Matt Cullen's role comes into focus with the Penguins

There aren’t many people within the Pittsburgh Penguins’ nest who can show forward Brian Boyle something he hasn’t already seen.

After all, he has been in the NHL for 14 seasons.

Matt Cullen, a veteran of 21 seasons, is one of those people.

Currently a player development coach with the Penguins, Cullen, who lives in Minnesota, has been in town this week for the first time since training camp opened in September and has been working with the team’s centers on faceoffs as well as with various members of the penalty-killing units.

Each was an area of the game Cullen — a member of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup championship squads of 2016 and ‘17 — excelled at before he retired after the 2018-19 season.

“A lot of faceoffs against him, particularly when he was here in Pittsburgh,” said Boyle, who occupies Cullen’s old gig as the team’s fourth-line center and skates on the penalty kill. “He has just got great insight.”

“He’d find ways that if he was losing them to tie them up. Or he’d find ways if he was winning them, to switch it up and keep (an opponent) guessing. … I’ve kind of had the same approach throughout my career. Some nights, they’re not falling your way and you’ve got to try different things. As he put it today, figuring out kind of a bread-and-butter move then having a few other moves. (Have) different clubs in your bag just to mix it up and have different options when you’re going into a draw.”

The Penguins hired Cullen in his current capacity soon after he retired as a player. Having primarily worked remotely — even before the pandemic — his duties were somewhat loosely defined.

Coach Mike Sullivan suggested Cullen’s role will have more of a finite focus moving forward.

“We talked this offseason about his participation in the coaching staff and whether that was something he was willing and wanting to do,” Sullivan said. “He expressed interest in it. I spoke to him about two areas of our game where we think we can improve. … One of them is the faceoff circle, and the other is the penalty kill. … We thought we could utilize (Cullen) in those two areas in particular. He’s a smart hockey mind, so he’ll help us in a number of areas. But as far as a role or a responsibility on our staff, that was something that (we) talked about and that’s what I would like him to do.”

“You’re going to see him come in once a month or so for three or four days. He’s going to spend time with our center icemen on the ice. … He had a video session with our center icemen (Thursday) morning, before they went on the ice, with respect to faceoffs and strategies, things of that nature. He’s going to communicate with our center icemen when he’s not here through (video conferences) and things like that and try to help those guys along the way. He can be a great help to our coaching staff and to our players in two areas where we think there’s an opportunity for us to get better.”

Thus far, it appears faceoffs have commanded the bulk of Cullen’s attention in his on-ice dealings this week. During an optional morning skate Tuesday, he shared a few tricks of the trade.

For a player such as Boyle, who has taken a mere 7,635 draws in his career, there’s always room for improvement, especially if someone such as Cullen, with 18,373 career faceoffs on his resume, is doing the teaching.

“The more we work on it, the better you get, really,” Boyle said. “Young guys come in and for the most part, you start (winning) 30, 40 percent and then you kind of work your way up from there just because you learn new tricks, you learn better timing and it just takes repetition and practice.

“It’s great to have (Cullen) here. A good voice. Obviously, a guy who was really good at it and has a lot of knowledge.”

Crosby ruled out against Maple Leafs

Sullivan ruled forward Sidney Crosby — still recuperating from offseason surgery to his left wrist — out for Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Crosby did not skate Thursday.

“Sid had a scheduled day off,” Sullivan said. “He had two days off the ice. That was part of his schedule to return to play. He is rehabbing off the ice.”

Friedman resumes practicing

Defenseman Mark Friedman returned to practice. He had been sidelined since leaving practice early Monday because of an undisclosed injury. His status has been termed as “day to day.” He primarily skated as a reserve during Thursday’s practice.

The team’s lines and pairings during practice were:

59 Jake Guentzel - 9 Evan Rodrigues - 42 Kasperi Kapanen

12 Zach Aston-Reese - 53 Teddy Blueger - 23 Brock McGinn

16 Jason Zucker - 10 Drew O’Connor - 43 Danton Heinen

12 Dominik Simon - 11 Brian Boyle - 18 Sam Lafferty

8 Brian Dumoulin - 58 Kris Letang

28 Marcus Pettersson - 6 John Marino

5 Mike Matheson - 2 Chad Ruhwedel

The top power-play unit included Guentzel, Kapanen, Letang, Rodrigues and Zucker. The second power-play unit involved Heinen, Marino, Matheson, O’Connor and Simon.

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