Though the season may be a couple months away, it’s always a good time to try and think about what the lines for the Penguins will look like next season. There were a lot of new players brought in this year by GM Jim Rutherford and this team on paper looks like it’s the best team the Penguins have had since 2009. What will the line combinations look like? Let’s find out.
Pittsburgh Penguins Line Combinations
First Line: Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Pascal Dupuis: This has been the top line for a couple seasons now and when its healthy, it’s one of the best in the NHL. Sadly, last season this line was not intact as Dupuis went down with a torn ACL early in the campaign and Crosby was forced to have players like Tanner Glass or Chuck Kobasew on his wing, which is never good. No one knows if Dupuis is going to at 100% this season, so there could be some doubt as to whether he can get back to where he was a couple seasons ago. Kunitz is a guy the Penguins can always count on to score since he’s been a 30 goal scorer each of the past couple seasons. These guys should work well with Crosby again since he’s the best player in the world.
Second Line: Beau Bennett – Evgeni Malkin – Patric Hornqvvist: Malkin is going to have some brand new wingers this season after the Penguins let Jussi Jokinen walk and then traded James Neal to Nashville. Bennett should be top six when he’s healthy but we really haven’t seen what he can do when he’s 100%. He’s been injured every season in Pittsburgh which has forced him to miss big chunks of time for the Penguins. Hornqvist is likely going to come in and make a big impact for Pittsburgh right away. He was one of the best players on the Predators and he’s due for a breakout year especially with Malkin as his center. There’s no doubt Malkin can make him a 30 or 40 goal scorer if they both have healthy seasons. These top two lines are going to be great this year.
Third Line: Nick Spaling – Brandon Sutter – Steve Downie: The third line for the Penguins looks much better than it did last year mostly because Sutter has actual quality wingers next to him. Spaling was the other piece that came over in the Nashville trade and he’s coming off his best season where he had 13 goals and 32 points for the Predators. There’s all that talk about his advanced stats being bad but I’ll reserve my judgement when I see him step out onto the ice and play in a new system with a new team. Downie is going to be good here, especially since he has Rick Tocchet as one of his coaches. When Tocchet coached him in Tampa, he had a 20 goal season. He may not get there this year but he should be close.
Fourth Line: Blake Comeau – Marcel Goc – Craig Adams/Jayson Megna: The fourth line for the Penguins also looks to be even better than it has been for the past few seasons. Comeau was a great free agent signing for depth and he should be able to easily add 10-15 goals for the club. Goc was resigned as he is a great fourth line center. We really didn’t get to see the real Goc because he was injured practically the whole time he was in Pittsburgh, which was for two months. Adams is still on the team and he really isn’t that good, so I’d put Jayson Megna as a regular in this slot because he’s a lot faster and better than Adams. This looks like the best Penguins team on paper since they won the Stanley Cup in 2009.
Stay tuned for next week, when I preview the defensive pairings for the Penguins.
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