What Pittsburgh Penguins’ projected lines look like after free agency

The Pittsburgh Penguins made a couple moves in free agency so the lines and the pairings could be tweaked a bit going into next season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ lines going into next season will mostly be the same, but there will also be some tweaks to them thanks to free agency.

Matt Cullen and Jack Johnson were added through free agency and will be in the lineup when October rolls around.

Daniel Sprong, Pittsburgh’s top forward prospect, will also be in the lineup as he’s ready to play full-time. Here’s a look at what the Penguins lines could look like this October.

First line: Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist

This was the first line for most of last season, including the playoffs, and it produced great results.

In the playoffs, this line was deadly. Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby were the two best players in the playoffs for Pittsburgh as they combined for 42 points in 12 playoff games. Each player had 21 points before they lost to the Washington Capitals. They work very well together, and Guentzel is the best left winger on the team, so this is a no-brainer for the Penguins.

Patric Hornqvist had his best season in a Penguin uniform goal-scoring wise as he had 29 goals. He’s locked up for five more years and he’s also always worked with Crosby. Even if they put him with Evgeni Malkin on the second line (which they have), they have good underlying numbers together too. There will, of course, be lineup changes throughout the season because of injuries but when this team is healthy, this should be the first line.

Second line: Hagelin-Malkin-Sprong

That’s right — Daniel Sprong needs to play in the top six to start the season. It also wouldn’t be a big deal if he was on the third line with Derick Brassard, but he may do better playing next to Malkin. General manager Jim Rutherford said after the season that Sprong will be in the lineup next season and will be slotted in the top nine somewhere. Putting a pure goal scorer with a world-class playmaker like Malkin is a match made in heaven. He had 32 goals in 65 games last year with Wilkes-Barre and it should translate well to the NHL level considering the shot he has. It also allows Phil Kessel to play on the third line, which is coach Mike Sullivan’s preference.

Pittsburgh isn’t very deep at left wing beyond Guentzel, but Carl Hagelin has spent a lot of time with Malkin while he’s here so that seems like a safe bet. Hagelin hasn’t scored as much but he’s very fast and can be ferocious on the forecheck. Having a better start to the season is crucial for Hagelin, as he always starts to play even better after Christmas.

Third line: Rust-Brassard-Kessel

This line was used at times during the end of the season, but it wasn’t as effective as some thought it was going to be. Despite that, this should be the third line to open the season. It took Derick Brassard a little more time to fit in than anticipated and he will also have an entire season with this line assuming it holds up. He was playing well after he got settled in and then his groin injury happened, which slowed everything down. Combine that with Kessel also being hurt, and it just didn’t get a chance to jumpstart.

Having Rust on that line will be a huge help, as he’s one of Pittsburgh’s most versatile forwards. He also makes each line he plays on better. He has a knack for scoring big-time goals and his speed is also a huge difference maker. He creates chances each game for the Penguins and he’s a player they can’t afford to lose for any extended period of time.

Kessel will get to be on his own line, which is Sullivan’s preference as stated above. I’m sure he will also get time with Malkin as they work great together. This line has the chance to be one of the best third lines in hockey when they’re all doing their thing. Giving this line more opportunities next season should pay huge dividends since all three will be healthy.

Fourth line: Cullen-Sheahan-Aston-Reese

The fourth line will look different and much better for the Penguins going into next season. There’s no more Tom Kuhnhackl, who had just two goals last year, and there’s no more Carter Rowney on it either after he left via free agency. Matt Cullen came back and even though he’s usually a center, he can also play wing. Having him on the wing seems like the preliminary plan as Sheahan played very well in the fourth line center spot last year. He had 11 goals and 32 points which is good production on the fourth line. Having him back with competent linemates will be a huge boost for Pittsburgh’s forward depth.

