Technically, Sidney Crosby got a slightly longer summer this year.
With no World Cup of Hockey, the Penguins' captain had 96 days off after lifting the Stanley Cup, up from 84 a year ago.
Could he feel the difference?
"Nope," Crosby said with a laugh this week. "Not really. It was a quick one. Any guy will tell you they'll take short offseasons. It's a good problem to have. But it certainly went by quick."
Barely three months after winning the Cup in Nashville, Tenn., Crosby and the Penguins will hit the ice for training camp Friday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Pa.
A year ago, they were constantly being reminded that no team had gone back-to-back as Cup champs in nearly 20 years. Now, they have their sights set on becoming the first team since the Islanders of the mid-1980s to win three in a row.
"History was against us, statistics were against us, but these guys found ways to compete and bring their best effort everyday," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We ended up repeating with back-to-back championships. Our message will be very similar going into this season. Why not?"
The biggest hurdle standing in the way of a third consecutive title _ though oddsmakers still have the Penguins as favorites _ is the sheer amount of hockey this team has played over the past two seasons. Between grueling regular seasons and marathon playoff runs, the Penguins have played 213 NHL games in the past two years, and that's not counting World Cup games, preseason games and countless practices along the way.
"You take a team that doesn't make the playoffs, and we've played probably four or five months more hockey than they have over the last two years," goalie Matt Murray said. "That's a lot, and it can wear on you. It's something you need to be aware of. Just altogether taking care of your body a little bit better. Eating better, sleeping better, getting into as much of a routine as you can."
General manager Jim Rutherford said he has spoken with Sullivan about strategies for making sure players get enough rest, particularly in the early part of the schedule.
It's hard to imagine players taking nights off explicitly for rest, the way the NBA has trended in recent years, but there are some smaller, subtler tweaks that teams can make to maximize their players' recovery ability.
"As a coaching staff, we try to work hard on making sure that we think through our schedule as far as when we practice, how we travel, trying to keep in mind nutrition, sleep and rest, all of those things," Sullivan said. "I've always been a believer in giving our team as much rest as possible. I think when we come to the rink, we want to work hard. We have guys who take care of themselves. We have a really fit group, I think."
Crosby balked at the idea of, say, regularly taking off one night of back-to-back games, but he pointed at other places over the course of the next six months where he might be able to sneak some extra time off.
"Whether it's days that are optional, a longer set of days (off) in the schedule, get a few days in between games, maybe take an extra day off, things like that," he said.
Like many aspects of this season, looking back to how the Penguins handled it last year could provide a decent road map.
"Everybody did a good job with it last year and figured out a way to get through it," Rutherford said. "Again, that's what everybody is going to have to do. They're going to have to be very aware of that, the toll, whether it's the time, the practice, the games, the amount of games we played."
That's not the only area where the Penguins can look back on a year ago. While winning back-to-back Stanley Cup titles felt like a mammoth task at the beginning of last season, going after a third one might, in many ways, be a bit less daunting.
After all, the Penguins now know what it's like to play as defending champs. They've won it all as defending champs already, too.
"Once we get into it, we have that taste, we know what it feels like and we want to win it again, simple as that," defenseman Justin Schultz said. "It's a pretty fun time to do, so we're looking forward to getting back at it."
The biggest key to playing as the reigning Cup champs might be taking a small-picture approach to things. Yes, players know what it feels like to lift the Cup at the end of a long season, but that can't figure too much into their thoughts on a nightly basis over the course of the season.
"Human nature is to get ahead of yourself sometimes, thinking too far ahead," Murray said. "It's just about taking a minute, relaxing, focusing on the moment that you're in and really not worrying about anything else. It can be a challenge sometimes, but that's what makes it so powerful if you're able to do it."
The first step, Crosby said, is forging a team identity, and that starts this weekend. Last year, the Penguins brought back virtually every player from the previous year's Cup run. This season, they'll have to adjust to some losses (Marc-Andre Fleury, Chris Kunitz, Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley) and some new faces (Ryan Reaves, Antti Niemi, Matt Hunwick).
"It's a scenario this year where we have some newer guys, and some different roles and things like that," Crosby said. "We've really got to make sure that we're diligent in that part of it and just making sure that we find our identity and have that mentality that we've got to prove ourselves again. It's not just going to happen; nobody's going to give it to us."
Crosby's coach agrees but also has full confidence in what this team is capable of.
"People are telling us we can't," Sullivan said. "The way I look at it is, we've got a core of players that are in the prime of their career, we've got a surrounding cast of players that are real competitive guys and we believe in this group that we have. They've shown an ability to play their best when the stakes are high, and they know how to win."
