Pittsburgh Penguins Line Combinations To Start the 2015-16 Season

Mar 29, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center

(71) skates with the puck around San Jose Sharks left wing

(89) during the first period at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Second Line: Plotnikov-Malkin-Kessel

Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel will both be in the top 10 for scoring at the end of the 82 game regular season. That is an incredibly bold statement made by many fans, but definitely not out of the realm of possibilities. Kessel on the same line as Malkin would be deadly. We saw what Evgeni Malkin and James Neal did together not too long ago. Malkin thrives with a sniper on his line and that is exactly what Phil Kessel will bring to this team.

The giant question mark of this line is what in the world will Plotnikov bring to the Pittsburgh Penguins? Is he a younger version of Chris Kunitz? Another Beau Bennett on the roster? All the scouting reports are out there about this guy, but we won’t know how he fits into the team and the NHL until the season starts. For all we know, he could be a bust as a top-9 forward.

Many are in favor of putting Chris Kunitz on this line, while sending the un-proven Plotnikov to the third line, but I disagree. Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz have a history of playing well together while Crosby was injured, but they have not played much together over the past year, which could lead to inconsistency. While that may not seem like a big deal to some, it is with players like Geno, who tend to get very frustrated when things are not going his way. Plotnikov and Kunitz could easily switch.