Despite Cullen’s awful underlying numbers (his CF% was 40.5!), he still had 11 goals and 22 points in Minnesota. That’s a big upgrade over players like Kuhnhackl, Rowney and Reaves, who were playing for large chunks of the season on the fourth line last year. He’s also only going to count $650K against the cap so there’s little risk with him playing. There are also no excuses for him if he has another bad year analytically since he knows this system very well.

This will be Zach Aston-Reese’s first full year with the team, as he was called up last year during the season. He has a knack for going hard to the front of the net like Hornqvist and scoring dirty goals. He had four goals and six points in 19 games last year but he also played in the top six during that time. He played with Riley Sheahan on the fourth line in the playoffs but wasn’t a factor at all. Playing more games will definitely help him though as he has a lot of upside and should fit very nicely in a full season on the fourth line.

First defensive pairing: Dumoulin-Letang

This was a no-brainer. When both players are doing their thing, this is one of the best top pairings in the league. It wasn’t very well last year because Kris Letang struggled mightily in his return from neck surgery. He did have nine goals and 51 points, but he was a mess a lot in the defensive zone and was just prone to a lot more mistakes than he’s accustomed too. With a full offseason to train and get better, there’s no reason to think he can’t return to his old self of being one of the top defensemen in the league.

As for Dumoulin, he was arguably Pittsburgh’s best defenseman last season. He was very sound in the defensive zone and he also added some more offense. He had five goals and 18 points last season which is a career high. He also has the ability to take matters into his own hands and not only skate the puck out of danger, but start a breakout that needs to scoring chances. This pairing also will likely see its minutes reduced due to management not wanting Letang out there all the time.

Second defensive pairing: Maatta-Oleksiak

This is where it’s going to be tough. Pittsburgh could easily put Johnson up here and keep Oleksiak on the third pairing but Oleksiak would work better up here than Johnson would. Oleksiak was acquired last season from the Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh did an excellent job fine-tuning his game. He moves the puck very well for someone who’s 6-foot-7 and he also showed more offense than ever. He has a booming shot and he’s not afraid to unleash it. Here’s one look at it:

Oleksiak also cleaned up a lot of his defensive miscues as that plagued him in Dallas a lot. He wasn’t caught in the defensive zone as often as he was in Dallas. His possession also went up as it was 51.2 percent. He should be a good fit with Maatta, who was also one of Pittsburgh’s best defenseman.

Maatta matched his career high in points with 29 last year and he also had seven goals. He finally had a fully healthy season as he appeared in all 82 games. His skating improved a ton and he was also much better defensively which had been a problem the last couple of seasons. He was also at 51.7 percent for possession which ties a career high. If both play like how they did last season, this will be a very underrated pairing for Pittsburgh. As always though, expect a lot of shuffling with this pairing throughout the season.

Third defensive pairing: Schultz-Johnson

These last two pairs will likely get close to the same amount of minutes each game so don’t be alarmed seeing Justin Schultz here. He’d be a big help to Jack Johnson, who signed a five-year deal in free agency to come to the Penguins. At this point in Johnson’s career, this is the pairing he should be on. He’s not a top-pairing or top four-defenseman anymore as his production has gone down and defensively, he’s prone to making more mistakes. He’s also on the opposite side of 30 which is never good.

He’s definitely going to get a lot of work with Sergei Gonchar, who has helped out numerous Penguins defenseman including Oleksiak and Schultz. Pittsburgh loves Johnson’s transition games as they lauded him for his instinct of making a great first pass. The key with him will be to not have him out there for extended shifts and having him getting caught in his own zone. It was a pattern last year in Columbus and it can’t carry over here.

Schultz has been outstanding since coming over from Edmonton and it’s going to continue into next season. He was hurt last season at times hence why he only had 27 points in 63 games but the season before that, he had 51 points in 78 games. He’s a legitimate top-four defenseman on this team and will likely be adjusted on the pairings if something isn’t working or if injuries come up.

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This is the pairing that I think will change the most but going into the season, it makes the most sense to start it with this and give Johnson some minutes against teams third and fourth lines.