Predictions for Every Penguins' Participant in 2024-25

With Penguins‘ coaching camp beginning in a bit of over every week, there may be lots to stay up for because the gamers arrive in Pittsburgh to start the 2024-25 marketing campaign.

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Here’s a prediction for every Penguins’ participant vying for a roster spot this season.

Forwards

Sidney Crosby: Crosby will register his second consecutive 40-goal season however barely break Wayne Gretzky’s point-per-game seasons file with 83 factors.

Evgeni Malkin: Malkin will take a step again at five-on-five, however he shall be a drive on a new-look energy play, scoring 14 energy play objectives – his most since 2017-18.

Bryan Rust: A notoriously streaky participant, Rust can have a really gradual begin. However he’ll catch hearth within the second half, registering 20 objectives after the New Yr on his solution to a career-best 30-goal season.

Rickard Rakell: Rakell will take a couple of video games to get his bearings, however anticipate a bounceback marketing campaign. He’ll discover his type once more and end the season with 28 objectives and 57 factors, spending time with each Crosby and Malkin once more.

Michael Bunting: Bunting shall be a key cog on the Penguins’ rejuvenated energy play, however he’ll wrestle a bit mid-season five-on-five and discover some chemistry on the third line with Kevin Hayes and Cody Glass.

Drew O’Connor: O’Connor will see time up and down the lineup. He’ll begin with Crosby and get demoted when rookie Rutger McGroarty heats up, switching between the third line and the second line for the rest of the season. He would be the solely Penguins’ ahead to start out on all 4 strains all through the season.

Rutger McGroarty: McGroarty will break camp and make the roster, beginning on the crew’s third line. It’ll solely take him 10 video games to show he is able to play alongside Crosby, and he’ll end second in Calder Trophy voting whereas serving to revive the Penguins’ once-dead energy play.

Kevin Hayes: Enjoying an impressed model of hockey this season, Hayes will discover his recreation once more in Pittsburgh. Having youth on his wings will lead him to regain his 2022-23 type, registering 20 objectives and 52 factors.

Cody Glass: Glass will begin the yr robust and present some promise, however finally, he’ll fade down the stretch with an absence of consistency. By the tip of the season, he shall be out and in of the lineup in favor of different choices.

Lars Eller: Eller begins the season with the Penguins on an analogous factors tempo to final season, upping his commerce worth. With the emergence of Vasily Ponomarev and the Penguins caught in the course of the pack, he’s dealt mid-season for picks.

Blake Lizotte: By season’s finish, Lizotte shall be a fan-favorite. He’ll lead all Penguins’ forwards in hits, and he’ll rating 12 objectives to go together with it.

Noel Acciari: With the Penguins wanting to save lots of cap house and a logjam of forwards vying for roster spots, Acciari is dealt earlier than the tip of coaching camp.

Valtteri Puustinen: Puustinen earns his spot on the NHL roster, however with McGroarty’s excellent camp and subsequent roster spot, he spends an excellent portion of the season within the press field. He’s traded together with Eller earlier than the deadline.

Anthony Beauvillier: Incomes the ultimate ahead spot on the roster, Beauvillier would not see a lot time on the ice, however he’ll discover his approach into the lineup on account of damage and carry out higher than anticipated.

Vasily Ponomarev: Ponomarev begins the season within the AHL, however his spectacular work in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) – coupled with damage issues on the NHL stage – afford him an opportunity. He takes benefit and sticks round because the crew’s major fourth-line heart within the second half.

Emil Bemstrom: Bemstrom begins the season on the NHL roster after Acciari is dealt, however his stint would not final lengthy. With the emergence of Ponomarev, he’s waived, however he clears waivers and spends the remainder of the season within the AHL.

Sam Poulin: Poulin spends a lot of the yr on the AHL stage, however he earns a mid-season call-up after an excellent exhibiting in WBS. However as a result of he’s waiver-exempt, he’s, sadly, the brand new Alex Nylander and is consistently caught between Pittsburgh and WBS all season lengthy.

Jesse Puljujarvi: Sadly, there may be merely not sufficient room for Puljujarvi on the roster. He’s waived on the finish of coaching camp and is picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Jonathan Gruden: See “Sam Poulin.”

Defensemen

Erik Karlsson: After a 2023-24 season of ups and downs, Karlsson’s analytics will present within the outcomes, he’ll quarterback a vastly improved energy play, and he’ll be a point-per-game participant this season.

Kris Letang: Whereas Karlsson will take a step ahead, Letang will take a step again. He’ll evolve right into a extra one-dimensional defenseman, needing new companion Matt Grzelcyk to anchor down the pairing whereas he carries the offensive load. He’ll end with 9 objectives and 45 factors on the season.

Marcus Pettersson: Pettersson and Karlsson are one of many high defensive pairings within the league this season. With the Penguins on the point of competition come deadline time, Pettersson indicators a six-year, $36.6 million contract extension.

Matt Grzelcyk: Grzelcyk surprises this season, changing into the analytics darling he was just some seasons in the past. He helps anchor down the second pairing with Letang, and he registers 23 factors on the season.

Ryan Graves: Though third-pair minutes take the strain off of Graves to carry out, he turns in one other disappointing marketing campaign. He spends an excellent chunk of the second half scratched in favor of Sebastian Aho.

Nikolai Knyzhov: Having each a Karlsson and David Quinn connection, Knyzhov breaks camp and makes the roster because the sixth d-man. He’s ultimately supplanted by Jack St. Ivany, as his stage of play wanes because the season progresses.

Jack St. Ivany: St. Ivany impresses in camp, however his two-way contract and the defensive logjam relegate him to WBS at first of the season. Nevertheless, he earns a NHL function because the season progresses, and he sticks round for good.

Sebastian Aho: Aho secures the seventh and ultimate defensive spot on the roster, sometimes getting spot begin in favor of Knyzhov at first. By the tip of the season, he is within the lineup greater than Graves is.

John Ludvig: Ludvig begins the season in WBS, and though he will get the occasional stint on account of accidents, he spends the overwhelming majority of the yr within the AHL.

Ryan Shea: See “John Ludvig”, though Shea will see even much less NHL time than Ludvig.

Goaltenders

Tristan Jarry: Jarry begins robust however experiences struggles mid-season, so he and Nedeljkovic break up time. A serious goaltending damage elsewhere within the league makes one other crew chew on Jarry’s contract, and he’s dealt greater than a month earlier than the commerce deadline.

Alex Nedeljkovic: Though his stats are middling, they start to exceed Jarry’s. He takes the beginning job as soon as Jarry departs, however is ultimately supplanted by rookie Joel Blomqvist.

Joel Blomqvist: Blomqvist earns his alternative because the beginning goaltender within the second half and leads the Penguins to a wild card berth.