The 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins season has officially started!
With the Pittsburgh Penguins officially hitting the ice, everyone will be watching them as they quest for a three-peat.
But every season has it’s unexpected ups and downs. What could this season bring?
In this week’s version of Penguins Talk, we thought we’d prep for the beginning of the season by giving our boldest predictions.
Matthew Rodrigopulle
Honestly, my boldest prediction for this season is that last year’s rookie sensation Jake Guentzel will have a huge year. And by huge year, I mean he’ll score AT LEAST 65 points.
Pittsburgh Penguins /
Pittsburgh Penguins
Call me crazy, but he’s looking like he has all the potential in the world right now. Let’s just take a look at last season for reference. A rookie Jake Guentzel put up 33 points in 40 games with the Pens. If he had played a full season close to 80 games, he’d be on pace for 66 points.
Now obviously people are going to say it’s because he played with Sidney Crosby, but that’s exactly the point. He’s going to be playing on the exact same line as last season and he’s going to be playing with much more experience.
He was nearly a point-per-game player in the playoffs, scoring 21 points in 25 games, which included a league-leading 13 goals.
Guentzel has been making an insane amount of progress. At the rate he’s been improving, I think I’ll go with my chances with this bold prediction.
Conor Sherman
With the season already started, the penguins have seemed to have not made a trade to cover the third and fourth line centers. Greg McKegg and Carter Rowney filled those voids in game 1 of 82.
This is going to be a big season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Despite sloppy defence in the the first 60 minutes, the Penguins should piece together a 50 win season.
The Penguins have undoubtably the best offense in the league. With that, I think it is only going to get better. Although McKegg looks like he earned the third line center gig, I think GM Jim Rutherford has something coming for us.
With Duchene, MacKinnon, and Gabriel Landeskog all still available, it looks like the Penguins could still land one of them. If they were to, I think Carl Hagelin would be a main piece in the trade. Hagelin is a 29 year old swedish left winger who has won the Stanley Cup the past two years. Hagelin is to make four million dollars in each of the next two seasons.
The Colorado Avalanche are also in need of a Goalie.Penguins prospect goalie Filip Gustavsson could also be a part of the deal. The Organization really admires Gustavsson but with Murray and Jarry all being within a couple of years with each other, there is no reason to keep all three goalies. Penguin fans know how much the team loves to give away draft picks and that could also be a part in the deal.
It is an agreement that both teams could help out both team tremendously if reached.
The Penguins could really secure a trip back to the Eastern Conference Final with an addition like that.
Jordan Tye
As the season has officially commenced with the raising of the fifth Stanley Cup banner in Penguins history, I have three bold (somewhat) predictions for the Pittsburgh Penguins 2017-2018 Season.
1) Sidney Crosby WILL win the Hart Trophy this year.
Pretty bold right? Well considering every media outlet, both North of the border and South of it, has come to the general consensus that Connor McDavid is now the best player in the NHL, it seems this would be a bold prediction after all.
As bewildered as I am that the majority of hockey fans are accepting this as well, it seems as though people have already forgotten that Sidney Crosby is coming off of back to back Conn Smythe Awards with his complete, 200 foot game being the main reasoning behind his 2016 win, while playing a major factor in his 2017 Conn Smythe win. Sidney Crosby is one of the best competitors in all of sports, let alone hockey and if you think us Penguins faithful are a little irked at our Captain being overlooked like this, what do you think the Captain himself is thinking or feeling? We all know quietly, in the back of Sid’s mind, he wants that Hart to hush the crowd of doubters and I believe he attains it this season once again.
2) Jim Rutherford WILL NOT address the third line center issue until the trade deadline.
As much as I’ve heard Rutherford say on multiple occasions that they have deals on the table to acquire a center, I don’t believe any option available right now is adequate enough to fill the gap left by Nick Bonino, which is why we haven’t seen Rutherford pull the trigger yet. As the season progresses and teams in both the East and West fall out of contention, more names will be made available on the market and that is when I believe we will see Rutherford acquire Bonino’s replacement, rental or not.
3) Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin WILL NOT finish the season on the same line.
I know, I know, after last night’s performance that really isn’t bold to say but I still believe a lot of the Penguins fan base believe that somehow, someway Phil Kessel will find his groove in our top 6 and well, I’m here to tell you it’s not going to happen.
What made Kessel so effective in Toronto? He was the possession guy on his line due to the fact that no one he was playing with was even close to the caliber of a Sidney Crosby or an Evgeni Malkin. In Toronto, Kessel didn’t just carry the play, he WAS the play but the biggest issue former Leafs coaches Randy Carlyle and Ron Wilson had with Kessel is far more glaring when he is paired with Malkin; Phil Kessel is a defensive liability.
I really, truly believe that if we are ever discussing Kessel’s downfall in Pittsburgh, if he ever leaves like the rumors were hinting towards in the summer, it won’t be his consistently dropping goal totals or shooting percentage season by season, it will be his play away from the puck that determines his future in Pittsburgh.
