Pens Post-Season Interview Roundup Summary Extravaganza (18 April 2024)

*Figured I’d take the L on doing a quick roundup of the interviews that happened today, given there’s nothing on The Athletic, I don’t want to mention the Donkey Kong guy and a 12+ minute press conference sends the average fan to sleep like a box of nyquil with a Yuengling chaser. Only going to write up somewhat notable things from the player interviews because there’s 13 of them and nobody’s reading that beyond the Sully notes.*

**Just remember, this is a summary.** I’ve edited down their comments to get the main takeaways from each answer. If you want to hear it for yourself, they’re the most recent videos on the [Pens’ website here](https://www.nhl.com/penguins/video/). Some players had more interesting responses, so I did direct quoting instead of summaries.

If you’re poopin’ on a time limit during work hours and you clearly can’t get through all of this, I recommend Sully, Eller, Pettersson, Tanger, Ned and Karlsson in that order. (I’ve just done these in video upload order. You get what you pay for.)

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# Sully Press Conference

When asked about what part of the team game is most important to upgrade

> …our ability to manage games and control momentum is a critical aspect, for example, playing with leads and understanding the risk-reward relationship in those scenarios and being harder to play against. Obviously, our power play was an area that was a challenge for us this year, I think that’s an obvious opportunity for growth.”

When asked about overtime challenges and how they’ll improve upon it

> …we’ve got to be more selective on when we choose to attack, it starts with our shot selection … I don’t think we were diligent with our possession game and using line changes to out-change teams and have the ability to take advantage of a fatigued group on the ice. That was a strategy that we talked a lot with our guys starting from training camp, and it’s an area where I don’t think we took advantage like we could have. On the defensive side, it boils down to man-on-man, and it’s hard not to do anything else. So you’ve got to defend hard when you’re on the ice.

When asked about Ned/Jarry

> I thought Ned played terrific down the stretch, that was one of the reasons why we chose to put him in goal. That doesn’t diminish our belief in Tristan at all… They gave us a chance to win on a lot of nights, both Tristan and Ned. We chose to go with what we deemed ‘the hot hand’ down the stretch … that’s not a slight on Tristan by any stretch, we believe Tristan is a solid NHL goalie. We believe we have a tandem that is very capable.

Asked about WBS players in the offseason and if they’d be watching for players who could challenge for a NHL spot. Answer was basically a longwinded “yes.” Did mention the players who were called up this year – Shea, St. Ivany, Poulin, Gruden and Zohorna specifically. (“I’m trying to think who else” – was there any others? I can’t remember, personally.)

Was asked if there were injuries/issues that we were not aware about, given pretty much everyone on the top lines played all 82 games. Credits the medical/strength & conditioning group for their efforts. Alluded to some ‘bumps and bruises.’

Was asked about the performance of the last three weeks of the team. Reiterates that they’re proud of the group for their performance, particularly with the circumstances of where the team was at a month ago. Praises the character of the players in the room.

> We couldn’t be more proud of the effort and investment that they put in to drag themselves back into the fight… if there’s any silver lining, there was a semblance over the last month of the season that gives us a lot of hope that this group is very capable… I think there was volatility in our game that I ‘d like to believe that we’re better than.

Asked to comment on Letang mentioning that he was playing with injuries / medical team talking about surgery at some point

> Probably would be a better question for Kyle. What I can tell you was that Tanger was dealing with a myriad of injuries for a long time… That was a big reason why he wasn’t practicing… I think he’s [Kyle Dubas] in a better position to answer that.

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# Player Interview Highlights

### Riley Smith

Asked about how he felt about his season:

> Frustrating, obviously, I didn’t live up to my own standard or expectation that I wanted to. Those things, they are hard to swallow and you just have to look into the Summer and try to fix the things that didn’t go your way… There’s a long summer and there’s a lot of things I can work on.

### Bryan Rust

Talked about the team coming back with a chip on their shoulder next season. Commented on issues with complete 60 minute efforts, losing 1-3 goal leads throughout the season. Mentioned that it’s frustrating that they focused on those issues in the last month but that it was “too little, too late”. Was asked puff questions about Sid and BJC. Mentioned that BJC will “definitely be cutting my grass” with the new lawnmower.

### Rakell

Said he had an “up and down season”, mentioned injuries at the start and then just not producing at the level he wanted to. Also mentioned the emotional side from the lulls of the season effecting him too much.

