Jake Guentzel returns to Sidney Crosby's line on 1st day of Penguins camp

One of the few questions of intrigue regarding the Penguins’ lineup entering training camp involved the left wing spots on the top two lines.

Where would a recuperating Jake Guentzel and Jason Zucker be lined up?

It took all of five minutes to find out.

During the early stages of the camp’s first session Monday in Cranberry, Guentzel was back in his old spot on the top line with Sidney Crosby at center and Conor Sheary on the right wing.

Guentzel’s 2019-20 season appeared to come to an end Dec. 30 when he crashed into the end boards after scoring a goal during a 5-2 home win against the Ottawa Senators. He had surgery the next day and was initially expected to be sidelined four to six months.

Of course, that was well before the coronavirus pandemic brought seemingly every walk of life to a halt, including the NHL in mid-March.

Seven months after his injury, Guentzel participated in his first full practice with few apparent restrictions. He had been participating in informal skates over the previous month.

“Jake looked terrific,” coach Mike Sullivan said during a video chat with reporters. “He’s been on the ice for quite a while now. He’s been working through the rehab process. Jake has worked extremely hard to get himself to this point and he looks really strong. We’re excited to get him back into the lineup for obvious reasons.”

The most obvious of those reasons would be his cohesion with Crosby. Guentzel owns a handful of postseason scoring records thanks in part to his work with Crosby the past few seasons.

“It always takes a little bit of time, but he’s looked really good in the (informal) skates,” Crosby said. “He looks comfortable. Strong. The fact that he has been able to skate for a good chunk of time here will definitely help. But he looks really good. For somebody that has as much of a layoff as he did, he’s done a great job of rehabbing and making sure he’s ready to go. He looks strong right now.”

While Crosby healed from a core muscle injury throughout November and December, Guentzel spent time with the Penguins’ other franchise center, Evgeni Malkin, enjoying a productive run during that deployment.

But there doesn’t appear to be any initial interest in reuniting Guentzel and Malkin.

“The reason we put (Guentzel) with Crosby is because we think that they have a certain chemistry that has been really productive for us for quite some time,” Sullivan said. “Not that he didn’t have a chemistry with (Malkin). They were certainly good when they played together as well. I think the reality is the coaches are excited because we have some options where were can move people around Sid and (Malkin) to try to create the balanced attack that we’re looking for.

“That’s always subject to change but we thought we’d start there. I thought they had a good first day.”

That left Zucker, who was acquired in part to replace Guentzel during his convalescence and initially lined up with Crosby, to skate with Malkin and right wing Bryan Rust. Zucker and Malkin shared little common five-on-five ice time during the regular season.

“It’s a work in progress for sure,” Zucker said. “He’s an amazing player, as everyone knows. It’s a little bit different style than playing with Sid for sure. But it’s definitely a positive thing. He’s not a hard guy to play with, as I’m sure a lot of guys have said in the past. So I’m excited for the opportunity.”

The third line included Patrick Marleau at left wing with Jared McCann manning center. With Patric Hornqvist absent for unexplained reasons, Sam Lafferty and Evan Rodrigues worked on the right wing.

The fourth line remained intact with Zach Aston-Reese on the left wing, Teddy Blueger at center and Brandon Tanev working the right wing.

On defense, Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang were the top pair. Marcus Pettersson worked with John Marino on the second pair while Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz composed the third pairing.