PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The assumption after the trade Monday was Evgeni Malkin now has a new winger, however in Rickard Rakell’s first game he didn’t play with Malkin in a win over Columbus Tuesday.
Rakell started his Pens career on the third line with Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen.
“I don’t see him being a left wing with Carter in the big picture,” said Pens Head Coach Mike Sullivan. “Under the circumstances, he’s coming in with very little sleep coming across the country and has very limited knowledge of how we want to play. We are trying to put players in positions to be successful. I think if we had put him in the top six it would have been a really tough challenge.”
Rakell said he left California on a red-eye flight around 11:30p PST Monday night and arrived at PPG Paints Arena around 10:40a on Tuesday morning. He showed up to talk with the staff and then went back to the hotel for lunch and a short nap. Rakell said he got to the arena early to get his equipment ready and meet his teammates.
Playing on his normal left-side, Rakell logged 14:08 playing time on 17 shifts with a pair of shots and one faceoff opportunity against the Blue Jackets.
“I thought he played a solid game,” Sullivan said. “It wasn’t an easy circumstance. He was coming on a red-eye. There wasn’t a lot of sleep, there wasn’t a lot of rest. It was a tough challenge coming to a new team and a new system. I thought under those circumstances, he played real well.”
“I think his skating is evident. His skillset is there, he made some plays.”
“Awesome guy, you can just see how good of a player he is there,” said forward Jake Guentzel. “He’s going to help our team a lot. We are happy to have a guy like that on our team. It’s nice to get a win in his first game.”
Rakell said while his legs were heavy from the travel, it was best for him just to ‘rip the band-aid off’ and play right away. He was glad to just get in and play.
“I bring a little bit of everything, speed, skill, try to bring a physical game to win pucks back and create some chances in front of the net,” Rakell said. “I’m going to try to work in some chemistry as fast as I can moving forward.”
He prefers to play on the left side even though he’s a right-handed shot. He scored 33 and 34 goals in consecutive years a couple of seasons ago in Anaheim.
Rakell did play with Danton Heinen, but also with defenseman Marcus Pettersson previously with the Ducks. He and Pettersson are close, Rakell’s wife is from the same hometown in Sweden as Pettersson. Rakell has a cottage in that town and the families spend summers together and workout together.
After seeing Pettersson, Rakell then looked around in a Penguins locker room with future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
“All of those players, growing up those are your idols,” Rakell said. “To be in the same room as those guys, I’m going to try and take it all in and learn from them. Try to pick up on small details on their game that can improve my game. I’m going to try to be a sponge and soak it all in.”
Once he’s able to get a few more games in and hopefully some practice time, which is scarce with the next two-day window in-between games coming April 3-4. He should settle into a line. Don’t panic Malkin fans, it’s likely on the second with Geno.
“I would envision our coaching staff moving some people around over the next few days once Rakell gets more familiar with how we are trying to play,” Sullivan said. “We get more familiar with him.”
Wherever, the newest member of this team is ready for a new hockey home.
“I’m super excited, super happy,” Rakell said.