For Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, ‘a new season has started’
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Rickard Rakell isn’t terribly interested in discussing the first two months of his season.
And why would he?
In his first 17 games, he had no goals.
And in the next 12 games?
Zero.
Then again, he was injured for those dozen contests, nursing a suspected right shoulder injury.
Healthy or otherwise, the season has been rotten for Rakell to this point.
“Obviously, it’s been a tough season for me so far,” Rakell said Monday morning. “That’s in the past now. I’m just excited to be back. Just forget everything that’s been. A new season has started for me now.”
In this case, “now” came in the form of a 4-3 home win against the Minnesota Wild on Monday evening. Rakell returned to the lineup after being activated from long-term injured reserve.
He once again went without any recordable offense but logged 14 minutes, 45 seconds of ice time on 20 shifts and posted two shots on three attempts while primarily skating on the right wing of the top line with Sidney Crosby at center and Jake Guentzel on the left wing.
A modest performance but a first step in rebounding from his injury as well as his poor opening to the season.
“He has good vision. He can make plays,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “He has the ability to score goals. This was a good first step for him. The break (from his injury) will be good for him just to give him an opportunity to hit the reset button. As we said to him, the season starts (Monday night). Let’s look at it like that and go right at it with a lot of positive energy. I thought he played well.”
Rakell was placed on the top line in part because of an undisclosed injury that landed Bryan Rust, the typical right winger on that line, on long-term injured reserve. But he is no stranger to playing with Crosby. In fact, Rakell’s most common linemate in terms of common five-on-five ice time last season was Crosby at 639:25, according to Natural Stat Trick.
It’s an assignment in which Rakell is well versed.
“Sid, he has his areas in the offensive zone where he likes to hang out,” Rakell said. “You just try to get the puck there and try to go to the net and attack after that. The biggest thing with him is he is so precise with his passes. I try to work a lot of give-and-goes.”
Crosby professes confidence he and Rakell will reestablish chemistry that will lead to more offense for Rakell.
“He’s working hard and doing all the things you need to do for the puck to go in for you,” Crosby said. “Sometimes, there’s more to the game than just that. Obviously, he takes a lot of pride in that. We all want to produce. But that will come. He’s doing the right things and working hard. With that, the puck will go in the net.
“It’s going to take time, but I thought for his first game, he looked really comfortable.”
Limited to four assists this season, Rakell indicated his injury was not a factor in his meager offensive figures this season before he left the lineup Nov. 22.
“I wish I could say it was, but it wasn’t,” Rakell quipped. “No. It’s been tough. It’s been a really long time now that I’ve been out. It’s tough watching from the side. It feels like forever.
“I’m just going to leave everything behind me that’s already been. Just moving forward, play loose, play my game. Just going to be happy to be back.”
Notes: Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea cleared waivers and was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League along with forward Vinnie Hinostroza. … The NHL’s holiday roster freeze goes into effect as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and lasts until 12:01 a.m. Dec. 28. During that time, teams are not permitted to trade, waive or assign players to a minor-league affiliate (aside from a handful of extenuating circumstances). … The Penguins had a scheduled day off Tuesday. … The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins assigned forward Lukas Svejkovsky to the Wheeling Nailers.