Storylines To Follow During Penguins 2023-24 Season
When the Pittsburgh Penguins take to the ice in 2023-24, there will be quite a few things to keep an eye on.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have wrapped up their preseason and are looking ahead to a bounce back year in 2023-24.
After missing the postseason for the first time since Sidney Crosby’s rookie season, the Penguins are entering this year hungry for what could be their last real shot at another Stanley Cup.
With a new season ready to kick off, there are plenty of storylines that fans can be follow along with all season.
These aren’t burning questions that need to be answered, rather, what fans can lookout for from the Penguins in 2023-24.
Erik Karlsson’s First Season in Pittsburgh
The Penguins have never had a defenseman with this much hardware; an Olympic silver medalist, a five-time All-Star, and three-time Norris Trophy winner.
Erik Karlsson is entering this season as the reigning Norris winner and should bring loads of firepower to the Penguins.
Coming off of a 101-points campaign in 2022-23, Karlsson surely won’t replicate those numbers, but even a down year for him could be something the Penguins franchise hasn’t seen since the 1990s.
Key Players Returning to Form
Sure, missing the playoffs is a team problem, but had a few key Penguins not struggled at certain points of the season, they may have had extra hockey to play.
Heading into the 2023-24 season, fans should keep an eye on guys like Bryan Rust, Jake Guentzel, and Tristan Jarry to rebound from last year.
Rust wants himself, and the team as a whole, to find more consistency this season and reach their high expectations.
Guentzel led the Penguins in goals in 2022-23, but he described his year as not good enough and once he’s healthy, he should be a real threat.
Jarry is a real sticking point with fans, but the Penguins got the best goalie available this summer and he has already shown promise of a huge bounce back season.
New and Improved Bottom Six
A couple of faces remain, but the Kyle Dubas went to work in retooling almost every aspect of the Penguins bottom-six forward group.
While the lineup is yet to be set in stone, the slew of new faces are sure to bring so much more to the table that what the last iteration had to offer.
Going from Brock McGinn, Kasperi Kapanen, and Danton Heinen to Lars Eller, Matt Nieto, and maybe Jansen Harkins is a huge improvement.
The Sidney Crosby Show
As always in Pittsburgh, you can’t not watch Crosby; since being drafted in 2005, the Penguins have been led by the face of the NHL.
Other names like Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and this year Connor Bedard have entered the fold, Crosby looks to keep up with some of the best young talent.
At the age of 36, Crosby doesn’t plan on slowing down and is entering this season hungrier than ever.
Legitimate discussion is being had over Crosby reaching 100 points one last time in his Hall of Fame career, and it’s very possible with the talent and hunger on this Penguins team.
The season is just about here and from top to bottom, the Penguins are looking for a return to form and a real push for the Cup.
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