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Penguins give Simon another look at center... to potentially trade...

September 19, 2019, 3:49 PM ET [102 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Here are the lineups for tonight’s Columbus and Pittsburgh preseason matchup





The Dominik Simon at center experience will continue. I think it is a great idea. He has the proper skill set to play in the middle due to his ability to gain the zone and distribute the puck. He’s going to have at least one capable winger alongside for the ride tonight and Dominik Kahun who the team is relying on to be competent. If Simon proves serviceable at the center position it paves the way for the Penguins to move Nick Bjugstad’s 4M cap hit and gives some roster flexibility. Bjugstad’s contract isn’t the worst on the team, but when talking about movability it is much less of an issue than the players on defense.

We will also see the Galchneyuk-Malkin-Tanev line in action for the first time. I don’t think this line is going to stand the test of time, but the team seems interested in seeing it and this is the time to do that.

I like seeing Sam Poulin with two capable NHL players on a line. On a team with a lot of known commodities it is always interesting to see the unknowns get a fighting chance to make some plays in a preseason game.

As for the Blue Jackets this is what they will be going with

Gustav Nyquist-Alexander Wennberg-Emil Bemstrom
Kevin Stenlund-Brandon Dubinsky-Sonny Milano
Jakob Lilja-Zac Dalpe-Marko Dano
Markus Hannikainen-Ryan MacInnis-Eric Robinson

Scott Harrington-David Savard
Anton Karlsson-Gabriel Carlsson
Vladislav Gavrikov-Ryan Collins

Elvis Merzlikins
Veini Vehvilainen

Columbus is going with an all Swedish top line. Nyqvist is their new free agent addition and Wennberg is a player who vastly underachieved last year and they will need a lot more from moving forward. He makes 4.9M per year and last year only had 25 points in 75 games. The year before that was 35 points in 66 games. The year before that was 59 points in 80 games and it is when the expectations grew for him as a player. He won’t suffer from a lack of opportunity as the Blue Jackets went all in last spring and have lost Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchene since. It won’t matter if there is opportunity if Wennberg puts up another 0.99 points per 60 making what he does.

Marko Dano is back to where it all started a few years ago. He put up a nice small sample of offensive production and there was some hope he would be able to stick in the NHL. That has not been the case. Since putting up 21 points in 35 games in 2014-15 he has only played in 95 NHL games since and has only registered a whopping ten points. He will be 25 in November. It's now or never. He may be Dano

Thanks for reading!
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