Early line combos see Penguins following reliable formula in camp | TribLIVE.com
TribLive Logo
| Back | Text Size:
https://naviga.triblive.com/sports/the-penguins-are-following-a-reliable-formula-in-forming-lines/

Early line combos see Penguins following reliable formula in camp

Seth Rorabaugh
| Saturday, September 24, 2022 6:01 a.m.
AP
Forwards Evgeni Malkin (left) and Bryan Rust have been linemates on a somewhat regular basis throughout their time with the Penguins.

The third full day of training camp is too early to start making much out of line combinations for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

To wit, the hodgepodge trio of Josh Archibald, Radim Zohorna and Jason Zucker probably won’t see the light of day in a game of consequence despite offering a world of potential hijinks with regards to a line name given the first initials of their surnames.

But through the initial stages of this camp, the Penguins are deploying segments of lines that have a level of familiarity.

In other words, they have teamed two forwards who have a history with one another and are experimenting with the third player.

Longtime linemates Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel again have been arc-welded onto one another and are skating with intriguing prospect Valtteri Puustinen.

Meanwhile, the tried-and-true twosome of Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust has been hitched to veteran journeyman Drake Caggiula, a free-agent signing this past offseason.

Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen, who showed tinges of chemistry on occasion last season, worked with another prospect in Filip Hallander.

And the sturdy defensive duo of Teddy Blueger and Brock McGinn has been teamed with first-year professional Lukas Svejkovsky. By Saturday, Svejkovsky was replaced by second-year professional Nathan Legare.

It’s a tactic coach Mike Sullivan has long utilized during his time with the Penguins: Establish two-thirds of a line, then find a good fit for the final 33.3%.

“We’re trying to put guys into positions where they might play to their strengths,” Sullivan said. “For example, we have Sid and Jake together, and (Puustinen) is a guy that has real good offensive instincts. That’s a guy that potentially could play an offensive role for us, so we’re going to put him with offensive guys and see what he does.

“We’ve done the same with other guys. Filip Hallander is a guy that brings a solid two-way game but a pretty sound defensive conscience. So we’ve got him playing with (Carter and Kapanen). If Filip was to potentially make our team, that would potentially be an area where he could play. We’re trying to put guys in positions — young guys in particular — where they have an opportunity to show what they could do. But we’re also trying to develop chemistry with some of our veteran established players.”

Rust has skated with Malkin for a significant portion of his nine-year career, just not over the last two seasons. In 2020-21 and ’21-22, Rust’s most steady center in five-on-five situations has been Crosby, as they’ve logged 1,210 minutes, 45 seconds of ice time over that span, according to Natural Stat Trick.

But before that, during Rust’s breakout 2019-20 season when he reached the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career, Malkin was his most regular center, with 643:25 of common five-on-five ice time.

As malleable of a player as the Penguins ever have had, Rust, who can play both wings, knows what makes him click with Malkin, even with the gulf of two seasons since being regular linemates.

“Me and (Malkin) seem to play well together,” Rust said. “I just try to go out there, use my speed and work hard, create some space for him. He’s unbelievable at finding that space and using that space with and without the puck. But mainly with the puck to create plays and to create offense. I think we’ve done a good job in these first two scrimmages. If we continue to be together from here on out, I expect that to just continue to and grow.”

Rickard Rakell and Danton Heinen, veteran wingers who figure to be candidates for top-six duties at some point this season, have been skating with other forwards who are expected to fill bottom-six roles at the NHL level or top-six stations with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Rakell has been teamed with Drew O’Connor and Ryan Poehling, while Heinen has worked with Sam Poulin and Alex Nylander.

“Coach Sullivan and all the coaches have a plan,” Zucker said. “I feel like they do this every year at training camp and put guys in situations to succeed. Put younger guys and guys in tryout spots, put them with some great players. It will all shake out, and we’ll figure it out as we go on.”

Follow the Penguins all season long.


Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)