Streit makes his debut here against former team, sort of
New Penguins defenseman Mark Streit faced his old team Friday night.
It wasn’t exactly an emotional affair.
Streit was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning — who the Penguins played Friday night at PPG Paints Arena — for a few hours, at most, Wednesday afternoon. The Lightning acquired him from Philadelphia and promptly dealt him to the Penguins in a flurry of trade deadline action.
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Streit said Friday after the Penguins morning skate. “A coincidence I guess. It was a crazy afternoon. I never really went through it in my career, so it was a new experience. It’s part of the business, but I’m really happy I ended up here.”
Streit practiced with his new teammates for the first time Friday morning and had nothing but positives to say about his welcome to Pittsburgh.
“This is probably one of the best organizations in the league, by far,” Streit said. “The facilities, the rink, the staff, the coaching staff, how professional it is. It’s impressive. I’m really excited and really thrilled to be here.”
Streit practiced Friday morning on a pairing with Ron Hainsey, another veteran defenseman acquired by the Penguins in the runup to the trade deadline.
Coach Mike Sullivan said that when dealing with new players, the coaching staff tries not to overwhelm them with game-planning and strategy in the first few days and, initially, just wants them to settle in and play hockey.
“Our coaching staff has spent a little bit of time with them as far as explaining our team concept in simple terms,” Sullivan said. “We certainly don’t want these guys overthinking, we want them to play hockey, so we’re trying to be selective as far as how much information we give them. But I know they’re excited to be part of the Penguins, and we’re certainly excited to have them.”
Sheary makes return
Winger Conor Sheary returned to the lineup after missing more than a month with an upper-body injury.
Sheary had been practicing with his teammates for a few days now, but finally got clearance to return to game action Friday. He played on Sidney Crosby’s right wing.
Sheary had been out since Jan. 31, a span of 13 games, with an upper-body injury.
“I’ve been getting contact the last few days, so I feel pretty good,” he said.
“I think probably conditioning’s the hardest thing. You’ve been out for a while, you kind of lose that. You’re not really in game shape. You can skate as much as you want, but the compete level and stuff like that, I think that’ll be the hardest part. I think your instincts and stuff will come back after a couple of shifts and get back in the swing of things.”
Before the injury, Sheary had been playing some of the best hockey of his young career. He had six goals and four assists in the seven games before he got hurt.
“It stinks, definitely, when you’re doing pretty well and the team is doing pretty well at that point,” Sheary said.
“It’s tough to sit out and watch that many games. I’m excited to get back.”
Letang update
Defenseman Kris Letang did not practice Friday with Penguins. He has not skated with the team since their practice Feb. 24 at Heinz Field.
Sullivan has classified him as “day-to-day” with an upper-body injury and said Friday that Letang’s status is “status quo.”