### Puustinen

Said it was his dream to play here and he can’t wait for next year. Generally has a really positive outlook and can’t wait to practice more to become a better player. Wants to improve his overall speed. Wants to score more next season, but feels he was “ok” in that regard this season. Praises playing with Eller and Smith, says Eller helped him a lot.

### Pettersson

Asked about his thoughts on why the team fell short of the playoffs this year. He said the team wanted to improve on overtime this year, but didn’t. The lost leads also stick out in his memory a bit. Talks about also taking on a bigger role on defense – “I think I handled it pretty well… I’m happy with my season, but I’m disappointed with the rest of the team.”

^OP ^note/edit: ^he ^meant ^feeling ^disappointed ^alongside ^the ^team, ^he ^was ^not ^throwing ^everyone ^else ^under ^the ^bus.

> It’s a really empty feeling because we really felt like we found something at the end there, and it’s frustrating that we couldn’t keep that feeling going. But I think it brings a hunger, and it brings a belief in knowing that we can bring it out in a tough situation… It puts a little pep in our step coming into next season, but also right now it’s a really empty feeling.

### O’Connor

Asked about his individual season, said he made some big steps this year; feels like he can make another step up next season. Not looking to change too much to his Summer program because he feels it works well. Praises Sid for helping him work on timing. Wants to work on making plays on the rush and net front presence.

### Nedeljkovic

Reflecting on the season:

> You can’t let those games early on in the year get away from you, they always seem to come back and bite you in the butt in some way… I think you can look back at the season as a whole and say it was a fine season, but obviously not up to par.

Asked if this is a place he’d like to return to:

> Yeah, I had a great time. This is a great locker room. Everyone got along with everybody and we had great chemistry on the ice… This last month we were playing some really great hockey – I think that goes hand in hand with how things off the ice are going… Yeah, I’d love to come back and be in a Penguins sweater and pick up where we left off this year. We left off on a high note- well, you know, obviously it was a tough one last night, but like I said, we’ve played some good hockey. It’s hard to not want to play with the guys you have in this room.

Follow on question – is this regardless of Tristan’s situation?

> …It was up to the deadline, we were like top five in terms of goals in the league, the numbers and all that… I don’t have any problem with us running it back together… He’s a great friend, nothing that’s gone on in the past weeks has changed that, nothing that’s gone on in the year has changed that. I think you need a good relationship with your partner and that’s exactly what we have. It’d be great for not only the two of us, but the rest of the room to have us back.

*OP note – beat reporters trying to pry some sort of spicy comment about Jarry generally. Asked about Jarry having a four year deal being off-putting to Ned’s career. To broadly paraphrase his reply with a Josh Getzoff line, “Nedeljkovic says no!”*

### Letang

Answering a couple of questions about the team’s performance over the season:

> We made a lot of changes in the off-season… I think overall we were not consistent enough. We were playing well for 5-6 games, and then we had a dip. These things kinda kill your momentum.

Asked about it being tough for a veteran defenseman coming into a new club and if it’ll be better next season.

> Whenever you come to a new team after being on a team for 5-6 years, you build habits… When you come to a new team, you have to learn different players, systems. But, I think with a guy like Karl, he, it’s easy for him to adjust and he’s so talented. He sees things that nobody sees on the ice and makes those plays every single night. I think it’s just a question of consistency as a team more than anything else.

Asked to assess his season. “Roller coaster, you know? Kind of the same as the team. Went well, hit some dips. Consistency was just an issue.”

Asked about the maintenance days towards the end of the season. “Were you, or are you battling through anything injury wise?”

>Yeah, I was going through some stuff. So you um, you know, there was uh, more logic to take those days.

Follow on question – any surgery in the off season?

> I just got here [to the arena], so uh, I need to discuss with the Doctor.

### Karlsson

Asked about experience moving to the Pens:

>I definitely got more comfortable as the year went on… I’ve made one move before, and this one was a lot more seamlessly [sic] and it felt like I was a lot more comfortable from the beginning… As for a first year [the season], obviously not super happy about it, but on the personal standpoint it couldn’t have been any better.

“What was it like building a relationship with Kris this season?”

>You talking about Tanger, right? We never call him Kris… He’s a great guy; we had a lot of fun this year. We could have had more fun if things went differently… we get along great and we spend a lot of time off the ice together.

