When the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight it has potential to be an emotional night as Mark Streit plays against his former team for the first time, or not.
What will happen is that Mark Streit will make his Penguins debut and this is how the defense pairings played out this morning
#Pens D-pairs (Letang is not out there):
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) March 3, 2017
Dumoulin-Schultz
Streit-Hainsey
Cole-Ruhwedel
Pouliot was taking rushes with Rowney.
-MC
I like the idea of trying out Schultz with Brian Dumoulin. Schultz has done well with Ian Cole and Dumoulin is a better version of that. Also, there aren't really a lot of great options to take over Kris Letang's role. Schultz probably has the best chance to at least make up for some of the offense.
The newcomers will be paired together which will be interesting to watch.
Ian Cole will team up with Chad Ruhwedel leaving Derrick Pouliot in the press box. Might as well have kept Cameron Gaunce up with the team if that is going to be a regular thing. Jim Rutherford spoke about how Pouliot had been getting "traction" down in the AHL and wanted him to build on that success. Taking him from that and press boxing him kinda contradicts that idea. It's only one game and it isn't a pattern yet, but no matter where you stand on Pouliot the NHL press box is the last place he should be.
Kris Letang was nowhere to be found. He will continue to miss game action. There is a trend between Letang finishing games and then missing extended time. This is the fourth time in the last two seasons it has happened.
As for the forwards
#Pens lines at morning skate:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) March 3, 2017
Kunitz-Crosby-Sheary
Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist
Guentzel-Bonino-Kessel
Kuhnhackl-Cullen-Wilson
-MC
My initial reaction is that I don't like Jake Guentzel being taken away from Sidney Crosby. However, that third line hasn't done much in a while and this is definitely Mike Sullivan's way of trying to balance the lines. That line balance is what drove the Penguins to a championship. I'm not in love with it, but I can understand the process of how the lines were formed.
When Bryan Rust eventually makes his return a fourth line of Wilson-Cullen-Rust would be a definite upgrade over the KFC line from the playoff run last year.
Matt Murray will start in goal.
If nothing else Pittsburgh is an interesting team to watch. The pace of their games is among the league's best.
"Pace"
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) March 3, 2017
Tor has led all year with Pit and Dal nearby.
Stl and Njd are so...slow... pic.twitter.com/Lptse0TUtN
Not too surprising that some of the more entertaining games this year have been against Toronto.
Pittsburgh didn't exactly drive the price up on Kevin Shattenkirk. That much was obvious from the return the Blues got. Capitals GM Brian MacLellan confirms. Courtesy of Elliotte Friedman's 30 thoughts
Post-deadline 30 Thoughts: https://t.co/5XW9NqJbIH
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 3, 2017
23. MacLellan said talks started Sunday and got serious Monday. There were multiple reports Pittsburgh was also swirling around Shattenkirk, but he said Washington ignored those. “We didn’t know who was in. We made the decision to trade for him not because of what might happen externally, but what’s best for our team.… Their most serious internal discussions were how the rest of the roster would be affected. “If we get Shattenkirk, how are we going to manage our guys? Some players lose minutes, some lose power-play time, some won’t play as many games. You have to get guys to buy in to make worth it our time.… Going for the Stanley Cup, doesn’t that make guys buy in? “You hope so, but you never know.…
Here is a little info on Marc-Andre Fleury
28. Calgary inquired on Marc-Andre Fleury a few weeks ago, but I don’t think it was anywhere near close. For one thing, getting him to go there might take an off-season trip, because it’s somewhere he’s unfamiliar with. Second, I don’t see the match on an in-season trade. I take Jim Rutherford at face value when he says his preference was to keep Fleury as Matt Murray injury insurance. Like Duchene and Landeskog, the market may be larger after the season. Fleury may also be willing to expand his list of potential destinations since he just wants to play.
I think Calgary would be making a mistake going in a Fleury direction. They will have plenty of other options in the offseason. Goalies like Scott Darling, Ben Bishop, Steve Mason, Jaro Halak, and Ryan Miller should all be available. Calgary would get to mold the contract for how they see fit.
Thanks for reading!