2013-14 followed an all too familiar script for the Pittsburgh Penguins as the team was solid in the regular season before collapsing in the playoffs. With a fresh slate, a new head coach and a new general manager two of the Penguins stars -- captain Sidney Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang -- are ready for a new chapter.
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The Penguins finished 51-24-7 with 109 points a season ago en route to clinching the first ever Metropolitan Division crown, but the team struggled in its opening round matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets before eventually defeating them in six games.
Things didn't get any better in the second round as the Penguins took a 3-1 series lead on the New York Rangers only to allow them to come back and win the series in seven. The Rangers eventually went on to the Stanley Cup Final while the Penguins questioned what went wrong in the team's attempt to reach the final for the first time since 2009.
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Failing to get to the Eastern Conference Finals -- as they did in 2012-13 before falling to the Boston Bruins, -- the Penguins opted to get rid of general manager Ray Shero and head coach Dan Bylsma.
The pair was replaced by Jim Rutherford and Mike Johnston respectively, and Crosby believes that Johnston will look to increase the team's speed in 2014-15.
"He wants to play with speed. He wants to hold onto it and make plays," Crosby told NHL.com. "That's stuff you want to do, but there's another team that wants to get the puck too, so you've got to find ways to do it well."
Crosby won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's MVP last season after pacing the league with 104 points and 68 assists.
Crosby, who met with Johnston this offseason in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia this summer, said he likes that his new coach went all over the globe to meet with some of the players.
"I think it's a great thing. It was almost like he was on tour there for a while," he said. "It was cool because there were a lot of guys who recognized that. I felt like I was getting a text every day almost from someone who had met with him and had a really good meeting, and most of the time I don't think they talked that much about hockey."
Letang, who went 11-11--22 last season and was limited to just 37 games due to suffering through a stroke and knee and elbow injuries, said he feels great heading into the new campaign.
"I think it's going to be a new start for me," Letang told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I want to make sure nobody is going to doubt me, the job I'm going to be doing on the ice. I think basically I just want to prove myself to everyone that is part of the past and we're looking ahead."
Letang, like Crosby, also spoke about his meeting with Johnston.
"It went great," he said. "We had dinner for maybe four or five hours. I don't remember. It was great. It was just talking hockey. He was getting to know me and what kind of person I am and what kind of role I want to be in the [dressing] room. It went really well."
The Penguins fresh start kicks off on Oct. 9 when they host the Anaheim Ducks at Consol Energy Center to kick off the 2014-15 campaign.
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