NEW YORK -- In a season of unprecedented change in Pittsburgh, it would seem that nothing is a given. Not even the presence of Chris Kunitz skating along captain Sidney Crosby's left side as he has for the past three or four seasons.
Rookie head coach Mike Johnston, who takes over for longtime head coach Dan Bylsma -- who was fired in the offseason -- might well keep one of the most productive forward pairs in recent years skating together, but Crosby isn't taking anything for granted. The defending Hart Trophy winner, awarded to the league MVP, told ESPN.com Monday that he's looking forward to the challenge the team's changes will bring when training camp opens in less than two weeks.
"I think the thing that I take from the changes and all that stuff is coming into this camp -- probably for the first time in a long time -- everyone has something to prove, and whether Kunie and I play together," Crosby said. "[We] don't know that, and it’s up to us to go and kind of earn that right and basically prove ourselves individually and see kind of where they see us fitting in.
"But I think that can probably be a good thing for us.
"You kind of need that hunger and you need everyone to compete, and I think that gets the best out of everyone."
The Penguins were upended in the second round of the playoffs by the New York Rangers, despite owning a 3-1 series lead.
Sidney Crosby says he is keeping an open mind about coaching change and knows change can be a good thing pic.twitter.com/T6rWcZFPab
— ESPN NHL coverage (@ESPN_NHL) September 8, 2014
It marked the fifth straight season in which the talented Penguins were knocked off by a lower seed in the playoffs. The loss cost GM Ray Shero and Bylsma their jobs, and high-scoring winger James Neal was dealt to Nashville at the draft for Nick Spaling and Patric Hornqvist.
Top defensemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen both signed with the Washington Capitals as free agents.
New GM Jim Rutherford brought in defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and forward Steve Downie to plug some of those holes as the Penguins set about trying to redefine their identity and become more difficult to play against.
But Crosby insisted the changes aren’t so much about altering the third and fourth lines, because no one knows for sure who will end up skating on those lines.
"So, talking about that bottom six, I don't think anyone can sit here and tell you exactly what the third and fourth lines are going to look like," Crosby said. "You might have some ideas but there are some open spots there, and it’ll be up to guys to kind of show and prove where they fit."
As for the wrist injury that secretly plagued the Penguins captain during the playoffs, he refused to offer that up as an excuse for delivering only one goal in 13 postseason games. The wrist did not require surgery and is now completely healed.
"I think that everyone deals with stuff in the playoffs, so to kind of sit here and blame that, like why I only had one goal, I’m not going to sit here and blame my wrist," Crosby said. "I think that as far as faceoffs and that kind of thing, there was some challenging things I had to try and kind of fix that way and get around having to do certain things.
"But that's something that everyone has to kind of deal with," he added. "I'm not going to use that as an excuse. I think everybody has to deal with certain things. It’s something that unfortunately I had to go through."