The Pittsburgh Penguins enter the 2022-2023 NHL season with high expectations once again. Pittsburgh has not won a playoff series in the last four years. They had a 3-1 series lead against the New York Rangers before blowing it. To their defense, Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith were injured in the net and had to rely on third-string goalie Louis Domingue.
However, head coach Mike Sullivan received a contract extension this offseason and Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin were brought back. The band with them and Sidney Crosby will be around for the next few years.
General manager Ron Hextall/President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke deserves a ton of credit for this offseason. It’s now or never with this franchise though. The Penguins made some changes this offseason on the backend. Mike Matheson, John Marino, and Evan Rodrigues did not return this season. Jeff Petry, Jan Rutta, and Ty Smith are the newcomers. What will the potential lines look like this season for them?
Line 1: Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Line 2: Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell
Line 3: Danton Heinen-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Line 4: Drew O’Connor-Teddy Blueger-Brock McGinn
13th forward: Josh Archibald
Defense 1: Kris Letang-Brian Dumoulin
Defense 2: Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
Defense 3: Ty Smith-Jan Rutta
7th and 8th defensemen: Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Freidman
Goalie 1: Tristan Jarry
Goalie 2: Casey DeSmith
Third Goalie: Dustin Tokarski
Other players/prospects to watch for in training camp: Nathan Legare (F), Filip Lindberg (G), Pierre-Olivier Joseph (D), Owen Pickering (D), Ryan Poehling (F), Sam Poulin (F), Valterri Puustinen (F), Lukas Svejkovsky (F), and Radim Zohorna (F).
At the current moment, the Pittsburgh Penguins are currently $1.4 million over the cap and they have to get under the cap before the season begins. We will see who performs what during training camp. There could be some surprising names in training camp. Training camp starts on Thursday and the first regular season begins on Thursday, October 13th against the Arizona Coyotes at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will put their 16 consecutive postseason appearance streak on the line this season, but they should make it once again in the Metropolitan Division. The new ownership group in Fenway Sports Group, is expecting a title of the Pittsburgh Penguins.