For most of these Penguins, these next few weeks, back in the Stanley Cup final, will offer up a sense of deja vu to last year.
For Matt Cullen, that means not only competing for hockey’s ultimate prize, but also knowing it could possibly be his last few games as an NHL player.
“I’m probably just going to give you the same answer I gave last year,” Cullen said Sunday. “I’ve been through this enough to understand that I need to give it some time after the season. It’s a decision for me that means a lot, carries a lot of weight. i think it deserves some time after the season.”
Cullen is 40 years old and turns 41 next November, early on in what could be his 20th NHL season.
He will weigh retirement once again at the conclusion of this series but said he isn’t currently leaning one way or the other. Last summer, Cullen announced his intention to return in late June and re-signed with the Penguins Aug. 17.
“I think when it’s all said and done, I’m going to sit down with the family again and decide what’s best,” he said. “I’m 40 here and I understand where the world of hockey is at. I know this very well could be my last chance.”
If it is, he wants to make the most of it. That, of course, is why Cullen made the decision that he did last year and opted to return for a second season in Pittsburgh.
“I just felt like it was such a special group,” he said. “Obviously, winning the ultimate prize last year, and having an opportunity to have mostly the same group back. It just kind of was an opportunity that was too hard to pass up.
“You just see when the stakes are the highest, this group seems to bring its best game out. That, to me, is a strong show of what kind of character you have in that room.”
Cullen, of course, contributes in a major way to that leadership. With more than 1,300 career NHL games to his name — and now going for his third Stanley Cup — there aren’t many situations on the ice that can faze him.
But Game 7 against Ottawa in the Eastern Conference final came close. Cullen was noticeably emotional after Chris Kunitz’s double-overtime goal propelled the Penguins to the final, and winger Carl Hagelin made a point after the game to say he didn’t want that game to be the end of Cullen’s career.
“It was just a big game,” Cullen said. “Obviously you’re so close. We went through so much this season to try and get here, get back to this point. The next goal decides your fate one way or the other, it’s a big moment.”
The next big moment will come Monday night when the Penguins and Predators line up for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. For as much as it might feel like last year, Cullen said there are some discernible differences, too.
Last season was almost like a whirlwind, with a midseason coaching change and a furious finish to the regular season. This year the Penguins have had to battle through injuries and win two seven-game series in the playoffs.
“We came together quickly last year when coach Sullivan came on board,” Cullen said. “We had a half a season to jell. Now, we’ve had a full season of kind of going through the ups and the downs, learning as a group how to manage our own expectations and manage our own adversities. I think that’s a big thing.”
This season has also been a first-hand example for Cullen of why no team has won back-to-back Cups since the 1997 and 1998 Red Wings.
“I think that we’ve learned, going through this year, why it’s so difficult,” he said. “It’s a long grind coming off of that season that we had last year.”
Last year, Cullen eventually had to make his retirement decision in the wake of a Stanley Cup championship. He’s hoping that scenario is exactly the same a few months from now.
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG
First Published: May 28, 2017, 8:32 p.m.