2. Oleksiak joins the group
Newly acquired defenseman Jamie Oleksiak joined the Pens for his first practice with his new team. He arrived in Pittsburgh last night after midnight and was awake early this morning to meet the coaching staff at the arena.
"I'm excited to be here. I'm still processing it a little bit," he said. "It's a real honor to be here right now. I'm just trying to make the most of this opportunity. I'm really grateful for it."
Oleksiak has some familiarity in the room. He has trained with captain Sidney Crosby during the summer and is a former teammate of fellow blueliner Chad Ruhwedel at Sioux Falls of the USHL.
"It's a pretty welcoming group," Oleksiak said. "Everyone has been very welcoming and very helpful. I'm just getting used to everything."
Oleksiak's size stands out most of all his attributes - as it should being 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds. But the coaches like a lot of his game, especially his versatility.
"He's a very good puck mover. For his size, he's a pretty mobile guy. He skates pretty well," Sullivan said. "His ability to play the right side even though he's a left-handed shot, he's very comfortable playing the right side and that's something that we've struggled with this year. He's a guy that has a comfort level there."
Oleksiak has played the right side during most of his NHL career. He's also played the left side in the AHL, and even logged some games at forward for Dallas this year due to injuries.
"I'd like to think that wherever they put me I can adjust my game," he said. "It's just little things like getting the puck up and catching on the point. I think I'm pretty comfortable on both sides."
But most of all, Oleksiak just wants to be a part of the team.
"I just want to be another piece of the puzzle, come in and do what I can to contribute," he said. "I'm not expecting to do too much. I just want to stick to my game, hopefully that helps us win some games. There's a lot of talent on this team. I think we have the potential to do very well this year. I just want to be a part of that and do what I can to contribute."
3. Workflow
The Pens held an up-tempo practice on Wednesday with a lot of pace. The coaching staff was very pleased with the team's effort.
"We feel as though this group has very strong practice habits and we need to rely on those in order for us to become the team that we want to be," Sullivan said. "The habits that you develop in practice are what carry over into games. That's something that we've been proud of in my tenure here."
The Pens used the following workflow at practice…
Guentzel-Crosby-Simon
Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist
Sheary-Sheahan-Rust
Kuhnhackl-Rowney-Reaves
Dumoulin-Letang
Maatta-Ruhwedel
Hunwick-Oleksiak
(Cole-Gonchar)
