Team: 2023-24 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Aug. 10, 2023

Published: Aug. 10, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Let’s talk about what we think the lines are gonna be.

1st line:

I considered the idea of putting one of the various depth options such as Johnsson/plitlick ect on the Crosby line, but I figured that as Crosby gets older it makes sense to maximize him by putting the best possible wingers with him. Although I am a big fan of spreading the talent and not just putting the 6 best forwards in the top 6 because.

2nd line:

nylander looked very promising on Malkins wing in a small sample size last year. Pushing rust down spreads some talent around. Smith would complement nylander/Malkin well because he is such a two way threat: he can be the trigger man on this line while also insulating them defensively.

3rd line:

it looks like eller is gonna be the 3C. I don’t hate him but I would have preferred some other guys, including Puis Suter at a lower $, but I do get the appeal of eller. Eller needs some offense on his line for it to be a good one. Rust and johnsson should be able to provide that.

The first big question of the lineup is 3LW. I put johnsson because he has the highest potential to put up points and has some of the most previous success. There are no shortage of options though. Hinostoza could be reunited with his good friend in Rust. Pitlick could also put up numbers. Tatar would be ideal for the purpose of this ACGM I didn’t sign any forwards. Poulin and puustinen deserve consideration.

4th line:

I feel really good about this 4th line. they are fast. O’Connor is big and Acciari plays big. All could realistically score 10+ goals. It’s not impossible for someone else to take Nietos spot, but since he got a 2 year deal and is very solid defensively I think he will get it.

First pair:

I put graves/Letang together because pettersson is better defensively so he should go with Karlsson since he is the worst defensively. Also keeping the country man together. Letang/graves are first pair as they will play against harder competetion, but I expect them to get just as much ice time as the other pairing.

Pair 2:

Pettersson and Karlsson are both Swedes who have complete opposites play styles, in theory it should make for the perfect pairing, right?

3rd pair:

POJ earned a spot last year. I really like his game. The question is 3RD. I signed Jones just to say I really like his game and he is better than anyone we have if we can get him for cheap $. If we don’t get Jones, I would rank the remaining options as follows: ruhwedel, Friedman, smith, butcher.

Goalies:

I think we all know what we have in Jarry. Very skilled, yet injury prone and inconsistent. If things go perfectly he could be a Vezina finalist, but if things go poorly it could be disastrous.

Ned is a bit more of an unknown. Looked like a future stud when he almost won the Calder a couple years ago in front of an excellent canes defence, but looked awful in front of a bad Detroit defence. Id expect him to improve in front a of a better d core. Who knows what his ceiling is?

PP:

I am falling in love with the idea of 2 PP units that split time.

- the powerplay badly needs a shakeup, it was so stale last year. Karlsson will provide that, but this will take it a step forward.

-simply, we have enough skilled players to do it. Makes sure everyone gets some Pp time.

- specifically in the cases of nylander and POJ, they have skill sets of players who should see PP time, but with the typical system they wouldn’t get any and would be under utilized, this way they get some reps in with our best players and get to really play their game.

Why these units? The number one thing is that I want Crosby running one unit, and Karlsson running the other unit. They are the 2 players with the highest hockey iq and passing ability and should both have the puck constantly running through their hands. From there I just added the players to complement them. Both got the players they have chemistry with. Both units have trigger men: guentzel and rakell on one and smith and geno on the other. I really hope this will give rakell the chance to be a sniper and let some one Ts go, since he doesn’t really get the chance as that’s Genos role. Geno and Karlsson running their unit will have so much swagger.

These units will share time but if one unit is outplaying the other they can be the true PP1 until they lose it.

PK: