Inside Scoop: Team Dynamic

Back in February, Teddy Blueger walked into media availability wearing a "Big Boyle" shirt, with a rendering of the veteran forward as a football player holding a hockey stick.

A few weeks later, Jason Zucker sported one with Mark Friedman as the character "Lord Farquaad," the main antagonist from the Shrek movies, fitting considering his style of play.
"I was like, this is awesome. I thought it was hilarious," Zucker said.

The guys claim that they don't know who's behind the designs, saying that the shirts are always just hanging in their stalls when they get to the rink. And I respect that commitment to keeping their identity a secret, so while that person - who I can confirm is a player - will remain anonymous, it's just one example of how much fun this group has with each other.
"I think this team more than any other I've been a part of…we are a team," Evan Rodrigues said. "That's the best definition (of our dynamic). Everyone gets along, everyone's pulling for each other. It's a fun place to be every day when you come to the rink. I think you're always going to play better when you have that."
It's been hard for anyone on the outside to get a glimpse of what the Penguins' dynamic has been like over the past two years, as the team was in a bubble for the Return to Play in August 2020 and the ensuing 2020-21 season. The amount of staff allowed around the team was kept to a minimum, while media has been unable to go into the locker room because of health and safety protocols related to the pandemic.
But as things have opened up a bit more for this 2021-22 campaign, and more team employees have been able to travel and be around the group, we've gotten a better glimpse into how they interact with each other. And it's pretty evident that they really do have a tremendous chemistry.
It's a good mix of older guys with incredible leadership, most notably Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Jeff Carter and Boyle; more of a middle range that a lot of the guys fall into, including Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Brian Dumoulin, Chad Ruhwedel, Rodrigues and Zucker; and a great group of younger players like Friedman, Kasperi Kapanen, John Marino, Teddy Blueger and Danton Heinen.
"I think the good part is that I feel like with our team, I can call Sid and Carts and Boyler and say hey, do you guys want to go to lunch or dinner? And I can also call Johnny and those guys and ask the same thing," Zucker said. "It's different vibes because it's different groups, of course, but I feel like our team is very much that way. And I've never been on a team like that before. It makes it special to be able to do that and have that as a group, for sure."
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Of course, these good vibes all start with Sid. He makes a real effort to include guys and make them feel welcome, which goes an incredibly long way when you're one of the top-five all-time best to ever play the game.
Whether you're a rookie, a veteran or someone joining the team via trade, he does whatever he can to make every player on the roster feel like part of the team, with a thoughtfulness that is truly unmatched. That's part of the reason why Rickard Rakell was assigned to the seat across the aisle from Crosby on the team plane after arriving in Pittsburgh.
"The thing he's done for his teammates that people don't see…new guys coming in, he goes to restaurants with them, he tells them what to do and where to go, the way our team operates," Letang said. "Then I can just speak for myself; he's been really good with our family. My son, he would come up to his school, have a chat with him. There are so many things he does people don't even know."
Crosby sets the example and creates an environment where everybody feels comfortable and respected, which really does allow the group to thrive. From there, his fellow franchise center is the yin to Crosby's yang with his hilarious personality. Ask Sid to share his funniest Geno stories (which I've done) and he'll just laugh, because there's too many to count. "Everybody loves Geno. He makes us laugh," Kapanen said.
And so does Letang, one of those guys who's always in the mix of things. He and Malkin are in one of the two main card groups at the front of the player section of the team plane along with Kapanen and Carter, which gets veryanimated.
