A Look at Carter's First Practice with the Pens
"He wants to learn the system pretty quick," Jason Zucker said. "He's obviously been around the game an extremely long time. He's had an unbelievable career and I got to play against him quite a bit playing in the Western Conference and he was always a handful to play against. We're happy to have him on our team. He's going to add a lot to us, not only from the veteran side and the locker room, but on the ice as well."
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said when they are trying to get new players familiarized with the details of how the Penguins play, less is usually more, and that's the case with Carter. But Sullivan has no doubt he'll figure it out quickly.
"I think Jeff picks things up really fast," Sullivan said. "Number one, he's got a high hockey IQ. He's a really smart player, he thinks the game very well and he has a lot of aptitude for the game. Then when you combine that with the experience that he brings, I think a guy like him probably adjusts quicker than others for those reasons."
Carter got to experience a number of different scenarios during the session, which lasted almost an hour. The veteran forward, who is comfortable playing both center and wing, started in the middle.
During rushes, Carter centered the second line, with Jared McCann moving to the left wing and Zucker moving to the right wing.
"I thought there was a lot of speed on that line, which I think is going to be really good," Zucker said. "I thought Carts did a really good job today kind of lugging the puck up through the middle with speed and keeping the defenseman inside.
"Then when he's able to kick that puck out wide to Canner and myself, it definitely makes it hard for defenseman to try to play those pucks. So, I think it has a makeup of a good line, as long as we use our speed and just get pucks on net and keep things simple."
Previously, McCann had centering that second line, with Zucker on his left and Evan Rodrigues on his right. When it came to determining today's look, Sullivan said they are trying put together combinations that are complementary and give them the best chance to be successful.
While McCann has done a terrific job at center with key players out, Sullivan pointed out how he has also had success on the wing. And Sullivan said there are advantages to Zucker playing on his off-side, especially with how hard teams pinch the walls when trying to break out of the defensive zone.
But that doesn't mean anything is set in stone, as the Penguins have the versatility to move guys around in different positions.
"There's a number of reasons why we've chosen to start the way we have," Sullivan said. "But having said that, this is going to be a little bit of an exploration process to figure out what we think are the best combinations and where people fit to make us the most competitive."
It's been a while since Zucker, who is a left-handed shot, has played on the right. But he did it a decent amount during his time with the Minnesota Wild, so he has had some experience there.
"It's something that I'm comfortable with," Zucker said. "There'll be a few adjustments for me come game time in the defensive zone and some other things, but nothing that won't take just a couple shifts and couple plays to kind of get used to it again."
Zucker speaks with the media
Yesterday Sullivan said that he envisioned Carter playing on both sides of special teams, and that's exactly what he did today.
Carter spent part of the session penalty killing, working against the second unit of Mike Matheson, John Marino, Zucker, Rodrigues and Radim Zohorna. When the Penguins did more reps later in practice, Carter switched jerseys and slotted in on that second unit for Zohorna.
Matheson said Carter is someone he watched growing up both in the NHL and for Team Canada, and said he's excited to get the chance to play with someone of his caliber and feels he is a tremendous addition to a group that's been playing some great hockey.
"I think the fact that we were able to add Jeff Carter - such a great veteran player that will be able to help us so well - while also being able to keep a big core of us together at the same time, shows that (management) believes in us and what we've done so far during the season," Matheson said. "It's up to us to show that we can continue to deliver, and put that chemistry to good use."
Here is the workflow the Penguins used…
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
McCann-Carter-Zucker
Aston-Reese-Blueger-Rodrigues
Zohorna-Jankowski-Sceviour
Dumoulin-Letang
Matheson-Ceci
Pettersson-Marino
Ruhwedel-Friedman
