Pittsburgh Penguins Informal Skates Mean Hockey Is Back

Pittsburgh Penguins informal skates are underway as players start making their way back to town before training camp. Across the NHL, summer is ending fast and real hockey is finally close enough to feel. The captains are holding informal practices across the entire NHL for everyone back in town. Sidney Crosby is amongst the captains leading his team, and team hopefuls, out onto a practice rink just a few weeks before NHL training camps formally open.

These practices will provide no true learning opportunities. No potential lines will be unveiled. Some players might not even arrive until next week. However, the feeling of hockey being back remains all the same. Whether you find videos of these practices, or just the still images from team socials, you are well aware that real hockey is right around the corner.

The Penguins have had excellent attendance at their informal, or captains, practices. Notably, Evgeni Malkin returned to town over a week earlier than usual. By all accounts, Geno is flying around the ice. He might officially be 40, and in some ways is a mentor to all the new Russians, but Geno is determined to make his presumptuous last season be a great one. Malkin doesn’t want to hang up the skates thinking he let Sid, Pittsburgh, or Dubas (for resigning him) down.

Geno is not alone in his apparent hunger for the upcoming season. Egor Chinakhov, Kuzmenko, and Murashov all made the long trip from Russia to Pittsburgh early too. Karlsson is back in town from Sweden. Ville Koivunen, the 4-million-dollar man, is back from Finland. Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Kris Letang are back in Pittsburgh where they belong too.

Hockey summers aren’t long. Mid July and August are really the only lulls in the hockey calendar. Yet, when you live and breathe this shit like me it feels like an eternity. When the cup is handed out and the game’s end until the end of September a piece of your life feels like it is missing because in many ways without hockey life isn’t whole. Having football back definitely helps, but nothing scratches my sports itch like seeing Sidney Crosby captivate 18,000 fans at PPG Paints Arena.

Everyone’s undefeated at this time of year, there are no goaltenders to bash. No defenders who seem incapable of clearing the front of the net exist. Mind boggling coach’s decisions, or calls by the refs, have been made. The only thing that really exists is hope for a great season. In less than a month some of those things mind instantly be out the window, but for now hockey fans can just allow their imaginations to run wild. My imagination is picturing the perfect sendoff for the big 3 as Sidney Crosby passes his fourth Stanley Cup directly to Evgeni Malkin for one last skate around his home rink.

My dreams might seem farfetched, but that’s what this time of year is all about. I have my realistic expectations for the Penguins. I have some qualms with the roster. However, I spent the last two months thinking about those things. Now is the time of year to sit back and just enjoy your team gearing up for the season. Maybe haters will be proven corrects, or like last season they’ll be laughed off the internet. Who knows? No one and that’s the point.

Soon enough real training camp will begin. Injuries will happen that derail a season before it starts, see the Florida Panthers last season. Random rookies will install a new enthusiasm for a fanbase much like Ben Kindel did for Pittsburgh last season. Interesting line combinations will emerge. Those will all be discussed in detail when they occur, and I promise to have my finger to pulse of Penguins training camp. However, for now it’s okay to just be excited.

I am excited to get to see more of Sergei Murashov. I really think he is going to be the real deal. I think he is the goaltender the Penguins have been missing since Marc Andre went to Vegas. I am excited to see if Kindel can take another step and honestly, I expect him to do so. I look forward to Sidney Crosby redefining the age curve, again, and scoring over a point per game for yet another season. I even get myself excited for a potential bad season because it will spur about change. Will Rust have a new home? Maybe Rakell and Karlsson too? Do the Penguins a true youth infusion if the season begins to go awry? I am excited to see how the coaches and management will handle the current logjam at forward.

Above all else, I am just excited to see my favorite players, from my favorite team, back on the ice in the city I call home. Less than a month until we see them suiting up for real.