The Pittsburgh Penguins need to make changes to the bottom of their lineup.
The NHL trade deadline is eight days away and will hopefully bring reinforcements for the Pittsburgh Penguins bottom-six. However, with five games between now and March 3rd, the Penguins can't afford to sit idly by as their third and fourth lines struggle to make any impact.
Regardless of whether or not reinforcements are on the way next Friday, the Penguins need to start making changes now. The third line ranks at the bottom of the league in several major categories but has remained intact these past two months. That has to change.
Brock McGinn has zero points in 2023 through 20 games. His defensive ability makes up for a lot, but not enough to continue playing him on the third line. McGinn was primarily utilized as a fourth line wing all of last season and throughout the early portion of this season.
McGinn was promoted to the third line in November due to a stretch of seven games in which he scored five goals. His production has fallen off a cliff, yet the Penguins refuse to put him back where he was originally playing.
Another potential change could be to switch Kasperi Kapanen and Bryan Rust. Rust was one of the best Penguins forwards on Monday and could bring some life and scoring prowess to the third line.
Meanwhile, Kapanen is floundering with Carter and McGinn as neither can keep up with his speed which often leads to Kapanen getting outmanned in the offensive zone. Have Kapanen play with more offensively adept players in Malkin and Zucker to see if that sparks a scoring surge from the 26-year-old Finn.
The trade deadline may only be eight days away, but the Penguins cannot afford to wait that long before changing up their approach at forward.
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