Training Camp Begins

Is it here already?

It's hard to believe that the Boys are back in camp. Seems like yesterday I was saying some things I can't repeat here to Red Wings' netminder Chris Osgood when he carried the Stanley Cup around Mellon Arena ice.

Let's not go there.

This year, the Penguins will look to break an ugly trend. In the last 12 years, the teams which have gone to the Stanely Cup Final and lost have only won ONE playoff series in each subsequent year.

There's no question that the Penguins' have had a shorter off-season -- like any Cup finalist would. There's also no question that the lack of sufficient summer down time could catch up to them at some point this season.

Let's hope not.

I think the bigger challenge for the Penguins will be coming out of the gate strong. Their training camp is extremely short. They are here for only 10 days before heading off to Sweden approximately one week in advance of their season opening 2-game set in Stockholm against the Ottawa Senators. During that period, they play only 4 exhibition games -- the first of which is this Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Mellon Arena. They also play a final *tuneup* game against the Finnish National Team while overseas, before they play Ottawa.

The Penguins finished the rookie tournament last weekend with a 2-1 record, beating Toronto and Florida's squads, but losing to Ottawa's minor league group. Among the Penguins who participated, defenseman Alex Goligoski was said to look fabulous. Kevin Veilleux, Dustin Jeffrey and Casey Pierro-Zabotel also were said to look good. All were invited to the main camp, which begun yesterday with physicials and off-ice workouts. We'll see how they perform on the ice today.

Luca Caputi -- someone I'm excited to see -- was held out of the last 2 games of the rookie tournament due to a hip pointer. He, too, will be at the big camp, however. Hopefully he'll be able to play because, as set forth above, there isn't much time to make an impression.

In the coming days, I'll talk about 5 training camp questions -- things to watch for during camp and heading into this coming season.

For now, let's watch the boys go back to work.

It's great to be back.