Will the Penguins be Any Good?

Now that Penguins general manager Ron Hextall has signed Zach Aston-Reese and Radim Zohorna it appears our roster for the coming season is pretty much set. Although Hextall mentioned he’d like to make a few tweaks, with only $121,000 left in cap space? Aside from purchasing a bag of new pucks and a few replacement parts for the Zamboni, it doesn’t fill me with hope that any significant changes are coming.

For better or worse as the marriage vows go, our team appears to be in place. With a heavy emphasis on the worse.

I’ve been critical of Hextall’s work this summer in terms of the type of player he’s added, with depth forward and Mike Sullivan pet Dominik Simon serving as the lightning rod for my dissatisfaction. But Hextall’s hands were clearly tied to a large degree by the messy cap situation he inherited from Jim Rutherford.

As president of hockey operations Brian Burke so aptly stated in a recent interview, “It means [during free agency] you’ve got to shop at Kmart and not at Nordstrom.”

Anyway, enough with my lead-in ramble. My question is, are the Penguins going to be any good?

Let’s start by looking at the opening day lineup. Assuming Evgeni Malkin starts the season on IR, here are some possible combinations:

Obviously these units are fluid and subject to change. Especially the bottom-six. But it’s a starting point.

I have to say, I’m decidedly underwhelmed. While other teams in the Metro, most notably the Rangers and Flyers, took aggressive steps forward, our Pens appear to have regressed. Maybe Brock McGinn will be a suitable replacement for Brandon Tanev. But Danton Heinen’s at best a poor man’s Jared McCann. And Simon? Don’t get me started …

On defense? Unless prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph makes the difficult switch to the off-side or Hextall miraculously moves Marcus Pettersson (rumored to be in play albeit for a hefty price), last season’s waiver pickup Mark Friedman or veteran Chad Ruhwedel will likely replace the departed Cody Ceci. Given the way Cody played last season (plus-18), no easy task.

Ceci’s loss comes with a double-whammy. He was an effective partner and stabilizing influence on Mike Matheson, who showed precious little chemistry with anyone else. John Marino, in particular, seemed confounded by the Quebec native. Plus, Ceci was the most consistent physical presence on a defense that’s otherwise “sof” as pudding in Michel Therrien-speak.

Back to the forwards. As a group there’s precious little bite or aggression. All of the long-pants rhetoric basically went pfft when the rubber hit the free-agent road. No offense intended. But when the 6’0” 187-pound McGinn’s your toughest player in a division populated by Tom Wilson and now Ryan Reaves and Rasmus Ristolainen, you’ve got issues in the physical play department. While it’s possible Anthony Angello and/or Sam Lafferty could crack the lineup and add a little sand, that’s not going to move the needle a whole lot.

Then there’s the not-so-little matter of scoring. Last season, the Pens finished second in the league in goals. With the team’s core a year older and Malkin on the shelf to start the campaign, we’ll be hard pressed to duplicate that feat.

Yes, Sid is still Sid, and Jake Guentzel’s a proven sniper on wing. But Jeff Carter’s unlikely to match his phenomenal stretch run. And top-sixers Kasperi Kapanen and Jason Zucker…even Bryan Rust…remain question marks. In the best of times they’re 20-plus goal scorers. But things don’t always go according to plan or form. And we’ll surely miss McCann.

The bottom-six, frankly, is uninspiring. I think Zohorna is a potential diamond in the rough, but in a middle-six role and not as a fourth liner seeing perhaps seven minutes of ice time per game.

There’s always hope Samuel Poulin or Nathan Legare or Drew O’Connor will dazzle in training camp and crack the lineup. But Hextall prefers a patient approach to developing young talent and Sullivan doesn’t have a kid-friendly track record.

Then there’s the goaltending. Can new goalie coach Andy Chiodo fix a Tristan Jarry who’s badly in need of mending, particularly with the mental aspect of his game? I personally think Casey DeSmith’s mentally tough and a solid backup. But I fear having to ride him too long if Jarry goes down for any length of time.

To sum up, this group has the feel of…well…Hextall’s Philly teams from a few years back. Ergo, a few top-end players surrounded by a mostly no-name supporting cast of worker bees. About as bland, too.

Those teams weren’t overly successful (two playoff appearances in four-plus seasons). Forgive me for being negative. I don’t think our Pens will be, either.