I would say if we miss the playoffs it is largely because of an accelerated season and Jarry and DeSmith not being able to handle the new roles.
I don't the defense of forwards are bad enough to cause us to miss. Especially considering what our division did this offseason with nearly every team losing major pieces outside of New Jersey.
I agree with this. If the Pens don't make the playoffs it will be due to goaltending.
I do think this team will make the playoffs easily. Almost all the top teams lost more than they gained and I believe we are better this year. Also if we could finish 7th in the NHL with all those major injuries to our top players and many others plus sub par goaltending from our starting goaltender for much of the year we should be fine.
For those predicting this gloom and doom let's go through each spot and tell me how this team is not a net positive from the team that we started with last season. Let's start with the positive and what I think we can all agree on.
Guentzel-Crosby-Kapanen this season over Guentzel-Crosby-Simon. I think everyone agrees the top line is better and hopefully will not have Crosby and Guentzel miss over half the season again. Simon's best season 8 goals and 28 points and that is playing with Crosby for much of that. Kapanen 20 goal and 40+ point season with more upside to come.
Zucker-Malkin-Rust this season over Galchenyk-Malkin-Rust last year. I think we can all pretty much agree we have a nice improvement on this line also.
ZAR/Sceviour-Blueger-Tanev this season or whoever gets that LW spot vs ZAR-Blueger-Tanev which I would argue is still a plus in the right direction with Blueger one year more developed.
So the only forward line we have an argument about is the 3rd line. Unfortunately last year we didn't have much of one due to Bjugstad out all season but 10 games and McCann having to move up to Center the 2nd line due to one of Crosby and Malkin out the whole season. The 4th line became our 3rd line last year so I don't think it will be hard to improve upon this line. It shouldn't be hard to improve on that 3rd line in the playoffs either because Marleau was worthless and the combination of him with Hornqvist and his plodding style of play was a terrible fit for McCann. So while some might argue that McCann-Jankowski-Poulin or at worst someone like a Rodriguez could still not be any worse than what we got out of that line last year. Everyone is pointing to Jankowski having a bad year without looking at his terrible linemates and looking at his good production the rest of his career. I think Poulin or some other forward beats out Rodriguez but even Rodriguez has had NHL success with 7 goals and 25 points in 48 games in 2018 which is a 40+ point pace. In 2019 Rodriguez had 9 goals and 29 points in 74 games. Which still has him at 30+ pace. Either of those season's would of been fine as a 3rd line winger. Last year wasn't great but obviously the potential to be a decent 3rd line winger is there. Considering we had Simon on the top line who's best season is less goals and points than Rodriguez we could survive a worst case scenario of Rodriguez on that 3rd line. So while this line has some proving to do it really can't have less production than what we had last year from that line that was mostly filled by players like Lafferty, Blandisi, Agozzino, Angello, and whoever else we put on that line to make that line. Like I said for most of the year this line really was our 4th line due to injuries. So I would argue that Pens have a very strong shot to improve on this line but will see. Can't get any worse production for sure. For argument sake all let people say we are worse but I disagree. So 3 out of 4 lines better.
Defense we can all agree Schultz was terrible and in my opinion our worst defenseman last year. JJ was our next worst defenseman and both are gone. Matheson and Ceci might not be perfect but are better than what they are replacing and that is a fact that I will not debate. Marino and Pettersson are both young and still developing and should only be getting better. Dumoulin missed more than half the season and was playing hurt. So the top 4 should get even better. The defense is better and no logical person can deny that. I also love the depth with Riikola, POJ, Ruhwedel, and Maniscalco as backups.
Goalie is the one spot I am worried about. Murray had a bad year and that type of stats should not be hard to duplicate but will Jarry have as good a year is my question. I think he will be good enough that this team will easily make the playoffs but I think goal is our biggest question mark going into the season. Pens will be fine at forward.