nick Bjugstad. And though it appears as if Hornqvist might not be immediately slotted into a top-six role, the Penguins are eager for his overall impact — on the ice or on the bench.
Sullivan smiled at the suggestion that Hornqvist has “the right words to fit any occasion.”
“That’s a nice way to put it,” Sullivan said. “He’s just ultra competitive, and he’s vocal, so he’s a real positive guy, but he gets mad when it doesn’t go the right way. He brings juice to the bench. He brings it to the locker room. He’s just a good teammate.”
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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