Smiles abound in Edmonton as Penner enjoys breakthrough

One of the bigger challenges Dustin Penner has these days is trying to keep a straight face.

It's not all that easy for the hulking Edmonton Oilers forward, known among his teammates to be pretty quick with a joke. In fact, Penner often has to control the urge to deliver one as he deals with the same questions everywhere he goes.

Dustin Penner credits new Oilers coach Pat Quinn with letting his game flourish. (Getty Images)

So it's little wonder that a slight smirk or the hint of a grin has become something of a natural reaction for him. Penner says he isn't trying to be dismissive of all the attention he is getting, because now it is for the right reasons. No, Penner's problem is being unable come up with a new explanation for anyone trying to dissect what appears to be his overnight success.

"Everybody in our society is looking for an easy answer, so I'm trying to come up with more creative ways to say the same thing," Penner said with a laugh. "You know, to make the story more interesting."

Of course, Penner doesn't have to embellish. That isn't necessary for players enjoying breakout seasons, and Penner -- who has nearly matched his scoring output from 2008-09 -- fits the profile now that he has evolved into the Oilers' top player and one of the league's leading scorers. His case might be even more compelling than most because Penner spent his first two seasons in Edmonton being beaten more than a rented mule.

"You try to build walls around you, but let's just say there were some interesting times," he said.

Penner joined the Oilers in the summer of 2007 as a restricted free agent after winning a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks. He signed a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet his former club did not have the cap space to match, forcing Anaheim to reluctantly accept a package of draft picks as compensation.

The deal was controversial because of the inflationary impact it had on the salary structure for players coming out of their entry-level contracts, and it sparked a nasty public war of words between Penner's former general manager, Brian Burke, and the one who signed him, Kevin Lowe. A third-year player and only 25 at the time, Penner found himself stuck in the middle and, more important, under increased pressure to perform for an organization that seemed to go out on a limb to sign him.

"He got caught in a situation that had a lot of different angles," Oilers defenseman Sheldon Souray said. "You can spin it any way you want, but for two years he had a bunch of critics for all the wrong reasons.

"When everyone sets you up to fail, it's hard to live up to expectations."

Penner didn't start off badly in Edmonton, scoring 23 goals in his first season. But the follow-up campaign was generally a disaster as Penner dropped to 17 goals and found himself in former coach Craig MacTavish's dog house.

"He's not competitive enough or fit enough to help us, so why put him back in?" MacTavish told reporters one time after making Penner a healthy scratch. "We signed him to be a top-two-line player and that's kind of where it ended. The difference was we thought the contract was a starting point, and he's viewed it as a finish line."

Apparently, MacTavish wasn't the only one in Edmonton who felt that way. The Oilers shopped Penner through much of last season and actually traded him to Ottawa in July in a deal that Dany Heatley ultimately vetoed by using his no-movement clause. Penner said he shrugged it off as part of the business, but he came into camp in the best shape of his career -- with a "me-against-the-world attitude," according to Souray -- and has yet to cool off from his blazing start to the season.

"It's not like I went to a skill development camp for a couple of hours and all of a sudden was a better player. The game was always inside of me," Penner said. "The thing is you have to bring it out and to do that, you have to have the right people around you."

For Penner, the right person has apparently been new coach Pat Quinn, who has earned a reputation as a players' coach during his 20-year career with four other teams. Penner said the atmosphere Quinn has created has made him comfortable and confident, the factors he believes are most responsible for him producing points at twice the rate he has at any time during his career.

"Last year was tough because of all the negativity, so it was nice to get a clean slate and not have anyone look over your shoulder every time you make a mistake," Penner said. "Pat really understands the mental part of the game and how to handle it."

That might be one reason Penner says he is thinking the game better these days, moving his feet faster, anticipating plays and avoiding some of the tentative approaches that hindered him in the past. And that has made him a pleasant surprise for Quinn, who was prepared to deal with a player who was sulking about his situation.

"I was given an indication that he might be problematic, but that has not been the case at all," Quinn said. "He wants to do important things, things to be a leader and that's helped him stay on top of his game. His level of play has been very consistent."