The Penguins don't really have a consistent group text - "we're more like everyone just hangs out at the rink, and we have a lot of older guys who have families they go home to and that kind of thing," Rodrigues said - but when it's active, that's usually due to Letang posting.
"He's a great guy to have around. It seems like he's always got something going on that is interesting and funny or whatever the case may be," fellow defenseman Mike Matheson said. "He's super entertaining, and he's always bugging somebody and obviously getting it back. You'll get a good reaction out of him."
Those three are obviously the pillars of the Penguins and have accomplished pretty much everything imaginable in their careers. Sometimes players like that keep to themselves, thinking they're above being part of the group. That is absolutely not the case with this trio.
"On the surface, it can look like an intimidating dressing room to walk into because of some of the stature of some of our players, and the legacy that they've built in the league," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "But I think that goes away quickly once players start to meet our guys."
Then Guentzel, Rust and Dumoulin are very much a part of that core leadership group. They've each been with the Penguins for a long time, breaking into the league with Pittsburgh and winning championships here, so they've got big presences in the locker room.
Dumoulin has a couple of important responsibilities, including acting as the team DJ, a role he's occupied since 2016. His teammates applaud the job he does, as Dumoulin tries his best to craft playlists that suit everyone's tastes.He also reads the starting lineup before games, and will pick different themes. During a winning streak earlier this season, he went with the Mighty Ducks (D2, of course), and later in the year, gave them names of famous rappers.
"He has won a lot in his career and been on some good teams, so he's got the experience. But he's a little bit younger than Sid and Tanger and those guys, so I think he's easy to connect with," Blueger said. "I think when you first come in as a younger guy, he's just very approachable and just one of the guys. He's a good balance of that leadership and still kind of in the mix with all the guys and the young guys and stuff, too."
The same goes for Rust, or as you may know him, Rodrigues' favorite player.
Tweet from @penguins: Who is @rustyyy\_92's favorite player?You already know. pic.twitter.com/Kjyr16li5T
"Rusty's great," goaltender Casey DeSmith said. "Definitely keeps it light, but he's extremely passionate. You can tell by the way he plays; you can tell by how he gets pretty animated sometimes on the ice, on the bench, which gives us a lot of life. He's definitely kind of a sparkplug with the way he plays and the way he behaves, too."
Meanwhile, Guentzel - or as you may not know him, Rodrigues' best friend, which is what E-Rod calls him as they're getting ready to go onto the ice for warmups - may come off as somewhat of a quiet kid, but he has one of the biggest personalities back there.
He's always hooting and hollering and joking around, and something that stands out is how he does a terrific job of forming relationships with the staff, something he's done ever since his rookie year. He's a constant presence in the communications office, and loves to just hang out and chat.
The three of them are in the other card game across the aisle along with Ruhwedel, which starts exactly half an hour before the team flight is scheduled to take off. "We keep a tally throughout the whole year of who's won, if guys have spaded out and who's owed money at the end," Dumoulin said. "If you're not there on time, you go up one tick. If you get to 32, you're out of the game. Every minute is a tick, so you have to rush to get to the plane for a half hour before."
Once they board, for the majority of the season they donned the shirts that Dumoulin got specially made for them. They each include a phrase on the front - for example, Dumoulin said Ruhwedel was "always crying that he had every suit, every time," so that's what his says. On the back, they say things like "California Carver" for Ruhwedel and "Minnesota Massacre" for Guentzel, in nods to their home states.

