The Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play will be discussed ad nauseam all season.

It will either produce up to its talent level and be in the NHL’s top five, or it will underachieve and cause the team to do the same. These Penguins will be that dependent on the power play.

When everybody is healthy, the power play will be Erik Karlsson up top, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin at the half-walls, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel underneath.

That’s not negotiable. Perhaps it should be.

The personnel can’t be disputed much, though Rickard Rakell has the talent to crack that unit. He’d be best used at the left half-wall.

But where everybody lines up could be debated. (A member of this power play once told me that who plays where is liquid, that everybody rotates. That’s nonsense. Mario Lemieux stood in the same spot on the power play for 17 seasons. He did OK.)

Karlsson is the obvious choice for up top. He gives the Penguins something they’ve lacked since Sergei Gonchar left, a power-play maestro at that spot.

Assistant coach Todd Reirden will be nominally in charge of the power play, but Karlsson should dictate policy. His will be done.

Karlsson is special with the man-advantage. He’s got crazy skill and acumen. Walk the line, pucks on net, effective shot, distribution, reorganization … Karlsson does it all. (As talented and productive as Crosby, Letang and Malkin are, none have tremendous power-play instincts.)

After that, the conversation starts.

Crosby will be used down low. But he’s the team’s best playmaker, one of the best in hockey. He should thus play at one of the half-walls. The puck flows through those spots. He’d be closer to Karlsson. They could see the pass after the pass.

But Crosby plays down low, not least because he’s very good at it. Nobody has better touch and vision around the net. He’s brilliant at puck retrieval.

But Crosby also plays down low because it makes the power play fit together easier. Is that a good enough reason to minimize Crosby’s playmaking?

Crosby would likely prefer to play the right half-wall. His lack of insistence thereof reflects his selflessness. If he played the right half-wall, he’d get at least 10 more points per season. That happens organically at the half-wall spots.

But if Crosby played the right half-wall, where would Malkin fit?

Malkin, too, favors the right half-wall. The better to launch his one-timer, which Karlsson figures to tee up precisely.

Malkin or Crosby could man the left half-wall. It’s not a shooting spot for a left-hander, but plays still could be made.

But then Letang is off the power play.

Last season, Letang played up top. Karlsson’s arrival pushes him to the left half-wall. If Letang doesn’t play there, he’s off the power play. That might discontent Letang, though he’s going to play mega-minutes regardless, especially on the penalty-kill.

But Letang is effective on the power play, especially on zone entries. Using two defensemen on the PP makes the Penguins less vulnerable to short-handed attacks. (One of them is Karlsson, so maybe not.)

Guentzel is the easiest decision. He plays underneath. Good touch in front, good puck retrieval, good at making quick decisions.

Guentzel takes lots of punishment in front of the net. He’s hardly a battering ram like Patric Hornqvist. The Penguins could use one of those. But Guentzel produces on the power play.

The Penguins don’t have anyone who excels at the bumper spot on the power play. That’s why they don’t really use it.

The bumper is positioned in the high slot, maybe a bit lower, and quickly redirects passes to other players by way of changing the point of attack. Vince Trocheck of the New York Rangers is excellent at being the bumper. Crosby could do it, but he’d be miscast. Rakell and Bryan Rust seem possibilities, but it’s likely a no-go.

So coach Mike Sullivan will use the alignment suggested at the beginning of this missive. It’s the easiest fit and should be effective.

But the Penguins’ power play absolutely must finish top five in the NHL, be consistently productive and generate pressure almost constantly.

If it doesn’t, the Penguins won’t finish as high as they should, and the Karlsson trade won’t be the wonder get it currently appears.

If the basic model doesn’t do as required, Sullivan must rethink. (I can’t get away from Crosby at the right half-wall.)

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