The Penguins newest addition looks like he will be making his debut this evening against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Where will Rickard Rakell be playing? We don’t know yet because the morning skate was optional.

Mike Sullivan said Rickard Rakell will be available to play versus Columbus.

"He's a guy that can help us on both sides of the puck. He brings a lot of speed. He has the ability to finish... Most importantly, he's a real good fit in terms of the style we're trying to play."

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) March 22, 2022

I think one of the biggest benefits of trading for Rakell is the flexibility it gives Mike Sullivan. There are many logical paths you could go down. Before the trade there were still options, but it always felt like you had a sizeable hole somewhere no matter how you constructed things. Rakell helps minimize the hole. When Jason Zucker and Brock McGinn return things will look pretty good.

The one thing I would not start with is reuniting the Guentzel-Crosby-Rust. The reason is because we already know what that line is capable of. There is nothing learned by playing them together again. You can always go back to it if the other things you try don’t work. Try those other things now. Especially, with a brand-new player in the lineup.

Here is one way Mike Sullivan could utilize the lines:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rodrigues
Rakell-Malkin-Rust
Heinen-Carter-Kapanen
Boyle-Blueger-Zohorna

The fourth line will obviously be much improved when both Zucker and McGinn come back. In the meantime I would consider Drew O’Connor instead of Boyle, but odds are they just roll Boyle out there for now.

Another version could be:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Heinen-Malkin-Rust
Rodrigues-Carter-Kapanen
Boyle-Blueger-Zohorna

If Rakell is somewhat reliant on a top center to get him the puck I’m guessing having an ultra-skilled passing winger isn’t going to hurt the cause, either. In this setup I’m also willing to entertain the idea of having Rodrigues center the third line and bump Carter to the wing.

If they do resort back to the original top line here is what things could look like for now

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Rakell-Malkin-Rodrigues
Heinen-Carter-Kapanen
Boyle-Blueger-Zohorna

Let’s fast forward to a hypothetical healthy lineup

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

My 13th forward would probably be Kasperi Kapanen at this time. Things could change. You could flip Rust and Rakell. You could also potentially flip Heinen and Zucker even if that wouldn’t be the most popular thing. If you wanted to get crazy you could do the following:

Zucker-Crosby-Guentzel
Rakell-Crosby-Rust
Heinen-Carter-Rodrigues
Zohorna-Blueger-McGinn

I feel like the Zucker-Crosby combo looked decent the short time it lasted. It seemingly has never been revisited.

I think the point is Rickard Rakell allows for multiple looks from the Penguins depending on what you want to do. Things that previously were not available.

Thanks for reading!

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