Rickard Rakell has usually been one of the most consistent players on the Pittsburgh Penguins roster.
Ever since joining the Penguins at the 2022 trade deadline, Rakell has been a crucial piece in the top six alongside either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
In his first 19 games after the trade with the Anaheim Ducks, Rakell scored four goals and nine assists for 13 total points; he followed that up with 60 points (28G-32A) in his first full season in Pittsburgh.
Things haven’t been the same in 2023-24, however, as it took him 20 games before finally finding the back of the net.
Rakell was yet to score through 17 games of the season, then was out of the lineup for a month due to injury; upon returning, he looked at it as the start of a new season.
It took another few games, but in his 20th game of the season, Rakell finally broke through for his first of the season.
Now, it’ll be up to Rakell to take after Penguins’ newcomer Reilly Smith and turn this one goal into an avalanche of offense.
Smith looked slow out of the gates with the Penguins, but eventually turned out 11 points in nine games early in the year.
All it took for Smith was one goal and the flood gates opened for Smith; Rakell needs to follow that lead.
Rakell can bring a load of scoring no matter where he is in the lineup and the Penguins are going to rely on him to find his game again.
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