Was asked about his comments when he joined about the Pens being the best chance of winning the Cup; mentioned that the last three weeks was “unfortunate” and “frustrating” that they didn’t get in, even after all the turmoil they’ve gone through the season with the ups and downs.

>Once you get in, you never know what’s going to happen and I think that this group and the way we were playing lately, with the feeling we had… we would have had a good chance of making a run at it… and now we’ll never know what could’ve been and that’s the way it is. I still feel that way… we have a much better team than what we displayed over the course of 82 games.

### Jarry

Asked if was a tough few weeks watching:

>It’s tough, you obviously want to be out there and … be a part of it. I think the best thing that I could do in that situation was be a good teammate, help Ned in that situation and he did a great job.

On his individual assessment:

>Honestly I think it was pretty good, there were some stretches that I felt could be better, and there are some stretches to learn from honestly. But I felt like I had a pretty good year. I was healthy for the whole year and I was available for every game.

Asked if he felt like he would get a start in the last 11-12 games:

>It’s tough to say. He [Ned] was playing so well and he was doing such a great job that I think in that position, you just have to support him.

Says he isn’t concerned about how the next four years will look. Says he signed long term because he wants to be here and remain a Penguin. “That was always my thought from the beginning.”

*OP note – beat reporters trying to pry some sort of spicy comment about Ned with follow-on questions.*

### Eller

*OP note – longest interview from all the players uploaded. Nearly 8 minutes. Probably the most honest of the lot.*

How do you explain this season, how did this team miss the playoffs?

> There were some times during this season where our… we just got too low, you know, emotionally, and quality of play. We were so far from our best at that time, combined with other things, it was a little too long where we didn’t get points. There was times where we felt like we had a firm grip on games where we had multiple goal leads where we didn’t close out… Those things combined, we still would be playing right now. When we did play well, we were very capable of beating anyone… I think our lows were a little too low and for too long.

On the Jake trade affecting games:

> Yeah, that was a big part of that… There were some games where I just really didn’t recognize our team. I was surprised at how far from our best we were in some of those games.

On the lack of urgency in games during the start of the season:

> I think everybody just has to look at themselves in the mirror, even though you’re 10 games in, you look at the standings out there and you’re not in the top three, you should have a lot of urgency in our game and you should pay attention to detail and know what’s causing you to lose games; I think we had a very capable group in here, but for some reason, we didn’t play with urgency and attention to detail for long enough stretches of the year. Because there’s going to be stretches where you go through some struggles and adversity. But I think we had a lot of self-inflicted harm this year.

On the power play struggles:

> I wasn’t really a part of the unit early in the year, but looking at it, we just didn’t seem to be in sync. We didn’t seem to be in sync as a five man unit. We had great players, so you think it should work well, and it should be a strength of ours. But for whatever reason we weren’t in sync, or the execution just wasn’t there. Whether it was executing the first pass, or a 10 foot pass inside the blue line sometimes, the execution wasn’t there… It got better towards the end here, so it gives me some hope and belief that we can be better next year.

### Sid

>It took some time for us to find our game, and we just ran out of runway… I think with a lot of the newer guys that we had this year… you always know it is going to take time. It doesn’t happen overnight, but hopefully this is something that having gone through this year, that it will make us better.

Asked about contract extension numbers based on the quality of his play this year; says that he assesses his season year-to-year, but feels that is separate from talking contracts at his age. Reporter asked if that meant he was looking at only doing year-to-year contracts, Sid said no. Will be discussing with Kyle about contract renewal later.

Said it was tough with Jake getting hurt, and the uncertainty with the looming deadline at that point in time. Praised DOC for running with the opportunity. “You can tell he really wants to learn, and he’s eager and wanting to put in the work.”

### Bunting

>I’m excited for a full year, getting more and more comfortable… I’ve felt like I’ve been here all year just in this short period of time, it’s been a lot of fun.

Asked about playing with Geno:

> It was a lot of fun. He was great to play with. He communicates out there, and talks a lot. I think I talk maybe even more and he’d probably say the same thing. I think we just clicked and both of our styles compliment each other… He’s still a beast out there. When he’s turning it on, it’s tough to stop him… Once he has the puck and he’s flying down the ice, it takes a lot to stop him.

by Eyce