Pittsburgh: 1#PITvsCHI<\/a> #Blackhawks<\/a> #LetsGoPens<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wjxBZ5CDiF<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe year before, I had a really tough year and you feel like you let the team down,\u201d Rakell said. \u201cLast year, I had a better year and you want to just keep playing. You don\u2019t want it to stop. Obviously, it was a big disappointment that we couldn\u2019t pull through and push for a playoff spot. You play hockey to win. You play hockey for a chance to win and to play games in the playoffs and have success there. Anything short of that is always a disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n Few expect the Penguins to break their postseason drought this season, at least externally. The team is in the midst of a rebuild of sorts and new coach Dan Muse hasn\u2019t been afraid to experiment. To wit, Rakell, typically utilized on either of the wings, was deployed at center during the preseason and even got some penalty killing minutes (to go along with his usual power-play duties).<\/p>\n \u201cThe versatility is huge,\u201d Muse said. \u201cI feel like you can put him in any situation. For somebody like him, he\u2019s seen it first hand, the benefits of being able to have that versatility and to build that trust with a new coaching staff. He earned that right away. It\u2019s all situations. Any forward position, it\u2019s both special teams. When you have somebody like that, it\u2019s a huge benefit. Especially during a long season, too, where you just never know where a certain game is going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Specific games Rakell would like to be a part of will take place during the Olympic tournament in February. After skating for Sweden in the NHL\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off exhibition tournament last season, he wants to wear the three crowns on a blue and yellow jersey in contests that really matter.<\/p>\n AP <\/p>\n Forward Rickard Rakell has skated for Sweden in two International Ice Hockey Federation Championship tournaments.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGetting a chance to play in the Olympics, I never really had a chance before,\u201d said Rakell, a native of Sundbyberg, Sweden. \u201cThat would be huge for me and a great motivator for this year.\u201d<\/p>\n What does he do for an encore after a career year?<\/p>\n \u201cI always try to get better,\u201d Rakell said. \u201cI\u2019m really happy with how things went last year. But I think having done that, I can take another step, reach another level. That\u2019s my goal coming into this year is to try to be even better. Take the good things that I did and just improve them.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, the better he does, the more discussion there is about him being traded away. As the Penguins slipped further and further out of the playoff picture last season, more and more trade speculation surrounded the team, with much of it focused on Rakell.<\/p>\n That chatter didn\u2019t stop over the summer, and it hasn\u2019t been stifled at the start of the current season.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m doing my business here,\u201d said Rakell, whose contract has an eight-team no-trade list. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to another year here. Just going to try to do the best for this team and myself. Obviously, you read a lot of stuff and you hear a lot of things. It is what it is.<\/p>\n \u201cYou do really well, people are going to start talking. You do really bad, people are going to start talking. I guess when you\u2019re just even, everybody stops talking. That\u2019s not a good thing for yourself either.\u201d<\/p>\n The ultimate good for Rakell would be to win a Stanley Cup title.<\/p>\n When he signed his current contract, a six-year extension with an annual salary cap hit of $5 million, he explained his reasoning for accepting a deal seen as frugal by the typical going rate for All-Stars capable of 30-goal campaigns.<\/p>\n \u201cA big thing for me was having the chance to win,\u201d Rakell said in July of 2022. \u201cI had a really good feeling about the Penguins the second when I got there.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the gulf of three years without even a playoff appearance, Rakell maintains faith he can win the Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking around this room,\u201d Rakell said. \u201cI feel like we have really good players still. Now, Dan comes in and has some new thoughts. It\u2019s been feeling really good so far.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to see where this can go. \u2026 We have the star power to make good things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n![\"8949867_web1_ap21143540997132\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/8949867_web1_AP21143540997132.jpg\"\/ "\\"8949867_web1_ap21143540997132\\"")
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