2024-25 Penguins’ Lineup Project: Third line, right wing

Options are limited to round out the third line.

Once again the readers have spoken and it’s Kevin Hayes narrowly beating out Lars Eller for the third line center role in our 2024-25 lineup project. This way by far the closest vote through the first week of this experiment and Hayes unseats the incumbent 3C to earn the role.

Hayes will join Anthony Beauvillier on the third line where the Penguins have been desperate for any semblance of consistent offensive production over the past two season but have come up mostly empty in search of a solution.

Drew O’Connor - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Anthony Beauvillier - Kevin Hayes - RW3
LW4 - C4 - RW4
Depth forward

LD1 / Erik Karlsson
LD2 / Kris Letang
LD3 / RD3
Depth defender

Goalie 1
Goalie 2

Now it’s time to wrap up the Penguins 2024-25 third line by determining who will skate on the right wing alongside Kevin Hayes and Anthony Beauvillier. While picking are slim for who to pencil in at this position, there should be a pretty healthy debate between the top two options on the roster, Valtteri Puustinen and Jesse Puljujarvi.

Last season was a big breakthrough for Puustinen, earning consistent NHL playing time for the first time in his career and he proved his worth with 20 points in 52 playing in a bottom-six role with the team. Along with his solid box score numbers, Puustinen was also among the Penguins leaders in the analytic numbers, proving to be a significant driver of play when on the ice.

In his 52 games last season, Puustinen spent portions of his ice time between the second and third line, moving up and down as needed but he ended the season primarily as a third line guy, making him a front runner for this role heading into next season.

Next up after Puustinen is former first round pick Jesse Puljujarvi who joined the Penguins in the second half of last season after recovering from hip surgery and earning a contract following a PTO stint. Puljujarvi is another guy who shines in the analytics, but his offensive production has never quite matched what one may expect when looking at those numbers.

This could be a very interesting camp battle to watch if the coaching staff determines these two are in the running for this role come September.

Rounding out the options for the third line, right wing position this coming season is another former first round pick in Sam Poulin and the newly signed Blake Lizotte.

One has to assume that at some point it becomes make or break for Poulin and his hockey future, but with only six career NHL games under his belt, perhaps the Penguins want to give him an extended look at the NHL level before making any final determinations on his future. If that’s the case, then sticking him in this role, that allows him to use his size as well as his offensive skill, gives them the best opportunity to see how he plays.

Lizotte joins the Penguins as a free agent and is listed as a center on the team roster. If he doesn’t win this slot, he’ll be in the running for a role on the fourth line which is where everyone seemed to believe he was going to be when he signed earlier this month.