Inside Scoop: Packing for the Bubble

The Penguins left Pittsburgh this afternoon to begin Phase 4 of the NHL's Return to Play plan.

They will be living inside of a secure zone in Toronto, which will host the 12 Eastern Conference teams while Edmonton will host the 12 Western Conference clubs. Whoever advances to the Conference Final will travel straight to Edmonton, as they are hosting both that and the Stanley Cup Final in September and October.

That's what the Penguins are planning for, and the players packed accordingly.

"I have about 37 suitcases," winger Jason Zucker said. "Obviously you've got to plan to be there until October, and it's just making sure you have everything you need to be comfortable."

Forward Zach Aston-Reese also has a lot more luggage than he usually does. During a typical season, the most he'll bring is a duffle bag and backpack - but for this trip, he added two suitcases.

He took us through the challenging process of packing that luggage, which started with doing all of his laundry on Saturday.

"The dryer at my apartment is from like 1980, I swear," Aston-Reese said with a laugh. "It takes about three hours for my clothes to dry. That was a whole process yesterday."

While that was going on, Aston-Reese made sure he had the essentials - passport, keys and wallet - zipped into a compartment on his backpack. He always does that first to make sure he doesn't forget anything.

Next on the list was figuring out what to pack for the team's dress code, which was determined by the Penguins leadership group.

"We trust that they're going to implement team rules that we'll live by, that are professional and make sense," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "These guys are good pros. They not only represent themselves extremely well; they represent the Penguins extremely well and they represent the league extremely well."

For practices and morning skates, the dress code is just to look presentable, so Aston-Reese packed dress shorts, polos and plain T-shirts. For games, the dress code is suits with no ties, so Aston-Reese is bringing a blue suit, a black suit and four dress shirts.

Aston-Reese's bigger suitcase has those suits on one side, while the rest of his clothes take up the other half.

His shoes went into the smaller suitcase, including a brand-new pair that he had to buy on Saturday at Nordstrom after his Italian greyhound puppy Carl decided to eat his old pair on Friday.

"I only had one pair of dress shoes, and Carl ate them," Aston-Reese laughed. "I went to go get a haircut and I left him because I've been trying to give him more freedom, and he just absolutely destroyed them."

That suitcase also has bottles of cold brew coffee along with some snacks, courtesy of Bryan Rust's wife Kelsey.

"I didn't know what the deal was for coffee, so I just brought those to be safe," Aston-Reese said. "I put a blanket in there so the coffees don't click and clack and explode. Then Kelsey Rust actually got me some candy and some snacks - Twizzlers and granola bars, because Twizzlers are my favorite and then I try to keep it healthy with the granola bars, I guess (laughs)."

While Aston-Reese is bringing snacks with him - like many of his teammates - Jared McCann plans on picking some up once they arrive.

"I'm definitely going to get some ketchup chips when I get back to Canada, for sure," McCann said. "And all-dressed chips."

Aston-Reese also made sure to pack his gaming laptop into his backpack. He said virtually all of the guys have them, and they tend to use them a lot on the road.

"Depending on what city we go play in, if it's not ideal to go somewhere and hang out, a lot of guys will just bring their gaming laptops," Aston-Reese said. "It's just small and easy. We all just go play for a couple hours before we go to bed."

Aston-Reese was going to pack board games, but said that some of his teammates already had that covered. Rust is bringing board games -

including their beloved Settlers of Catan

• and cards, while Kris Letang is bringing backgammon.

The last thing Aston-Reese added was a book called East of Eden by John Steinbeck, recommended by his mom and dad.

"It's been sitting on my nightstand and I just haven't read it," Aston-Reese said. "I figured I'd just put it on my nightstand in the hotel and it would make me feel like I'm at home. Maybe I'll read it this time. We'll see."

Aston-Reese said he's a good packer, so he's not worried about forgetting anything. But he won't have to worry if he did, as the NHL is working closely with local delivery services to set up a concierge service that will be exclusive to players and staff. In addition to ordering takeout from local restaurants, they will be able to order goods from grocery stores, pharmacies and department stores.

At the end of the day, no one knows quite what to expect when it comes to

life in the bubble

. But the Penguins are doing the best they can to control the controllables and go from there - hopefully all the way to a Stanley Cup.

"We've got all the details we can possibly have at this point," Zucker said before they left. "We're all just preparing the best we can, trying to make sure things are settled at home and trying to make sure we're settled as a team and that we have everything we need.

"We're planning on being there for quite a while, and so we're just trying to get as prepared as we can and make sure we're ready for any challenges that come with it."