Pittsburgh Penguins fans now have their first inkling of what head coach Mike Johnston has planned for elite scorer and major offseason acquisition, Phil Kessel. Per Johnston, via the Penguins team twitter account, Kessel is "likely" to start the season on the same line as All World center and Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby. While the team makes clear that things are subject to change, it seems the initial plan is to pair strength with strength.
While others, including Dan Rosen of NHL.com, have made the case that pairing a scorer like Kessel with the bigger, more physical Evgeni Malkin may be the best play for the Penguins, it seems Johnston has other ideas. Rosen believes that Malkin's success in the past with a high volume shooter like James Neal, who blossomed to the tune of 109 points and Art Ross and Hart Trophies playing alongside Malkin in the 2010-11 season, points to the potential for great production should Kessel, another volume shooter, be paired with the big Russian. Rosen may be right but, simply taking two world-class players and smooshing them together won't immediately yield beautiful results. Kessel has to start somewhere, so why not with one of the best players, if not the outright best player, in the NHL?
There's also really no reason he won't seem just as much time alongside Malkin as he will Crosby as the year progresses and injuries inevitably occur, so putting him on the top unit and seeing if the quicker thinking, faster moving Crosby can make good use of Kessel's special finishing skills makes ample sense.
If not, dropping him back to Malkin's line is a pretty great safety net. Really, what it may come down to is the other players not named Crosby, Kessel or Malkin.
As Pensburgh notes, putting Kessel with Crosby would likely mean slotting Patric Hornqvist in alongside Malkin on the right wing. Malkin and Hornqvist played together for only limited minutes last season, but in that time managed 10 goals and 11 assists, split mostly evenly between them, and posted a Corsi For of 57.5 percent and a Goals For of 55.6 percent.
