Penguins Need Trades to Fix Lineup
Small adjustments won't make the Pittsburgh Penguins a contender.
Mike Sullivan has been much quicker to action when addressing the Pittsburgh Penguins' struggles. He shuffled the forward lineup in the final period of the Penguins' 5-2 loss to Arizona and kept the new combinations together in practice yesterday.
Bryan Rust reunited with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel on the Penguins' top forward line. Colin White also received a promotion, joining Evgeni Malkin and Drew O'Connor on the second line. Meanwhile, Rickard Rakell dropped down to the third line.
These moves, in a vacuum, create some intriguing trios. Rust, Crosby, and Guentzel remain a top ten forward line in the NHL in expected goals percentage (61.1%). Rakell moving next to Lars Eller and Valtteri Puustinen provides the potential for increased scoring from that line without sacrificing defensive stability.
Sullivan's willingness to switch things up has been more evident this season than ever before. He's adjusted on the fly in the middle of games and has tried several variations of lineups to find consistency but to no avail.
The Penguins still sit outside of playoff positioning and have failed to string together long stretches of winning hockey. Their lack of success this season doesn't fall on one player or coach, but their ceiling isn't much higher than they've shown.
If the Penguins' goal is to make the playoffs and attempt a run at the Stanley Cup, which it publicly appears to be, they need help from their General Manager.
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