Mike Sullivan said after Rickard Rakell's debut in a Penguins uniform that he didn't see Rakell being Jeff Carter's linemate "in the big picture."
Rakell, after being acquired from Anaheim in a trade ahead of last Monday's trade deadline, took a red-eye to Pittsburgh on Tuesday and was in the lineup that night on the left wing of the Penguins' third line.
With little sleep and even less knowledge of the Penguins' system, it was a move aimed to ease Rakell into the lineup.
Rakell remained on Carter's wing for the Penguins' game in Buffalo the following night. With a scheduled day off on Thursday, Rakell entered Friday's game against the Rangers still without a single practice under his belt with his new team. Based off of the line combinations used in the game-day skate that morning, it appeared as if Rakell was set to make his debut in the top six, alongside Evgeni Malkin. Rakell did indeed move up to the second line in Friday's loss, but with Malkin missing the game due to a non-COVID illness, Rakell's center was once again Carter.
After several days of just games and video meetings with the coaching staff to get Rakell settled into his new team, Rakell finally got into his first full practice since the trade on Saturday.
With Malkin healthy, and Rakell starting to get acclimated within the team, Sunday finally gave us a glimpse of what Rakell might be able to add to the Penguins top six through this last stretch of the season.
Rakell was on Malkin's left wing, opposite Bryan Rust on the right, in the Penguins 11-2 win over the Red Wings on Sunday.
It's hard to evaluate any one player or one line in a game with a nine-goal disparity, but Mike Sullivan sounded impressed with what he saw from that trio in their first game together.
"Their line, I felt like they had the puck all night when they were on the ice," Sullivan said. "And (Rakell) was a big part of that."
While the final score was lopsided, the actual shot count was even, at 35 shots apiece. Rakell and Malkin each recorded four shots on goal, tied for the second-most on the team behind Brian Boyle's six, and Rust was right behind with three.
Rakell had a great chance for his first goal as a Penguin early in the game. Malkin set up Rakell from below the goal line, Rakell caught the pass on his backhand and quickly switched to his forehand to get a shot off but Alex Nedeljkovic made the save
Rakell's first point as a Penguin came in the second period, when he got the secondary assist on Malkin's second goal of the game. He passed the puck to Rust as the Penguins were in transition. Rust then sent the puck to Malkin, who undressed two Red Wings on his way through the slot before putting the puck past Calvin Pickard:
Rakell earned another assist on the power play early in the third period, getting the secondary helper on his former Anaheim teammate Danton Heinen's goal. After Rakell fed the puck to Mike Matheson at the point, he went to the net-front to provide the screen and look for a tip:
"He's been great," Heinen said of Rakell's first few games. "Obviously a great player, highly-skilled. He was awesome."
Rakell got a goal of his own to cap off the win in the third period, with a wrist shot from the slot to increase the Penguins' lead to a comfortable nine goals:
There wasn't any doubt that Rakell could score. He had back-to-back 30-goal seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18, and his 16 goals through 51 games prior to the trade were tied for the second-most on the Ducks this season. He's had a number of solid chances to get on the scoresheet himself in his first three games as a Penguin, and plays to set up his teammates. He nearly had an assist on his first shift in his debut Tuesday, had Kasperi Kapanen been able to get this shot off:
Now that Rakell's actually had the opportunity to get comfortable over the last week, it's starting to pay off on the scoresheet.
"I think Rak's actually getting much more familiar with how we're trying to play," Sullivan said. "The more familiar he gets, the less thinking he does, the more instinctive he can become. I'm glad he scored his first goal as a Pittsburgh Penguin, he can get that behind him and just move forward now. But I thought he had a strong game tonight, I think he's getting better with each game he plays. I think he's getting more familiar with his surroundings, his teammates and how we're trying to play. And that's only going to help him moving forward."
One game that ended in an 11-2 win isn't the greatest sample size. You have to imagine that Rakell, Malkin, and Rust, will be together for the foreseeable future to see what those three could do together.
It'll be interesting to see where Jason Zucker fits when he returns. He rejoined the Penguins for practice, albeit in a non-contact capacity, for the first time on Saturday. He still has some steps to go through before he's able to return, but Sullivan said that they're "really encouraged with his progress" to this point.
Rakell, a right-handed shot, brings a great asset in his versatility. He has extensive experience on both the left and right wings, and said on Tuesday that he's just as comfortable on either wing. He's found success on either, too. He was primarily a left-wing for his previous 30-goal seasons, and he was primarily a right wing this season in Anaheim, on pace for a 20-goal season.
That versatility gives the Penguins a number of options as far as line combinations go once fully healthy. The lines could of course stay the way they are in the top six, with Evan Rodrigues on Sidney Crosby's wing, and Zucker coming back to play on the third line. An intriguing option is putting Rust back up on the top line, and having Rakell shift to Malkin's right wing, with Zucker playing on Malkin's left. Or if Kapanen's game has actually turned a corner and he continues to elevate his play, Rakell could stay on Malkin's left side and Kapanen could be bumped up to Rust's current spot.
Regardless of how the combinations shake out, the Penguins now have some serious depth at forward, with the potential for some real dangerous secondary scoring throughout the lineup.
