Penguins forward Rickard Rakell aims to 'come back a lot better next year'

Late in training camp in the first week of October, Rickard Rakell looked across the dressing room of the Pittsburgh Penguins facility in Cranberry and saw defenseman Erik Karlsson.

It had been almost two months since Karlsson had joined the Penguins via a blockbuster trade, so his presence wasn’t anything new by this juncture.

But Rakell still just shook his head in disbelief.

One of the greatest offensive defensemen in the history of the game was his teammate.

“It’s going to take a little bit of time to get adjusted to,” Rakell said. “But I think when it’s going to click, we’re going to be a dangerous team.”

Rakell wasn’t wrong, at least about the first part of his observation.

It did take the Penguins time to become dangerous.

To be specific, they didn’t get to that state until late March when they went 8-2-3 in the final 13 games of the season during a valiant but futile surge for a playoff berth.

In a lot of ways, Rakell was a perfect representation of what the Penguins were as a whole in 2023-24.

Occasionally dangerous but consistently unimpressive.

Despite being primarily deployed on right wing of either of the top two lines and getting routine duties on the power play, Rakell was underwhelming in his second full season with the Penguins. Appearing in 70 games, Rakell scored 37 points (15 goals, 22 assists) while averaging 16:31 of ice time per contest.

“Obviously, it didn’t go as well as I would have liked to,” Rakell said during the team’s exit interviews in Cranberry on April 18. “It was an up-and-down season for me with some injuries at the start and just not producing at the level that I wanted.”

Rakell’s struggles were present seemingly from the start of the season as he generated only four assists in his first 17 games of the season.

“I mean, I’m a hockey player,” Rakell said on Oct. 27 when asked about his limited output. “I love to score goals and win hockey games.”

A suspected right shoulder injury — Rakell donned a brace on his right shoulder for much of the season — cost him 12 games between mid-November and mid-December.

(On Tuesday, in an interview with Swedish outlet Expressen, Rakell indicated he declined an offer to join Sweden’s roster for the upcoming International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Championship tournament due to his ailing shoulder.)

Rakell denied that malady was the cause of his offensive futility and even quipped of a desire to cite that as the reason.

“I wish I could say it was, but it wasn’t,” Rakell said Dec. 18. “No. It’s been tough. It’s been a really long time now that I’ve been out. It’s tough watching from the side. It feels like forever. I’m just going to leave everything behind me that’s already been. Just moving forward, play loose, play my game.”

Rakell played in all of the Penguins’ final 53 games, posting 33 points, including all 15 goals he scored for the season.

Perhaps his signature moment of 2023-24 came during a resolute 6-3 road win against the New Jersey Devils on April 2. Fighting through a team-wide illness, the Penguins came back from 3-1 deficit going into the third period and erupted for five goals with Rakell getting the game-winning score.

PERFECTION DEFLECTION ???? pic.twitter.com/nIzjDsntQ2

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 3, 2024

A memorable win. But like the Penguins as a whole, too little, too late.

With four years remaining on a six-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $5 million, the 30-year-old (who turns 31 on May 5) understands he needs to offer more to make things click in a more timely fashion next season.

“Go back home now, have a good summer,” Rakell said April 18. “Work on my game, work on my strength and everything I can do to come back a lot better next year.”

Note: Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson was named to Sweden’s roster the IIHF World Championship tournament.