Here we are. The 2019-20 season will begin tonight against the visiting Buffalo Sabres. The more things change the more some things remain the same. It would be great to start the year off discussing positive roster changes and how this year’s team will be different, but for the most part things are exactly the way they were.
Full attendance at #Pens morning skate. Workflow:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 3, 2019
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Galchenyuk-Malkin-Tanev
McCann-Bjugstad-Kahun
Aston-Reese-Blueger-Simon
Dumoulin-Letang
Johnson-Schultz
Pettersson-Gudbranson
Ruhwedel, Riikola and Marino are rotating.
-MC
The top line should be good. Things are always good for Crosby. He will get a full helping of Jake Guentzel and Kris Letang. As for Evgeni Malkin he is getting a raw deal again, at least to start the season. He has a poor man’s Kessel on his left wing and a probable fourth liner on his right wing. The Johnson-Schultz pairing he is likely to sync up with isn’t going to do any better than they did last year.
The third line is missing Simon and Hornqvist which was a great possession line last year when they were centered by Nick Bjugstad. The fourth line should be better now that Matt Cullen is retired, but Dominik Simon seems miscast for this role. Dominik Simon has more to give than being on the fourth line, but as long as Tanev is in the top six somebody is going to be playing down in the lineup.
It is only game one so there will be many changes over the course of the season. I just find it disappointing that they are going back to things that objectively held the team back last year. Bold move, cotton.
We are going to see the Penguins power play for the first time without Phil Kessel in a long time. Here was their set up
Penguins power play at morning skate:
— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) October 3, 2019
Letang (point), Crosby (left wall), Malkin (right circle), Hornqvist (net front), Guentzel (hash mark).
Having Sid on the half wall is fine. Having him on the left half wall? I can’t say I’m a huge fan of this. I’ll have to see how they go about attacking their 2 on 1’s but having Crosby flip between the right half wall and the goal line on his off wing is and will always be the best way to get the most offensive production out of him on the power play. I’ll be curious how long they use both Guentzel and Hornqvist on the same power play unit and how soon they utilize both Letang and Schultz at the same time.
It will also be interesting to see how they break the puck out on the power play breakout. I happen to really like the drop pass approach they have used the last few years. A big part of why that worked was having Phil Kessel on the ice being able to skate the puck. I think Crosby and Malkin are both able to play that role. The tricky part is replacing Crosby or Malkin on the wall near the blue line on the zone entries. When the drop pass recipient kicks the puck over to blue line spot on the wall the player receiving that pass is flat footed. Crosby and Malkin can gain entry while flat footed because they are elite. Jake Guentzel might be able to. Patric Hornqvist? Get real.
As for the Buffalo Sabres they will look like this
#Sabres lines and defense pairs:
— Heather Engel (@engelheather) October 3, 2019
Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart
Skinner-Johansson-Sobotka
Vesey-Mittelstadt-Sheary
Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo
McCabe-Ristolainen
Dahlin-Miller
Scandella-Jokiharju
Extras: Rodrigues, Gilmour
There are some improvements to the roster, but nothing significant. They are still trying to recover from their awful Ryan O’Reilly trade. Terry Pegula’s money has been great as a means to keep the teams in Buffalo. When he meddles with the roster things haven’t gone quite as well. His reluctance to pay O’Reilly’s signing bonus was a huge variable in why the Sabres got the deal they did. It was rushed and without leverage. Not a great combo when you are trading a Conn Smythe caliber player away.
Brandon Montour will be out 3-4 weeks and his injury is a big reason why Rasmus Ristolainen is still on the Sabres. Ristolainen had a high perceived value a few years ago. In fact, the Sabres were rumored to be offered Taylor Hall(!) for Ristolainen and Tim Murray declined. Whoops! Now they have waited too long and will probably not get the return they could have for what amounts to a power play specialist.
A player to watch tonight is Victor Olofsson. He has a great shot and had a wonderful year in Rochester for the Americans last year. One of the Sabres mistakes last year was continuing to play bad veterans and not use players like Olofsson and Lawrence Pilut.
Vladimir Sobotka on the second line is embarrassing. He has the potential to drag down both Jeff Skinner and Sabres newcomer Marcus Johansson.
The Sabres third line is interesting because Sheary and Vesey are fine complimentary players. The key is Casey Mittelstadt. He was underwhelming last year in his 20 year old campaign. The Sabres really need center depth and Mittelstadt’s development is looming large.
I think the Penguins are catching a break with Evan Rodrigues out of the lineup. He’s very quick and I think he can impact the game more than Kyle Okposo at this stage.
Thanks for reading!