And then they will play Shnarps - a card game created by hockey players - for THE ENTIRE FLIGHT, regardless of the length. Whether it's 30 minutes to Buffalo or three hours to California, those guys just keep going the whole time. It's actually remarkable that they never get sick of playing.
"It makes the trips go by so much faster," Guentzel said. "I think we all look forward to those flights and we had longer flights this year, so that makes it a lot more fun. A lot of arguments and a lot of fun come from those games."
It's not easy to get a seat in those card games, so Boyle simply decided to start his own in the back that Matheson jokingly called "the minor league one." Friedman, Marino, Rodrigues and Brock McGinn also take part, and I gotta say, the vibes are impeccable, with Boyle playing music for them. He's a fan of classic rock, so it tends to be stuff along those lines. It's kind of funny how all three games have a different feel - Malkin's is a little more heated; Dumoulin's is competitive but fun; and Boyle's is just chill.
It's been pretty cool to see the type of impact that Boyle and Carter have had on this team. Both 37 years old, they define the term 'veteran presence,' as they're such old-school guys. They just love being around the boys and are so quick-witted, always ready with a joke or a chirp. "You're always a target, no matter who you are at any point in time, really," Boyle said.
You can tell they don't take a second of this for granted, that they appreciate every moment of being in the National Hockey League. That was evident from Boyle's comments following the regular-season finale.
"I'm thrilled. I'm so excited," said Boyle,
who earned a contract after coming to training camp on a PTO
."It's no secret that I didn't have this chance last year, the year before was in a bubble. The fondest memories I have are playoff series - the grind, the days between games where you're just together with your teammates. It's the greatest thing in our sport, I think. I'm just so excited to have a chance to be a part of it, really. Especially with this group."
And the boys absolutely love being around them. They've got so much experience and so many stories that come along with that, so even guys like Letang like going to dinner or just hanging out to hear their stories.
But for as laidback and easygoing as Boyle and Carter are, they also have an understanding of when it's time to be serious, and of the effect that they can have on the younger guys. Goaltender Tristan Jarry described Boyle as a "mentor," while Kapanen said that Carter is always taking care of him. "When I'm down, he picks me up," the 25-year-old winger said.
There just really aren't any egos in that room. There's chirping, but it's good-natured chirping, never anything pointed or mean-spirited.
"I think in the old NHL, the older guys were like, you need to earn our respect," Zucker said. "Well, now it's like, if you're playing hockey and you're doing those things, then you have my respect. And it just creates a camaraderie in the room that makes it a lot of fun."
That camaraderie involves a lot of competition in addition to the card games. Last year,
the guys were super into chess
; this year, they're really into Wordle. Well, not everyone, as Jarry jokingly yelled out, "The small brain group plays Wordle! The big brain crew doesn't!" as I was talking to Rodrigues about it.
"I think everyone picks up something different," Rodrigues said. "There's always something the guys get competitive with. Just trying to keep everyone involved. I think we're just a really competitive group, so if there's something we can compete on, we try to."
That's also the case with their pools for events like the Super Bowl, March Madness, the Masters and their
Formula 1 fantasy pool
, set up by Zucker, who quickly became popular in the locker room after being acquired from Minnesota in February 2020. "He means so much to our team. A special guy and a special player," Guentzel said.
He's only 30 years old, but has such an incredible maturity and groundedness to him, and has a bit of a Boyle-Carter vibe in the sense that Zucker just loves being part of the group and arranging things for the boys.
Obviously, this is all just scratching the surface when it comes to the group dynamics. Some other observations…
- Matheson truly seems like one of the nicest guys on the planet, the type of person you could call up if you needed anything at all and he would be more than willing to help out. "Awesome guy. Absolutely awesome," Zucker said. "Very, very quiet, kind of keeps to himself. But just so down to earth. He works extremely hard. Cares a ton, great family guy, great guy in the room."
And apparently, he consumes more food than any human Zucker has even seen. "He's arguably in the best shape of anyone on our team, and he eats 300 meals a day," Zucker laughed.
- After signing as free agents this summer, McGinn and Heinen immediately gelled with the group. "They're both really, really great guys and very easygoing, funny," Blueger said. "So I think from the moment they came in, it's been a pretty seamless transition and it honestly feels like they've been here for years. It feels like they've been here way longer. So they fit in great with all the guys."
- The same goes for Rakell, who got here at the trade deadline. Both Guentzel and Rust described him as an "awesome guy," and when I did a 1-on-1 interview with Rakell for
this feature
, my first impression was that he's a pretty personable and interesting individual. He's really close with
current roommate
Marcus Pettersson, who seems so wise beyond his 25 years.
- Kapanen is just the coolest, swaggiest guy that's stepped foot in this locker room for a long time. It's as simple as that.
- Friedman is a constant source of entertainment both on and off the ice, and a lot of fun to be around.
- And finally, a couple of the players said that Marino is one of the low-key funniest guys on the team. His warmup routine with Ruhwedel is something else.

It's been a long season, and a tough season. As Crosby said, every team goes through different adversities during the course of a year, but for them, it felt like their challenges didn't ever stop. But through it all, like E-Rod said - these guys have supported each other the whole way, and now have an opportunity in front of them that they want to make the most of.
"I think to get to this point, you see other teams who've maybe gone through similar circumstances, and they're not going to be playing in the playoffs," Crosby said. "So I think that's a credit to the character that we have and the confidence we have in one another. Having gone through that, that should give us a lot of confidence going into the playoffs. It doesn't guarantee anything, but we've handled adversity well. And I think when you get to the playoffs, that's something you have to be able to do."