Kovacevic: Rakell merely solidifies Cup contender status

Assessing the trade itself is academic.

The Penguins acquired Rickard Rakell from the Ducks at the NHL's deadline Monday afternoon and, in doing so, might've emerged a plus on every conceivable category: They added a 16-goal, top-six winger who's fast, finds ways to get open and can finish. They addressed their most glaring need in secondary scoring. The two roster players they gave up, Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Simon, were primary culprits within that very problem. They might've finally found a winger for Evgeni Malkin. In turn, they'll be able to bump Bryan Rust back with Sidney Crosby and Kasperi Kapanen to the depth chart's dungeon. The goaltending prospect they gave up, Calle Clang, wasn't Joel Blomqvist, their best goaltending prospect. The second-round pick they gave up in this summer's NHL Draft wasn't their first-rounder.

Oh, almost forgot: Anaheim management agreed to absorb 35% of Rakell's remaining $3,789,444 salary, allowing him to squeeze into the Penguins' airtight salary cap space.

That's a win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win, unless my counting's off.

And that's to say nothing of the much smaller trade much earlier in the day that brought snarly defenseman Nathan Beaulieu from the Jets for a seventh-rounder, to address another need, albeit peripherally.

Again, all this is academic. It's a job well done by Ron Hextall, Brian Burke and all the evaluators involved.

Next, of course, comes the tough part: The Penguins really, really need to win the Stanley Cup.

It's a lot like Hextall himself worded it after the deadline: "We really like this team. I know there are a few teams that obviously have a chance of doing something special, but we feel like our chances are better now than they were yesterday."

Right. And they were at least reasonably good before that.

Even setting aside their 38-16-9 record that's the NHL's fifth-best, their plus-38 goal differential that's seventh-best, their 24.1% power-play conversion since Malkin's return when the calendar flipped, and their 86.5% overall penalty-killing rate that's second-best ... this single statistic rises above for me: Against the other seven teams that are virtual locks to partake in the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Penguins are a cumulative 9-5-2.

And that includes, by the way, 3-2-2 against the Panthers, Hurricanes and Rangers, the only three teams ahead of them.

What am I missing here?

Against which of these potential opponents would the Penguins be some prohibitive underdog?

Or, more to the point, which of these potential series victories for the Penguins would qualify as an upset?

See, I get the general sense in our city of tiptoeing when it comes to setting the expectations for this team. It's not one that I share. This is Pittsburgh. There are five banners hanging from PPG Paints Arena's rafters. Four of the greatest players in the game's history were part of those, half of that group still gainfully employed. More specific and more relevant, this team's already shown -- to me, anyway -- that it's got what it takes.

No, of course, Rakell won't make that difference on his own. Not even if he replicates Jeff Carter's riveting arrival. If Rakell were all that influential, the Ducks wouldn't be on the cusp of missing a fourth consecutive playoff. And that's fine. Justin Schultz didn't win the Cup by himself in 2016. Ron Hainsey didn't win it by himself in 2017.

But they made a difference. They fit. They made more things make sense.

Rakell will make a difference. Based on watching him from afar, I agreed with all of Hextall's assessment: "We like his skill set. He plays with speed. He can play a fast game. So we feel like he's going to fit in real good with our group here. When you can add a player with Rickard's resume, put him with our players, we feel like we're a better team."

They are. And they already were a very good one.

Which, in addition to all else, comes with a palpable sense of purpose.

Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang are in their mid-30s. The latter two could be unrestricted free agents this summer. So could Rust. And given all the winning the Core's already done, no one should ever doubt their drive for even more. They know there might not be another chance. Or, if there is, that they'll all be yet another year older.

That's why all of them, maybe especially Crosby, visibly took it so hard when the Penguins fell to the Islanders a year ago for their third consecutive first-round exit. They thought that was a team that could make a run. They built up a head of steam, fired on most if not all cylinders ... and were undone by Tristan Jarry's goaltending.

Well, how much has that script flipped?

This is the time. The pieces, including this latest one, are as much in place as anywhere in the conference.

It's OK to talk about the tough part now.

PENGUINS

Ron Hextall speaks with reporters Monday afternoon in Cranberry, Pa.

