Mike Sullivan has been attending training camps since be broke into pro hockey with the San Diego Gulls of the International Hockey League in 1990.
He's gone as a center and an assistant coach, a player-development guy and, of course, a head coach.
He's attended them in locations across North America, from Tampa to Vancouver, Calgary to Cranberry.
But Sullivan's never been to a camp like the one he expects to conduct if the NHL gives permission for teams to begin preparing for the resumption of the 2019-20 season, which Sullivan says he is optimistic will happen at some point.
Never attended one when his team will be going directly from the camp to a playoff series, as likely will occur if the NHL gets back in operation before next season.
Never been at one one after his club had experienced no personnel turnover from the last time it had played.
And, most important, never been involved with a camp after virtually all of the players have been off skates for several months before they reported.
All of that -- especially the inability of his personnel to skate while the NHL has been shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic -- has helped to shape the camp regimen that Sullivan and his staff have been putting together.
"When you think of a traditional training camp at the beginning of a year, there are multiple objectives," Sullivan said. "Part of it is having an opportunity for some of the young players, the prospects, to come in and experience the Penguins' way, or the Penguins' organization, and be around the veteran players. Players like (Sidney) Crosby and (Kris) Letang and (Evgeni) Malkin and these guys, and seeing how they go about their business every day and learning how to be a pro.
"That's all part of it. And then there's an evaluation process that takes place on a lot of levels, from the young guys to the American League guys to the guys who are fighting for roster spots on the Penguins' NHL team. This will be different. There's one objective, and that's getting ready for a high-stakes environment. Given those two completely different scenarios, how we would go about (conducting the camp) would be different."
Although some critical details that will have an impact on the final plans, such as just how long camps would be, still aren't known, Sullivan has a pretty good idea of what he'll want to accomplish, and how he'll go about that.
Beginning with how his staff will try to get players, who have been training on whatever equipment is available wherever they are riding out the shutdown, into condition to endure the rigors of playoff hockey while limiting the number of groin and hamstring issues they sustain from starting to skate again.
"That's something we've discussed," he said. "We've been thinking through what we would do, how we would go about it, the amount of players we would have, things of that nature. The workloads associated with every day. When the rest components are built in -- a day off, for example. Things of that nature.
"A lot of these guys haven't been on the ice for a while. It's important that we go about it the right way, so that we do our best to minimize those types of soft-tissue injuries."
He added that staffers who have been advising players on how to stay in the best possible shape also have offered guidance on how to use their workouts to reduce the threat of such injuries.
"Our strength-and-conditioning guys do a terrific job of that," Sullivan said. "We have three strength-and-conditioning coaches, and they're all in constant contact with our players. They all have customized programs, based on where they're at and what types of resources they have at their disposal -- weights, bikes, slide boards (to simulate skating), whatever they might have in their homes.
"They've designed customized programs for these guys, based on that. They're in constant contact with (players), so they can adjust the program to meet the needs of the player. Everybody's different."
Just as any training camp that might take place before autumn will be.
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