For the 13th time in his career, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was selected by teammates as the club’s MVP.
Crosby, who leads the Penguins in points (81) and assists (54), captured Penguins team MVP honors for the fifth straight season and surpassed Mario Lemieux (12) for the most in franchise history.
He was also honored by his teammates with the Players’ Player Award, which recognizes leadership on and off the ice. It is Crosby’s seventh time winning.
In November, Crosby became the 21st NHL player to reach 600 career goals. On Thursday, he notched his 20th consecutive point-per-game campaign, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record of 19.
Crosby is on pace to lead the Penguins in points for the 15th time in his career, which would overtake Lemieux for the most in club history.
Forward Noel Acciari also was honored by his teammates, winning the Unsung Hero Award, which recognizes “a player who constantly gives 150% effort but receives little recognition.”
Acciari leads the Penguins in blocked shots (98), hits (168) and averages 2 minutes, 24 seconds of short-handed minutes per game, most among the club’s active players.
The 33-year-old, in his second season with Pittsburgh, is one of three players to have appeared in every game this season. Through 75 games, he has five goals with six assists.
Rakell happy at center
Given the season he’s having, Rickard Rakell could be forgiven for being resistant to any change in his nightly deployment.
The winger leads the Penguins with 32 goals, having eclipsed the 30-goal plateau for the third time in his career and first since 2017-18.
Six more points would give Rakell a new career-high (70), topping his 69-point 2017-18 campaign as a member of the Anaheim Ducks.
On Sunday night vs. the Ottawa Senators, coach Mike Sullivan threw Rakell, normally the Penguins’ top-line left wing, a curveball, utilizing him instead as second-line center.
But Rakell, who played 19:18 and recorded an assist on Crosby’s game-winning overtime goal, didn’t bat an eye.
In fact, he was perfectly fine with the change.
“I felt like I got better as the game went on,” Rakell said. “I like that position. I think it’s a lot of fun. You’re playing around the puck a lot more and playing through the middle of the ice. I feel pretty comfortable with it.”
Rakell, who deployed regularly at center during his time with the Ducks (2013-22), in addition to playing the position before turning professional, gives Sullivan confidence he can hack it there if needed.
“He’s a good player and he’s played center before,” Sullivan said. “He played center for (assistant coach Mike Vellucci) in junior (with the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers). So, his natural position is center even though he’s played most of his NHL career on the wing. But he’s very capable of playing there.”
When Crosby was absent for a handful of games in early February, the 31-year-old Swede also flipped to the middle from the wing for a night.
On Sunday, Rakell recorded three shots and went 3 for 8 (38%) in the faceoff circle.
The change in position for Rakell was also accompanied by a change in linemates.
Whereas rookie Rutger McGroarty slid into Rakell’s usual spot with Crosby and Bryan Rust, Rakell skated with Connor Dewar and 21-year-old Ville Koivunen, who was making his NHL debut.
Koivunen, who led Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League with 55 points (21 goals, 34 assists) at the time of his March 28 NHL recall, impressed Rakell.
“I thought he played great,” Rakell said. “I thought he looked confident. He was good on the forecheck and tried to make things happen all the time. … I thought he had a really good game.”
How long Rakell will be utilized as a center remains to be seen and is partially contingent with Evgeni Malkin being sidelined with an undisclosed injury.
Malkin has missed the Penguins’ last three games with his ailment.
But for the time being, Rakell is embracing the change.
“Just taking it game by game and trying to get more comfortable,” Rakell said. “But right now, I enjoy it and think it’s a lot of fun.”
Another position change
Rakell is not the only Penguin to navigate a positional change of late, as Sunday’s win over the Senators was the fourth straight game that featured defenseman Erik Karlsson, a right-handed shot, playing his off-side.
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Beginning March 21 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Sullivan instituted some changes on the blue line, notably flipping Kris Letang, also a right-handed shot, to play his off-side next to Conor Timmins.
Ultimately, that experiment lasted only one game, as from there, Sullivan has chosen to flip Karlsson over to the next side, pairing him up with Timmins, another righty.
While Sullivan has said in the past that it’s not ideal to have defensemen play their off-sides, currently, in order to work Timmins into the top-four pairings, he’s willing to do so and trusts Karlsson to handle it.
“I think (Karlsson) is fine there,” Sullivan said. “They’ve been a pretty good pair for us. We really like what Conor Timmins has brought to our defense corps, on both sides of the puck. Obviously, with the righties, if we’re going to play (Timmins) in the top four, we’ve got to move somebody to that left side. So, that’s what we chose to do.
“(Karlsson) is obviously an elite player and has the ability, the stick skills, the puck skills (and) the skating ability to adjust to that left side,” Sullivan added. “We thought that made the most sense, depending on what the pairs look like. We tried (Letang with Timmins) earlier on. We’ve settled into this. We think the two tandems (including Letang and Grzelcyk), the way they’re playing right now, we’re satisfied with.”
Lines and pairings
Monday’s practice featured full attendance minus the Penguins’ three injured players: Malkin, forward Tommy Novak (undisclosed ailment) and defenseman P.O Joseph (unspecified injury). Sullivan had no status changes to reveal regarding the group. Malkin and Joseph skated individually ahead of the Penguins’ team session.
• The Penguins utilized the following lines and defensive pairings Monday:
2 Rutger McGroarty - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust
19 Connor Dewar - 67 Rickard Rakell - 41 Ville Koivunen
53 Phil Tomasino - 13 Kevin Hayes - 55 Noel Acciari
43 Danton Heinen - 46 Blake Lizotte - 52 Emil Bemstrom
24 Matt Grzelcyk - 58 Kris Letang
65 Erik Karlsson - 20 Conor Timmins
27 Ryan Graves - 5 Ryan Shea/23 Vladislav Kolyachonok