Penguins notebook: Assistant coach Jacques Martin cautious but not scared of coronavirus risks

Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Jacques Martin has a distinguished career with 613 wins as a head coach as well as the two Stanley Cup rings he claimed with Pittsburgh in 2016 and ’17.

He also has the distinction of being the NHL’s oldest coach at age 67.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 80% of deaths in the United States from the coronavirus have been in individuals age 65 or older.

While he has not dismissed the significance of those statistics, Martin has no plans to perform his job — which involves him overseeing the teams’ defensemen and the penalty kill — any differently.

In other words, he will remain on the bench should the NHL resume play this summer.

“Jacques understands the circumstance,” coach Mike Sullivan said Wednesday during a video conference call with local reporters. “Him and I had a conversation about it. He is comfortable in participating in a full capacity in this environment. He does a great job from a fitness standpoint in taking care of himself. He’s a healthy guy. He feels as though he is strong and healthy for his age. And he also understands the risks associated with it.

“That was the conversation Jacques and I had for obvious reasons. That was his choice to participate in a full capacity.”

All hands on deck

While the Penguins have not officially announced which players will be included in their expanded roster for the postseason — and the NHL has yet to officially proclaim such rosters will be allowed — Sullivan indicated the group of players his team plans to compete with is fully assembled in the Pittsburgh area.

“To my knowledge, everybody is there right now,” Sullivan said. The last player to arrive was (forward) Patric Hornqvist, who is going through the quarantine/testing protocol the league had mandated. But right now we have our full complement of players in Pittsburgh.”

While a handful of players throughout the league have been quoted anonymously as having apprehension about the dangers of playing during a pandemic, Sullivan indicated none of his players has voiced those sentiments to him.

“I’m unaware of anyone that has that sort of concern,” he said. “The discussion that I’ve had to this point with our players is more around the opportunity that’s in front of us and the players are excited to play. All of us understand the risks associated with a return to play. We also trust that the league is doing everything in their power to control what they can to mitigate those risks as best as they can. That’s really where the mindset of our group is at right now.”

Respect for the Habs

The Penguins are slated to face the Montreal Canadiens in the qualifying round of the postseason. During the regular season, the Penguins went 2-1-0 against the Canadiens, including a 3-2 overtime road victory Jan. 4.

While the Canadiens were virtually eliminated from postseason contention before the NHL halted play in mid-March, they are getting a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, and despite a 31-31-9 regular season record, they have Sullivan’s respect.

“They’re fast. They’ve got a great counterattack game. They have good structure. They have solid goaltending. They’re a good defensive team,” Sullivan said. “So we expect a hard-fought battle. It’s going to be a scenario where we know we’re going to have to fight for our scoring chances. We’re going to have an element of patience associated with our game so that we don’t force plays that aren’t there and become a high-risk team. It’s going to be a hard-fought battle.

“We have a lot of respect for Montreal and their players that they have, the coaching staff that they have. This is a well-coached group, and we’re going to have to be at their very best.”

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