The bid for three straight Stanley Cups starts tonight with the Penguins banner ceremony at center ice. The first game of the year will be up against the St. Louis Blues.
There is going to be a lot of talk surrounding the three-peat, but I would pump the brakes on that and focus on some short term goals. While many projections have the Penguins remaining the favorite to win the Cup I am staring at a bottom six forward group that is really bad on paper.
Lines at #Pens practice:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 3, 2017
Guentzel-Crosby-Sheary
Rust-Malkin-Kessel
Hagelin-McKegg-Kuhnhackl
Wilson-Rowney-Reaves
(Archibald)
-MC
It will improve as the season goes on. There is a zero percent chance that this is what Jim Rutherford stays with. He said as much today
The McKegg era might not last long. GMJR is still looking into a trade for a third-line center. Read about it here: https://t.co/oCAQGoVI94
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) October 4, 2017
“I'm okay with this roster going into the season,… Rutherford said. “But I also recognize that, at some point, we're going to have to look at the third line. It doesn't necessarily mean McKegg or (Carter) Rowney will be out. It just means that they may get moved around.…“In order to get to where we all want to get, we'll need to strengthen that area,… he said. “When the time comes, we'll do that.…
Speaking of third line centers the Blues aren't exactly coming strong with theirs either. Oskar Sundqvist is slated to take that role tonight. There isn't anything from Sundqvist's professional sample that makes me think the Penguins will regret trading him, just what they received in return. Chris Thorburn is apparently still in the league and will be playing tonight as well.
However, for now the Penguins are going to have to find a way to earn some points in the standings. They have more high end players than most and appear to have a really good goalie. That can steal you points even if your roster is not complete. One thing working against the Penguins is the division they play in. The Metropolitan Division is no joke. Points won't come easy in the division. The more points Pittsburgh can earn the less likely a panic trade will occur.
For this to happen Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are going to need to be the same players they've been forever. I don't see that being a problem. Injury is the only variable that concerns me with those two.
Another concern facing the Penguins this season is that they rode some impressive shooting and save percentages on the way to the Stanley Cup last year. Even with their full roster (Letang included) they did not fare nearly as well on the possession front. They were not a good defensive team last year
AKA: Do we get 1.7 xGA/60 or 2.5 xGA/60? That's the crux of the thing, for me.
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) October 4, 2017
One area that I think you will see improvement is with Olli Maatta. I believe quality of teammate will drive that improvement. There is a good chance that Justin Schultz will have the same positive impact on Maatta that Matt Niskanen had in what seems like a different lifetime ago. Trevor Daley was poison to Maatta last year. Brian Dumoulin is going to get quite the upgrade going from Ron Hainsey to Kris Letang and that makes up a workable top four defense grouping. Ian Cole in a bottom pairing role is a nice luxury for the Penguins. Matt Hunwick just needs to avoid being terrible.
Enjoy the ceremony.
The season starts tomorrow 🏒 #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/ur9NgC10e0
— Evgeni Malkin (@malkin71_) October 3, 2017
Mike Lange: "Tonight marks the start of a fight to return Lord Stanley's Cup to the Steel City once again." pic.twitter.com/JBv3wAk3DV
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 4, 2017
Thanks for reading!