The Pittsburgh Penguins were not shy about playing their best players last night against the St. Louis Blues. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, and Kris Letang were all in the lineup. It is a very rare occurrence for both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to play in the same preseason game.
The star power was not good enough to earn the win. Losing a preseason game isn’t a big deal. It doesn’t mean anything, but you can still learn things about your team. One thing to take away from last night’s game is that until certain trades are made the Penguins bottom six depth is going to put a lot of pressure on the big guns.
The center depth as constructed is simply not good enough. The team knows this and will attempt to shore that up. Seeing just how woeful it was only intensifies the search. Pittsburgh would probably still make the playoffs with their current roster, but they are in a very tough division and anything can happen. They would not be able to overcome a Crosby and/or Malkin injury like they have in the past. Carter Rowney is not going to save the day.
Jake Guentzel has not slowed down from last year. He led the “Da Beauty League” in scoring up in Minnesota this summer and I believe he is near the top of the leaderboard for preseason scoring. He has one of the best contracts in the league. He is going to be a tremendous player for the Penguins hopefully for many years to come.
Ryan Reaves failed on a few breakout attempts and found himself chasing hits. That will have to be cleaned up before the regular season begins. The team needs functional forwards on all lines.
Today the Penguins will visit Detroit’s brand new Little Ceasar’s Arena. Here is the lineup they will be going with
A far cry from last night’s star power.
Three players to watch tonight:
Daniel Sprong
The more we can see him play against other professionals the better. His development process hasn’t been ideal and we can finally start to learn more about him against proper competition.
Olli Maatta
Can he continue to play solid hockey as he has done so far this preseason. This is a huge year for him. The team can’t afford to have the mediocre version of Maatta again this year. Helping his cause is that Trevor Daley will be on the other team tonight. That pairing was a tire fire. Quality of teammate matters and perhaps losing Daley will propel Maatta back to the quality of play he was at during his rookie season
Derrick Pouliot
There are rumors that Pouliot is going to be traded to the Red Wings in a deal for Riley Sheahan. Sheahan played against the Bruins with Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyqvist on his wings. Quite the upgrade from Luke Glendening. It’s almost as if Detroit is trying to showcase this player. The Red Wings are going to get a good look at Pouliot tonight in what could be his new home. This could be the last time we see Pouliot in a Penguins uniform.
Thanks for reading!
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