The beard has some gray in it.

Check that. It has some black in it. And a lot of gray.

That said, Max Talbot isn’t an old man. He’s only 37.

But he’s embarking on a different career, one in which he brings what might as well be a lifetime of experience.

Once a “superstar” in Pittsburgh due to his effervescent personality as well as scoring the goal that clinched the Stanley Cup in 2009, Talbot is now an assistant coach in San Diego.

With the wisdom of an 11-year NHL career as well as a handful of seasons in Russia and Finland, the former Penguins forward was hired this past summer by the San Diego Gulls, American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks.

He’s not doing this just to get some sun in Southern California either.

Coaching is a vocation he’s had his eyes on for many years.

As a player, Talbot constructed vision boards, a collage of images or words geared toward a person’s goals.

“I’m the type of guy who used to do a vision board,” Talbot said by telephone recently. “I still do a vision board and stuff. I would go back and look at that and one of the first (things) I was (thinking) about after my career, the coaching was always kind of there. It was one of the words that was there.”

“It was in the back of my mind, I was always kind of preparing for that subconsciously, maybe.”

One of Talbot’s closest friends from his time with the Penguins sees it as a natural fit for Talbot’s personality.

“I always thought he would be a guy that wants his hands on the game,” current Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “He’s so passionate. He brings so much energy. I don’t see him sitting in a booth and watching hockey. I see him more behind a bench, being emotional about things, getting fired up with the boys.”

After retiring in 2019 following a season in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), the Quebec-born Talbot did some television work for Canadian broadcaster RDS and took on a player development role with his agency, CAA, at the invitation of his agent, Pat Brisson.

“Pat said, Max what are you thinking about doing now? Are you (retiring)?’” Talbot recalled. “I said, yeah, maybe, I think so. So right away, he offered me a job with the squad. He (said), ‘Come meet me in Chicago. I’d like you to be part of our team.’ So I did that for two years.

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review Max Talbot celebrates his second goal of Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit during Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final.  

“Really grateful that Pat took me under his wing and showed me the business side of hockey. I was able to work with some younger guys, some NHLers. Recruited some guys, some very young guys, some not-so-young guys. It was fun. It was more the number side of things. So I learned a bit there. But I also learned how to coach. That was a good experience for me.”

This past summer, former Penguins defenseman Joel Bouchard, who played briefly in Pittsburgh during the 2002-03 season, a few years before Talbot debuted, left his job as head coach of the Laval Rocket to take the same job with the Gulls.

Talbot met Bouchard through a mutual friend, former NHL defenseman Bruno Gervais and the two grew close during offseason skating sessions in Montreal.

“When he got the job in San Diego, I texted him to say, ‘Congrats on the gig,’” Talbot said. “He’s like, ‘Max, you coming with me?’ I’m like, ‘Whoa, whoa! What do you mean?’ I (visited him in) his (summer) cabin two days later. We talked about hockey for a full day. The wife and I were on the way back in the car and we said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”

Talbot and his wife, Cynthia, made the cross-continent trek with their three children to San Diego, a locale more renowned for surf than slapshots.

“For the family purposes, obviously amazing because … you’re moving to a place where there’s a lot of palm trees and sunshine,” Talbot said. “But as a coach, my (junior) coach Benoit Groulx, always gave me very, very good advice. … He (said), ‘Max, if you’re ever thinking about coaching, don’t go necessarily for the town, don’t go for the weather, don’t go for the team so much. Go for the head coach. Go with someone you feel you can trust and that you feel you can learn from.”

Talbot certainly learned quite a bit from the coach he spent most of his time with in the Penguins organization. Michel Therrien guided Talbot with the Pittsburgh Penguins as well as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

“Michel Therrien really showed me how to be a pro,” Talbot said. “He kind of went the hard way with me at the start. Sat me down when he got the gig in Pittsburgh. The first thing he did was to send me down (to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) even though he coached me the previous year and I think liked me, it was a great lesson. … I talked to him last winter and he (said), ‘Max, I didn’t want you to have a one-, two-year career. I wanted you to be a career NHLer.’ We had to wipe that slate pretty clean. After that, we had a good relationship, for sure.”

Therrien isn’t the only coach he keeps in contact with from his days in Pittsburgh.

Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review Penguins forward Max Talbot hoists a man-made version of the Stanley Cup along the Blvd. of the Allies during the team’s victory parade downtown.  

“I talked to Dan Bylsma (in September), talking about different stuff, different systems, different power plays, different faceoffs, stuff like that,” Talbot said. “Dan was a great influence in my career and in my life also. Dan made me write some stuff on a piece of paper right when I was 25, right after we won the (Stanley Cup). I was struggling a little bit on the ice. He made me write my purpose in life, what do you want people to say about you when you die. Very kind of spiritual and self-examination exercises which were amazing for me. It worked for me as a person and on the ice too.

“Every coach you have will have a different impact on you, good or bad. They all have something to teach you differently. Even if the experience is not so great with the coach, there’s something to take from it as a player.”

Talbot clearly took a lot in that he lasted in the NHL for more than a decade despite being an eighth-round pick in 2002.

(For the sake of perspective, the NHL capped the draft at seven rounds in 2005.)

“His story is pretty cool, you know?” Letang said. “A late (drafted) guy. He didn’t go through the front door with all the hype. He came from the back door, grinding it out in the minors. After that, having his chance in the NHL. But he also played with guys that came through the (front) door, guys like (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin). Playing with all these guys throughout his career, you learn so much and you see so many things. … I’m sure he has a lot of (knowledge) to tell other guys.”

Talbot’s current duties have him directing the team’s forwards as well as the power play. Having lasted 704 games in the NHL, he is more than familiar with all the finer points of those roles.

“Max was actually a player that relied on the details of the game, doing little things,” Letang said. “That experience that he acquired during his career is just going to serve him well (as a coach). Max was exactly the type of guy that (needed to know) those type of details to be a great NHL player.”

What about being an NHL coach? Even at the dawn of his current job in the AHL, Talbot isn’t shy in admitting that is his ultimate goal.

“I’m obviously an ambitious guy,” Talbot said. “But I have a lot of learning to do. I can work in the trenches. I’m not scared of that. I think that maybe one day, yeah for sure. I have the personality to do that. But right now, I’m enjoying the experience being able to see the game a different way.”

Note: The current Penguins had a scheduled day off on Tuesday.

Follow the Penguins all season long.

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