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Mike Rupp waits for a face off against the Edmonton Oilers on March 13, 2011.
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Five questions with Mike Rupp, who says the Penguins are ready to contend

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

Five questions with Mike Rupp, who says the Penguins are ready to contend

Mike Rupp in 2003 won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils — scored the clinching goal that spring, too — before coming to Pittsburgh in 2009. He played two years with the Penguins, both ending with playoff disappointment, before joining the New York Rangers, the Minnesota Wild then the broadcast booth.

Rupp, 39, now works as an analyst for NHL Network. You’ve probably also noticed him doing fine post-game analysis on AT&T SportsNet here in Pittsburgh.

With the Penguins on Thursday set to open the regular season against the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena, we got him on the phone to get his thoughts on what went wrong for the Penguins last season, what the new guys should bring to the table and what the team must do to go on another deep playoff run in 2019-20.

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Rupp’s answers have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity:

Penguins center Evgeni Malkin carries the puck up the ice against the Sabres on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019.
Matt Vensel
Matt Vensel's Penguins chat transcript: 10.03.19

Q: What did you think about their offseason? Some players were in trade rumors. Phil Kessel ultimately was the one who ended up getting dealt. What did you think about all the moves they made this summer?

A: Jim Rutherford basically said at one point, “Pretty much nobody on this roster besides the captain is safe.” Did I ever think that they would trade [Evgeni Malkin]? No. But I think that kind of sent a message not just to him, but everybody, that they’re unhappy about how things were. There was a lack of hunger and desire from last year’s team, and that has to change.

The moves that they made, I like them, because you always want to add players that are hungry. Maybe they need a second chance or a change of scenery or maybe they didn’t feel like they were getting opportunities that they should have gotten with other organizations. They picked up a lot of guys like that.

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Alex Galchenyuk is a young player, still, who has been around a while. He scored 30 goals once. He showed early in his career that he was going to be a stud. Then things tapered off and he wasn’t used a certain way in Montreal. He goes to Arizona, he gets injured. It didn’t really work out there. So this is an opportunity to get his career back on track and play with some high-end talent.

Dominik Kahun is a player that has a lot of promise. He played with some really talented players in Chicago. They had a lot of moving parts and he was always bouncing around their lineup. It’s about him getting an opportunity, again, with high-talent to try to carve out his spot. Brandon Tanev, the same thing. He was with a team in Winnipeg that was really deep at forward. He brings a lot to the table, but now he’s going to get more of a chance to produce in a top-six role.

I could go on and on with these guys. But Jim Rutherford has put together a group where the writing is on the wall for these guys. [It says,] “It’s there. You need to go and grab it.” That, accompanied with Geno [bouncing back] — I think Geno’s going to get 100 points this year — I think it’s a good recipe for this team.

Q: The fact that they didn’t play as fast last year had more to do than just foot speed on the ice, right? They had trouble getting the puck out of their zone and getting up the ice. What do they need to do to get back to playing fast?

Penguins Alex Galchenyuk practices at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Tuesday, Sept 10, 2019 in Cranberry.
Mike DeFabo
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A: This team when it’s at its best is getting the puck out of its zone clean. It didn’t seem like that last year. It seemed like it was more of a struggle. You need the puck getting cleanly into the hands of the high-end guys at forward.

I think a lot of times, though, it starts in the offensive zone. The decisions you make in the offensive zone will limit the amount of times you have to exit your D-zone. I think that’s a big part of it because this is a team that needs to improve their decision-making in the offensive zone.

At times last year, there was too much passing with guys looking for the perfect play, hope plays, trying to make things happen. The next thing you know the puck is going the other way and you have to defend. This team can defend. But that’s not their bread and butter.

Q: In February and March last season, it looked this team was coming together. And then they got swept like that. Did you think the same thing then, that these guys were finally figuring some things out while winning some tight, low-scoring games? Or did you still see warning signs that they weren’t quite there?

A: I think that’s always get a hard thing to get a read on because even if I hadn’t played with [Sidney Crosby] and Geno, [I would still think] that there is always the possibility of those two guys taking over and the Penguins running the table.

But the team just seemed like they had a lack of bite and determination. I don’t mean that from a standpoint of physicality. I mean more from a standpoint that in 2016 and 2017 they were winning with that junkyard dog mentality.

They were just hounding pucks all over the ice and forcing turnovers and going and going. Carl Hagelin, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, they were just hounding pucks all over the ice. For whatever reason last year, they didn’t really have that.

They would be OK when they had the puck. They’re at their best when they force you to give them the puck and now you’re in a bad spot defensively. They just didn’t have the same bite and feistiness, getting on pucks quick with good sticks and creating turnovers. And that took away from their game a lot.

Q: In all of the different teams that you were on throughout your career, can you think of an experience similar to what happened here last year, where a team that went on deep runs suddenly just didn’t have it the next year?

A: I can’t really think of any from my experiences. I just think that [players, such as Bryan Rust, on] this team had a hard time finding different ways to contribute on a nightly basis individually. That’s a difficult thing to manage.

That’s the one thing with this team, and I don’t think it’s going to change, they’ve got a bunch of moving parts. The way this team is built, they have about seven players who could play the center-ice position. They’ve got players they can play on lines one through four at wing. The bottom line is that you’ve got to contribute something on a nightly basis. I felt like that’s something that was lacking.

Q: What’s your outlook for the Penguins this season? Do you think they can contend? And if so, what do you think they need to do to go on a run?

A: I say this with a complete unbiased view of this team. I know some of them pretty well and loved playing in Pittsburgh, but that has nothing to do with my evaluation of this team. I think a lot of people are trying to decide which way they are going to. They’re kind of teetering. Are they going to be going toward the top of the [Metropolitan] Division, or are they going to be dropping even lower?

I think a lot of people are leaning toward the latter, and I don’t see it. I don’t.

I saw 87 and I saw 71 on a nightly basis for two years. And I know how much they care. And I know the things that Geno said this summer and the way he looked in the preseason. The way he was back-checking, he’s on a mission. And these two guys, when they’re on a mission, you can’t do anything about it. I’ve seen it.

And I think you have hungry players surrounding them this year. They got a big wake-up call last year. I think this team is going to be fighting for the top spot in the division. I have a feeling Washington will nudge them out to win the division. But I think they get the second spot and will be contenders. I have them going to the Eastern conference final, which means absolutely nothing right now [laughs]. But I think they’re going to be very difficult to play against this year.

Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.

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First Published: October 3, 2019, 1:00 p.m.

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Mike Rupp waits for a face off against the Edmonton Oilers on March 13, 2011.  (Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
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