Kings' Scuderi jumps on Penguins' bandwagon
-
Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi on his former team, the Penguins: "Maybe it will be a little bittersweet for me if they win again."
Share with others:
Little more than 12 hours after his Los Angeles Kings were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Vancouver Canucks in six games Sunday night, old friend Rob Scuderi was on the telephone from his Manhattan Beach, Calif., home to offer best wishes to one and all.
"Now that we're out, sure, I'd love to see the Penguins win it all again," he said.
You expected Scuderi to be pulling for the Washington Capitals?
Please.
You can take Scuderi out of Pittsburgh, but you can't take Pittsburgh out of Scuderi. He spent all or parts of five NHL seasons in a Penguins sweater, experiencing the lowest of lows in 2005-06 when the team had 58 points and the highest of highs last season when it lifted the Stanley Cup in no small part because of his fine work on the blue line. He still watches the Penguins' games when he can and keeps in touch with many of his former teammates, notably defenseman Brooks Orpik.
"Maybe it will be a little bittersweet for me if they win again," Scuderi said. "But it's not like I left there with a feeling of unfinished business. It was sad to leave, but I'll always know that I accomplished something special with that group of guys."
If the Penguins don't win this season, I'm blaming Scuderi.
For, you know, leaving.
The Penguins aren't as strong defensively without Scuderi. Teammates didn't call him "The Piece" last season for nothing, did they? OK, they did, but more on that in a second. The team misses him and shutdown defensive partner Hal Gill, who left as a free agent for the Montreal Canadiens. In case you haven't noticed, Gill is having a terrific playoff series against the President Trophy-winning Washington Capitals, who will try to survive against the Canadiens tonight in Game 7 in Washington.
"They might miss me a little," Scuderi said of the Penguins, "but they're certainly not showing it. Every time I've seen them play, they've looked really good. I think the defensemen have played great."
That's Scuderi.
Mr. Humble.
That's why the Penguins playfully jumped all over him during the Cup final last season when he misspoke in a Post-Gazette story. Instead of saying he was a piece of the team's puzzle, he said, "I'm the piece to the puzzle that you need to get a championship."
Hence, "The Piece."
Scuderi's teammates loved the way he took their abuse with a smile. It went a long way toward easing the tension during the pressure-packed final against the Detroit Red Wings. They also loved something else he said in that same article.
First Published April 28, 2010 12:00 am
