Pittsburgh Penguins Know Staying Hungry Will Be the Key to Historic Repeat

DENVER — Step into the Pittsburgh Penguins' visitors' locker room, and one is immediately overwhelmed by laminated, inspirational all-caps slogans taped up to the walls. One of the many implores to "Own your team, own your game, own your habits, own your attitude." The Penguins, current owners of the Stanley Cup, are reminded constantly by coach Mike Sullivan of the best practices it took to win it last spring. 

Every NHL team since 1998 has tried to re-engineer the dynamics that won it a Cup, and every time it has failed. Not since Scotty Bowman's Detroit Red Wings of 1997 and 1998 has there been a repeat champion, which is the longest drought of any of the four major sports. 

Sullivan is trying to induce amnesia in the minds of his players, to get them to believe there are no rings on their fingers, no banner up in the rafters of PPG Paints Arena commemorating their Cup run of last year. There are several reasons to buy into the belief Sullivan's Penguins will break the nearly 20-year hex for Cup champions, and a few to believe his team will be no different. 

The first, and most convincing reason to believe: Sidney Crosby is healthy and motivated to achieve something no player has since the roster members of the '97 and '98 Wings. Sullivan can put up all the motivational placards this side of a Tony Robbins seminar he wants, but without No. 87 on board and interested in the game plan, it won't matter.

Otherwise, there are as many or more reasons to believe the Penguins will succumb to the Cup Hangover just like every team since the second term of the Clinton Administration. No matter how hard coaches have tried to manufacture the same air of insane hunger and perseverance it takes to win a Stanley Cup, it's just so very hard to actually achieve.  

On Thursday, before the Penguins were to play the last-place team in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche, Sullivan revealed he had a summer conversation with Bowman in which he solicited advice on how to avoid the dreaded Cup Hangover.

Later in the day, I asked Bowman what kind of advice he gave to Sullivan:

"I mentioned not to dwell on the past. Hopefully, the celebrations have ended and to only look ahead to the new season," Bowman said.

Also, Bowman said, a little change to the roster—just a little, don't overdo it just for the sake of it—is vital.

"A couple new guys will help rather than hurt. [Sullivan] had a few new guys who came in with him [after replacing Mike Johnston], and they did a bang-up job," Bowman said. [Bryan] Rust, [Carl] Hagelin and Matt Murray to name a few. The most important aspect is not to stand pat."

PAUL WARNER/Associated Press

The Penguins are not expected to be big players at the March 1 NHL trade deadline. According to Cap Friendly, they have negative cap space at the moment. The player they probably would most love to move, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and his cap hit of $5.75 million for this season and the following two, is not a realistic scenario, at least not by March 1.

It doesn't seem like they need anything, with a roster of forwards that includes Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and many other quality players, and the defense and goaltending have been sound so far. And yet, general manager Jim Rutherford is known for having an itchy trigger finger for trades, and as someone who learned under Bowman as an employee of the Red Wings in the early 1990s, he knows the dangers of standing pat.

Penguins defenseman Ian Cole knows that slogans won't mean much when the hockey gets much more serious with the looming start of the playoffs. Last year's Pittsburgh team won, he said, because it came together after times of adversity, starting with the replacement of Johnston by Sullivan as coach.

So far this season? Aside from a few injuries, including one that has kept Malkin out the last few games, there hasn't been a lot of adversity.

Whether that ultimately will prove a factor in Pittsburgh not having what it takes to win another Cup, Cole isn't sure, but he hopes not.

Matt Kincaid/Getty Images

"That is what made us really mentally strong last year, going into the playoffs. We had to battle through so much," Cole said. "Those are the things that, it seems, really build a team. Now, it's like everyone thinks you're great, you're the odds-on favorite to win it again. But you almost need to build that team again, through adversity, through things that aren't going well.

"We have had a good year; we have played well and done a lot of good things. But I think our coaching staff is very diligent in reminding us that, 'Hey, you're not perfect.' Just because we win a game 3-1 or 4-1 doesn't mean we played a great hockey game.

"We're blessed to have a lot of guys with major talent, but we know the only chance we have to repeat is if we can keep getting better."

Said Sullivan: "My approach with this group has just been just coming to the rink every day and trying to get better."

Come to the rink, get better. Sounds like a good enough slogan for a team to believe in.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report.