For a minute there it looked like the Penguins were heading past the deadline with Anthony Beaulieu as their only deadline day acquisiont. Thankfully, that was not the case. The Penguins were able to acquire Rickard Rakell from the Anaheim Ducks at the buzzer. I think this was a necessary move for the team. Rakell is a former two-time 30 goal scorer who has shown the ability to finish. The Penguins have a finishing problem. The more guys with a history of scoring the better. This isn’t to say he is still a 30 goal caliber player because he hasn’t done so in four years. He is an improvement on what they had and what they had was in my estimation not good enough. This team has been bounced the last three years in round one and the biggest issue was their inability to score. I like this dart throw.
Zach Aston-Reese, Dominik Simon, a prospect and 2022 second-round pick apparently the return to ANA from PIT on Rickard Rakell. Trade call not yet done so nothing official just yet.
— Bobby Margarita (@TSNBobMcKenzie) March 21, 2022
There’s nothing here I really care about. The second-round pick is nothing burger at this stage of the Penguins arch. I don’t even care what prospect because the Penguins don’t really have any. Zach-Aston Reese is a 1.75M player who is a blackhole for offense. I think his defensive acumen is overrated because I think the models overrate defensive impact. Dominik Simon literally can’t finish and the team has a finishing problem. This is a classic EA Sports trade where you just keep adding pieces until they accept the deal with none of the pieces being all that noteworthy. Yes, Rickard is a potential rental, but whatever. The Penguins needed to add something and they did.
So what do the Penguins get in Rickard Rakell? Here’s a quick glance before we get into more detail.
I don’t care about the low defensive impacts. It isn’t why he was brought in. I like seeing the blue in the offensive categories. The finishing is low and I’ll get to that later.
Here are some of the microstats for Rakell
He’s not much for zone exits and entries. He’s not much for passing. He is a shooter and a shooter is what they need. When you think about Evgeni Malkin (or Sidney Crosby) doing what they do and giving the puck to someone with Rakell’s mentality I think you’ll start to see the old 30 goal Rakell show up because when he’s played with a great playmaking center he’s done very well.
There was a nice comparison I saw online from Corey Sznajder on who Rakell reminds him of
Always wondered what Thomas Vanek would look like on a line with Crosby. Rakell will be close.
— Corey Sznajder (@ShutdownLine) March 21, 2022
There’s definitely some value in having a Thomas Vanek on your team. The centers might have to do some heavy lifting to make up for the lack of skating, but get that kind of player the puck in dangerous areas and positive things will happen. Corey literally watches every game so for him to make the comparison has a lot of credibility. Corey added the following
There will be 5-10 Ducks games in a row where I do not notice Rakell at all. Then he'll make some incredibly patient play with the puck to score a big goal out of a nothing play or create a chance around the net that only a handful of players can do. PIT's a nice landing spot.
— Corey Sznajder (@ShutdownLine) March 21, 2022
So what happened in Anaheim? Why isn’t he the 30 goal guy anymore? Quality of teammate matters...
This is his sample from 2016-18 where he had his back to back 30 goal years. He was riding shotgun with a still very effective Ryan Getzlaf, one of the best passers in the league, as well as a still functional Corey Perry. Not a bad situation to be in. Also, Rakell took advantage and produced when given those linemates.
Over the next few years Rakell continued to play with Ryan Getzlaf, but Ryan Getzlaf was not the same player he once was. Let’s see if we can find a correlation between Rakell’s goal scoring and Getzlaf’s aging curve
And there it is. Rakell, a player who relies on a great playmaking center to do the things he does, saw his playmaking center decline in ability. In Pittsburgh...
Rakell is going to get the help he had during his 30 goal years again with the likes of Crosby and Malkin. He is a complementary piece which is fine because that is all the Penguins needed. A piece that can play up in the lineup and take advantage of the positive things both Sid and Geno do. This pushes other players down the lineup and forces out other players who otherwise would have been in. It allows players like Jason Zucker and Even Rodrigues to potentially drop down and play on a third line with Jeff Carter. Teddy Blueger and Brock McGinn are a nice duo for the 4th line and then you have a healthy competition for the remaining spot. I don’t think Mike Sullivan has to reunite Guentzel-Crosby-Rust, but he feasibly could now that there’s some extra top six help. Personally, I’d like to see what Rakell could do with Sid to start and then return to the known commodity, if need be.
Throughout the course of the day it was looking like I wasn’t going to have much nice to say about the Penguins deadline day. That was until Ron Hextall pulled off what I believe to be a very nice trade right at the literal deadline. It was a good piece of business and makes the Penguins a more dangerous out in the playoffs. Good job.
And if you weren't sold on the move from all the reasons above how about this one
Rickard Rakell has a dog named HEINZ? pic.twitter.com/JmFXiCDIpW
— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) March 21, 2022
Thanks for reading!