From the Pressbox

It was around Christmas, Michel Therrien says, that he noticed a change in his Pittsburgh Penguins. Players were taking practice a lot more seriously.

When drills were going badly, the coaches didn’t need to do any of the talking, because the critique was coming from the guys wearing the uniforms.

Who were the leaders?

“Well ... Sid,” Therrien said. “And Darryl Sydor.”

“I just think that if you’re going to spend an hour a day in practice, you should do it right,” Sydor said. “Why go out there and waste time?”

Most respected guy in the room

In Game 3, Therrien will turn to the two-time Stanley Cup champion (Dallas 1999 & Tampa Bay 2004), for the first time since March 31. “Crazy” is how one Detroit player described dressing Sydor for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final after a two-month hiatus. But there’s a reason. A very good one.

Following Game 2, as several Penguins answered questions with dazed looks on their faces, unable to comprehend what was happening, Sydor sat down in a corner of the dressing room. Soon, the most respected player in the Penguins’ room, was joined by Brooks Orpik, Hal Gill, Ryan Whitney and Rob Scuderi. They wanted to hear what he had to say.

“We just talked about what was happening, why we were losing,” he said. “They wanted to know what it looked like out there.”

And they were listening. Intently. That’s why Therrien is turning to Sydor’s experience tonight. The hope is that the 15-year veteran will calm down the rattled Penguins.

Mentor and coach

It’s been a difficult time for Sydor, but the respect for him is such that he is still listed as an assistant captain even though he hasn’t played lately. Unlike Mark Recchi, who openly chafed at his reserve role, Sydor refused to become a distraction, quietly doing some extra skating in order to keep ready.

“The one thing that stands out about him is that he never caused a problem,” says Orpik, who had his own run of bench time in the regular season. “I went through the same thing before he did, and he made sure I handled it properly. He just kept telling me, ‘You’re here for a reason. You didn’t make it this far by accident. Keep working, and everything will be fine.’

“I really appreciated it. It was nice to get some positive feedback, for a change. That doesn’t always happen here.”

(Ouch. Maybe that’s why it’s rumoured Orpik will leave as a UFA this summer.)

Anyway, that sounds somewhat similar to what Rick Wilson did with Sydor. He calls the Stars’ assistant - and one-time interim head man -“the person who really saved my career.”

“When I got to Dallas, I really had no idea what I was doing,” he says, laughing at the memory. “I was all offence. Rick really worked with me, taught me what it would take to stay in the league. I’d like to do that for someone else.”

It’s why - someday - Sydor would be a natural behind the bench. When I asked him about that during the Philadelphia series, he was quick to say, “I feel I still have something to contribute on the ice. I don’t think my career is finished yet. But when it is done, yes, I would like to coach.” He has one year and $2.5 million US left on his contract.

Reconnaissance mission

He did some coaching yesterday, phoning former teammate Mike Modano to compare notes on the Red Wings. Modano told him that the Penguins were making the same mistakes Dallas made during the first two games of the Western Conference Final: not attacking the Detroit blue-line with any speed and advising that defencemen must initiate the rush and then join it. Sydor passed that information along to his coaches and teammates.

(By the way, Modano told a funny story about Sydor, saying that the two of them would sit next to each other on team flights. “When we were taking off, he would always make sure my tray table was up, my cell phone was off and my seatbelt was on. I called him my travel mom,” he laughed.)

Sounds like Sydor would be perfect for a junior team, and don’t forget he co-owns the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers with a group that includes Recchi, Jarome Iginla, Shane Doan and Vancouver businessman Tom Gagliardi.

But that’s for another time. Sydor says “it’s impossible to describe the feeling of winning the Stanley Cup. I can only tell you that those were the greatest moments of my career.”

It seems so unlikely that a third celebration will come this month, but, for this future coach, it’s all about the chance to try.

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