The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to be getting center Evgeni Malkin back in the lineup very soon, and perhaps as soon as Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils. That is objectively good news for the Penguins. It is also a really good addition for a team that is playing well, having now won five games in a row to play itself back into the playoff race in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. Prior to his injury Malkin had been playing at a high level, had been one of their best forwards and was centering
a surprisingly good second line between free agent additions Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau.
While his return is great for the Penguins, it does create some potential headaches for head coach Dan Muse who now has to figure out how to juggle some line combinations that have been starting to come together in recent weeks.
We know the first line of Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell is not going to get touched at this point. That line combination might as well be written in stone. They are also playing some of their best hockey of the season, both individually and as a trio.
After that things get a little complicated, mostly because the Penguins forward lines are starting to produce and find some consistency. They also do not have many obvious players that need to come out of the lineup. Or many players that should come out of the lineup.
The easiest solution would be to simply put Malkin back on the second line with Mantha and Brazeau and reconnect a trio that had success earlier in the season.
When that trio has played together during 5-on-5 play they have outscored teams by a 9-6 margin.
But the Tommy Novak-Mantha-Brazeau trio has also been starting to come together a little bit. Their goal differential is only 4-4 in 77 minutes together, but the underlying numbers and possession-driving have been strong.
If you put Malkin back on that line, you could then drop Novak back down to the wing on the third line where he could play alongside Ben Kindel and one of the other kids.
I suppose there is a chance (and probably strong likelihood) that one of Ville Koivunen or Rutger McGroarty gets sent back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. I am not a huge fan of that because I am not sure there is much else for them to prove in the American Hockey League. I also do not hate the way either player is playing in the NHL and would like to see them get that NHL action and development. If the Penguins can win and see development from young players like that at the same time, that is the ideal situation for this season.
The other option would be be shifting Novak to a wing spot on the second line with Mantha, and then dropping Brazeau down into a fourth-line role.
That allows you to keep Kindel with Chinakhov and either McGroarty or Koivunen, and then gives your fourth line an added boost of skill and offense.
The problem there is the fourth line with Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar and Noel Acciari is REALLY playing well right now. They have played 163 minutes together this season with an 8-5 goals edge and a 52.2 percent expected goals share. For a fourth line, that is outstanding. For a fourth-line that only starts 16 percent of its shifts in the offensive zone, that is sensational. During the Penguins’ five-game winning streak they are outscoring teams by a 3-1 margin with a 60.5 percent expected goals share. Again, sensational for a fourth line. How do you take any of them out of the lineup or break up that unit? It would be really difficult to do. They are also key penalty killers.
This is a good problem to have. It is also a relatively unexpected problem given the way things looked in the offseason and preseason for this Penguins team.
You can never have too many good players, but the Penguins are starting to look like they have a legitimately good group of forwards with more depth than anybody could have anticipated when the season began.
The injuries hurt the lineup at times in the first half, but made things easier in terms of lineup and roster decisions. Now that players are returning there are some big decisions to make. It is going to be fascinating to see what they do with it.
