The Pittsburgh Penguins and the other 31 NHL clubs have officially begun training camp. Things will get underway for the Penguins on Thursday. Kris Letang, who traveled from Quebec a few days before camp, is the first person to arrive in town today.
With camp in session, all of the players have returned to their typical professional selves, preparing for the season. Earlier in the season? Sidney Crosby was having the time of his life. We don’t normally get much information regarding Sidney Crosby’s activities outside of the arena. He was apparently one of the most inebriated men at Nate MacKinnon’s Stanley Cup party, which is commendable. I believe anecdotes like this one help to humanize him.
At least top five [drunkest there], Crosby quipped about his behavior that night. [MacKinnon] departed two hours before I did, and I believe I closed the ale house that night. I’ve been the most inebriated at two of his [parties], so [Crosby] better be inebriated at mine.
Finally, Sonny Milano signed a PTO agreement today. He’ll be in Calgary Flames training camp. I just bring this up because it is a good example of a guy with some very fascinating underlying metrics in areas where the Penguins might use some assistance in terms of scoring depth. The acquisition cost nothing. There isn’t even a written agreement.
When you go around the league and see who was paid during the summer (e.g., Erik Gudbranson) and who had to slink into training camp on a PTO (Milano), it’s a bit strange.
I’d take Sonny Milano over Josh Archibald and Drake Caggiula any day of the week. Last year, the Penguins performed well with a PTO invite when Brian Boyle offered them some depth minutes during the season when Evgeni Malkin was sidelined due to injury.