• Mike Sullivan's not about to call for my line suggestions, but here's how I'd set everyone up once Jason Zucker and Brock McGinn are both back:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Heinen-Malkin-Rakell
McGinn-Carter-Kapanen
Zucker-Blueger-Rodrigues

Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel

Obligatory footnotes: I really like what Danton Heinen's done alongside Malkin, and I'm not about to dispose of a finisher in favor of someone who seldom does that, meaning Zucker. ... No, I don't like scratching Brian Boyle, either. But good luck with the right arrangement there. I suppose McGinn could switch to the right side -- he's capable -- and Kapanen gets scratched. That'd have Boyle as a fourth-line left winger. ... In the absence of Aston-Reese and Simon, remember that penalty-killing forwards will be a priority. ... I'm not inclined to shift much on the blue line, as is obvious. And probably unpopular. Marcus Pettersson and John Marino had a pretty good run there in the season's first half, and that's worth rediscovering.

• Never mind. Scratch Kapanen. I take it all back.

• There's a 0.00% chance that Sullivan won't have Rakell next to Malkin for the Tuesday night game against the Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena. And yeah, Hextall made clear he "hopes" Rakell will arrive in time.

• The chance is about the same now, most unfortunately, that worthy young players such as Radim Zohorna or Drew O'Connor will get a crack at this lineup. Not that they had one in the first place.

To be clear on this: I'm fine with Rakell knocking either one out of the lineup. I was never fine with Aston-Reese or Simon doing that. Management and the coaching staff know a lot less than they should've about whether either of these two could help. And they're not about to try to learn now.

• Juuso Riikola's now this organization's No. 10 defenseman. And he's sixth just among the lefties. Think about that.

• Anyone else not exactly floored by the deadline as a whole?

Especially in the Metro?

I thought the Rangers, with all their warm and fuzzy combining with big cap space, could've come up with a significant splash. I've always appreciated Andrew Copp's work in Winnipeg, and he'll do well as a middle-six type in New York. Tyler Motte's the same type from Vancouver. Justin Braun's a depth defenseman from Philadelphia.

It's OK. They'll help. It's not a splash.

Bear in mind, that's a likely first-round matchup for the Penguins. And the Rangers needed much help defensively.

• If the Hurricanes had acquired the rookie version of Max Domi, that'd have been something. But he was on the fourth line in Columbus, and he'll be on the fourth line in Raleigh.

• The Capitals brought back Marcus Johansson from the Kraken and added another serviceable forward in Johan Larsson from the Coyotes, but they're still stuck with Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov in goal. And neither of those two is about to happen.

• The Johansson deal also saw Washington dump Daniel Sprong off on Seattle. And if that sounds harsh, here comes hard reality courtesy of honest man Ron Francis:

• The Panthers remain the class of the conference in my eyes -- where they've been from the drop of the puck -- and adding Claude Giroux alongside Aleksander Barkov sure won't hurt. But Aaron Ekblad's ugly injury over the weekend has him questionable for the playoffs, as Bill Zito confirmed anew Monday to reporters in Sunrise, and there's still the not-so-small matter of Sergei Bobrovsky seeing bogeymen when the games get real.

• The Avalanche are winning all of this anyway, right?

Seriously, after beating the Oilers in overtime Monday night in Denver, they're 39-8-4 since Nov. 16, and they've outscored their opponents, 199-135.

The latest from Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon:

• Speaking of the Oilers, here's a final league-wide thought: There can't be any greater embarrassment in the sport than Edmonton's enduring inability and/or unwillingness to surround Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with capable talent.

Their acquisitions at the deadline were the fading remnants of Derick Brassard and a spare-part defenseman, Brett Kulak.

Look, sooner or later, a generational talent's got to break free if it isn't happening somewhere. McDavid's now in his seventh NHL season, and the Oilers haven't won a playoff series in his tenure since 2017, and they've missed the playoffs altogether three times. They're in danger of missing them again, eighth in the conference and just four points ahead of the Stars.

At some stage of his career, McDavid's got to demand his way out, or people will -- fairly -- question his own will to win.

I mean, imagine his Hall of Fame induction speech when he describes winning a dozen Art Ross trophies ... and two playoff series. Maybe he'll have Mikko Koskinen out in the audience for moral support.

• Pittsburgh will partake in the first round of the coming draft. Just thought I'd reiterate that.

No one seems to care this time of year, but that tune sure changes when all those executives are sitting at all those tables.

• Be sure to check out all of Taylor Haase's extensive coverage of the big day, as well as a bonus Drive to the Net breaking down Rakell by Danny Shirey.

Taylor and I will cover this game against the Blue Jackets, then bounce on up to Buffalo for the one Wednesday against the Sabres.

Thanks, as always, for reading. I mean that.