Penguins/NHL
Home Opener | 
Blackhawks @ 
Penguins 8:00 P.M. |
‘Get Rolling’
The Kyle Dubas hire, splash trade of Erik Karlsson and more roster upheaval (8 newcomers will dress tonight) has accomplished the off-season goal of breathing optimism into a stale hockey club that not only missed the playoffs last season after an implosion in the final week of the season but is looking to win a playoff round for the first time since 2018.
There’s a sense of energy in the organization not seen for a number of years. “Now it gets up to us as a group and up to the team to turn that optimism into an earned confidence,” Penguins GM Kyle Dubas said Monday in his season opener press conference of the Penguins starting fast to the season and building off a successful camp.
Aside from the obvious Sidney Crosby vs Conor Bedard matchup, the NHL’s marketing team got this one right for once, it’s fitting Pittsburgh embarks on this season of where internally the organization feels they have a club that can win multiple rounds, against the Blackhawks where in reality more heads should have probably rolled for the embarrassing display the Penguins put on the ice that night back in April.
In an Eastern Conference that is much deeper than the Western Conference with 11 or so playoff level teams, a fast start to the season is vastly important for the Penguins to build off this sense of optimism the organization has:
“I think last year, the group here found out full well how important every single point is, and so starting Tuesday we have a chance to start to try to put those on board and get rolling,” said Dubas. “The standard that’s set here, when you walk in every day is that the group expects that they’re going to win each day, and that they’re going to stack all those days on top of the other, and that’s going to lead to contending and winning the Stanley Cup,” Dubas said. “That’s the only thing that’s talked about here.”
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Top Storylines Entering 2023-2023
- All About Erik Karlsson — You don’t go out and acquire Erik Karlsson, the reigning and three-time Norris Trophy Winner, and not cater things to him systematically. Karlsson is a unique player that you can’t just say go out — ‘play our system and figure it out’. — Well, some coaches and evaluators view Karlsson as a fourth forward on the ice, Karlsson is a big test for Mike Sullivan to maximize Karlsson’s offensive prowess 5-on-5. Elsewhere to that point, a start has been Sullivan not playing into the egos and handing the reigns to Karlsson on the power play.
“His pedigree speaks for itself,” Dubas said of his big addition in adding Karlsson. “To see how prepared, he was and what focus each day to get himself ready for practice, for games has been quite impressive.”
A sidebar to Karlsson is how will Kris Letang handle Karlsson taking offensive situations away from him? — The Penguins having Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson on the ice 80% of the time is quite tantalizing. A concern in the organization from those who have been around Letang for years is it may take Letang sometime or worst case scenario he may never truly embrace not being the defacto #1 offensive defenseman on the team and it affects him in other areas. There’s nothing wrong with Sprinkling in Letang as an option with Karlsson on the top unit from time to time but Pittsburgh’s power play will go as Karlsson goes. Best case scenario for the Penguins is a bit of a pipe dream but if Letang embraces a less aggressive style with the pinching and catapults into a true shutdown role with pressure gone of having to shoulder the offensive load on the backend, it would pay dividends to this team doing some serious damage in 2023-2024.
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2. Tristan Jarry — The Penguins bet big on Tristan Jarry and in quick time last June head coach Mike Sullivan sold Kyle Dubas that Jarry is a Stanley Cup capable goaltender. The Penguins can certainly win with Jarry. The question with Jarry that isn’t going away is whether he’s built to handle the work load the true elite #’s can handle year in and year out. Some just aren’t built for it.
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3. Bottom-6 Biggest Wildcard/Most glaring Hole on the Roster — Pittsburgh’s top-4 on the blueline is drastically improved with Ryan Graves replacing Brian Dumoulin and the obvious addition of Erik Karlsson. The top-6 is about the same with Jason Zucker/Reilly Smith swap, though, some could argue against it as the core of the group is a year older.
We know what we’re going to get from Sidney Crosby if healthy. Elite level 200 ft game with 80+ points; Jake Guentzel in a contract year will be Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell should have another high 20’s, low 30’s goals season with 60 points if he stays on the number 1 unit. What the Penguins need is no drop off from Evgeni Malkin and who really knows what you’ll get from him at his age and last year might have been a mirage that could give up 75+ games. Where Malkin may do serious damage is on the power play with Karlsson at the helm. The wildcard of the top-6 is Bryan Rust. The Penguins internal models stated Rust should have potted around 28-29 goals. That’s the type of production the Penguins will need from him this season.
A fascinating part with the roster is the building of the bottom-6 where it’s a group the Penguins feel they are much improved in the puck pursuit game but on paper it lacks individual 1-on-1 offense. It’s more of a group the Penguins feel that isn’t going to hurt them at any point which was the point in the type of players, pairings they’ve put together.
The Penguins roster is built for the top-6 forwards, top-4 D-men and Number 1 power play to be very good to elite, while the rest of the roster rounds out the edges. We will find out if that strategy still works with the NHL’s oldest roster.
Right now on paper the Penguins are one or two top-9 level players short from comfort. Does Drew O’Connor become that missing link? We will see but that’s the major area of concern with the revamp roster. The Penguins look short a skilled forward or two in the top-9 especially if one or two players in the top-6 get injured or don’t carry their own of the bargain offensively.
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