Penguins notebook: Group of 2009 Penguins join practice for reunion

Not too long ago, when Tyler Kennedy called his teammates from the 2009 Penguins, he was asking where the party was.

Now, he's asking how the kids are, and he's making sure not to call too late.

“We're all in bed by 9 o'clock and up by 7,” Kennedy said. “Things change quick.”

Members of the franchise's third championship team are back in town this weekend as part of the club's ongoing celebration of its 50th anniversary.

Kennedy, Matt Cooke, Craig Adams, Ruslan Fedotenko, Hal Gill, Eric Godard and Pascal Dupuis were at Saturday's practice at PPG Paints Arena. They will be joined by a handful of other retired players as well as the still-active members of the team for a pregame presentation before the Penguins face the Tampa Bay Lightning at 5 p.m. Sunday.

This reunion is different from the previous two — a gathering of players from the franchise's early years and a meet-up of players from the 1991-92 championship teams — because of the age of the attendees.

Many are just hitting hockey retirement age. Kennedy, who played for the New Jersey Devils last season, only recently made the decision to hang up his skates, although he is planning to play in a Penguins-Flyers alumni game in Philadelphia next weekend.

“I don't know how many scouts are going to be watching that one,” he joked. “So it's pretty much official.”

Gill, who called it quits in 2014, had some advice for his former teammates at that stage in their lives.

“Don't ever do it. Don't ever retire. Play until you're dead,” Gill said with a grin. “It's nice being around my family, but my family's sick and tired of me. Just keep playing. You can't beat the experience of being around the boys day-in and day-out and being part of something bigger than yourself. That's what I miss most.”

Game changer

Gill played on a suffocating shutdown defense pair with Rob Scuderi on the 2009 title team. The 2016 Penguins didn't have a D pair anywhere near as dedicated to staying at home and blocking shots.

It's a comparison that shows how much the NHL game has changed in the last seven years.

“I still think I could play it now, and I'm way off base saying that,” Gill said. “It's a fast game. It's a different style.”

Speaking up

The reunion brought back memories for Fedotenko of he and Sergei Gonchar helping a young Evgeni Malkin learn to speak English.

Nowadays, Malkin is downright loquacious in his second tongue.

“That's good. I didn't see that part,” Fedotenko said. “He was always pretty quiet in English, pretty loud in Russian, outspoken. It was always like, ‘Geno, there's nobody who understands you except me and Gonch.' ”

Third-line reunion

With Kennedy and Cooke in town, the ballyhooed 2009 third line was well represented. Center Jordan Staal, obviously, has other obligations with the Carolina Hurricanes.

“Even walking around Pittsburgh, people are like, ‘Oh, the best third line ever,' ” Kennedy said. “It's like, ‘Yeah, I don't know. That HBK line, they came out of nowhere and they played unbelievable. They were one of the reasons the Pens won the Cup last year.' But it's definitely part of my legacy.

“It's nice to see Cookie here. Me and Cookie have a pretty good bond. We used to have a lot of fun on the bench, the way he'd act. It would be hilarious. We'd be up four goals, and he'd try to crush someone and we'd all be having to fight someone. It's funny to get him going about that stuff.”

Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter at @BombulieTrib.