Tim Benz: Biggest questions in need of answers heading into Penguins' opening night

The Pittsburgh Penguins open their season Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks.

It’s the first of 82 games and the start of six months worth of angst, tension, excitement and agony.

That’s why we love it.

Here are the five biggest questions I have about the 2023-24 Penguins in advance of the franchise’s first year under Kyle Dubas’ watch and the 19th year of the Sidney Crosby era.

So is this really going to work?

Much like questions about Kenny Pickett’s development and the growth of the offense surrounded the Steelers in August, there is one overarching question for the Penguins in October.

How is this Erik Karlsson thing really going to work out?

Let’s hope it turns out better than the early returns at Acrisure Stadium.

We’ve discussed the theories as to how and why the Karlsson trade is going to be great. Yes, his arrival makes the team more dangerous offensively. He’ll allow the Penguins to play the way coach Mike Sullivan wants them to play from the blue line for 48 minutes a game as opposed to 24.

But Karlsson’s defensive play and the Pens’ commitment to the neutral zone and their end of the ice have to be more than just an annoying footnote to occasionally get lip service while everyone in the stands enjoys the carnival ride.

And the power play, with Karlsson on it, can’t just look imposing skating onto the ice. It has to produce points consistently — and lots of them.

“We anticipated some bumps, and just making sure that we exercise a little bit of patience in giving them and us an opportunity to work through stuff,” Sullivan said of the power play recently.

I’m sure the fans at PPG Paints Arena will exercise similar patience. Which is to say I expect them to wait at least 20 seconds before booing the unit and screaming “SHOOT THE PUCK!”

Maybe 30 seconds.

Maybe.

More Penguins news

• Penguins' Sidney Crosby ready for another 'next' one in Blackhawks' Conor Bedard
• Penguins forward Jake Guentzel expected to play in season opener
• Projecting the Penguins' season-opening lineup
• Penguins claim defenseman John Ludvig off waivers from Panthers

Can they count on Tristan Jarry?

To be consistent? To be healthy? What about in the playoffs? What about in March and April if they need a late charge to make the playoffs? Is he going to be worth his new contract?

Did I ask about health yet? I think I asked about health.

Between that aspect of his game and his looming status as a free agent this past summer, Jarry said those things hung over him last year.

“It’s hard playing when you have that burden on your shoulders with a lot of unknowns,” Jarry said during training camp. “To have that (contract) done and over with is nice. You can just focus on playing.”

Now that he is under contract for five years and allegedly healthy, Jarry is out of excuses.

His .909 save percentage and 2.90 goals against per game have to improve. Not just compared to last year, but also in terms of his overall quality of play given how open the Penguins are planning to be offensively.

Will veteran players hold up at the end of the year?

Nobody seemed willing to admit that this was an issue last season. Instead, most fans and media preferred to foist all blame for the Penguins’ failures to qualify for the postseason on Ron Hextall, Brian Burke and more convenient scapegoats like Mikael Granlund and Kasperi Kapanen.

But the core players ran out of steam late in the year.

Crosby went without a goal in nine of 10 games down the stretch and had just four goals from March 12 through the end of the year. Evgeni Malkin went from March 16 to April 6 scoring just one goal. Kris Letang’s two goals and five assists between March 16 and the end of the season weren’t enough either.

It wasn’t just the big three. Similar stats dogged Jason Zucker and others down the stretch. But if the stated organizational belief is that the core still has enough in the tank to make a playoff run, then the core has to make the playoffs first.

We can’t make an excuse for them being tired in March when the hope is they’ll have a postseason that lasts until May or June. Do they need some more help than last year? Sure. Did they do a lot of heavy lifting a season ago? Absolutely.

But they are the stars. They are supposed to do exactly that. And if they come up short, we can’t just run around throwing shade at the supporting cast members and shielding the stars from blame.

How did Dubas do?

New general manager Kyle Dubas’ best accomplishment this offseason was ridding the roster of the dead weight holding over from the Hextall era.

Even if you don’t count filling that cap space with Karlsson.

But now it’s time to see how his talent evaluation was in terms of bringing the likes of Ryan Graves, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto and Jansen Harkins on board.

Figuring out who stunk on the Penguins wasn’t hard to do last year. Figuring out which new players will be good might be.

Who is out?

“Families are always rising or falling in America, right?”

“Who said that?”

“Hawthorne.”

“Pfft! Don’t you know any Shakespeare?”

Teams are always rising and falling in the NHL’s Eastern Conference too, Mr. Scorsese. Not only are the Penguins going to have to play better to get back in the playoffs, at least one team is going to have to be worse to fall out of the postseason bracket.

And some other teams may rise even faster than the Penguins.

The Bruins will no doubt dip from last year’s record-setting regular season. But they may not drop all the way out of the playoff standings. Perhaps last year was as good as it’s going to get for Florida. Or the Islanders could trip up just a little bit.

Regardless, expect the Pens to be in a playoff dogfight with some young, improving rosters — Buffalo, Ottawa, Detroit — even if numerous Eastern Conference powers from last year backslide.

Count me among those who thinks the Penguins will make it back to the playoffs. I’ve got them qualifying as a wild card team. From there, I’ll have to see Jarry win a playoff series before I believe the Penguins will do so for the first time since 2018.

Listen: Tim Benz and Brian Metzer talk about the debut of the 2023-24 Penguins season