The Pittsburgh Penguins won it all last season because teams didn’t have an answer for their depth at forward. Once the Penguins spread out their star power, with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel on three separate lines, it made Pittsburgh a matchup nightmare.
The depth from top to bottom at forward is the reason the Penguins are reigning champs.
“A lot of times, our opponents didn’t have an answer for our third and fourth lines,” said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan.
They won a Stanley Cup and the Penguins forwards also earned the respect of decision-makers around hockey. In preparation for the season, we polled a dozen NHL coaches and executives on the best forward groups in the NHL, and the Penguins won the forward category going away. We did the same for the top blue lines, with those results coming Tuesday.
Here’s a look at the results of the forward poll:
The panel: Twelve coaches and executives (seven GMs and assistant GMs; five head coaches and assistants)
The method: Each responder listed the top three forward groups in the NHL. A first-place vote earned a team three points, a second-place vote earned two and a third-place vote earned one.
The results
1. Pittsburgh Penguins (25 points)
The Penguins were on nine of the 12 ballots, earning first-place votes on seven of those nine ballots. Without giving away too much from Tuesday’s file on the defensive groups, Pittsburgh’s defense didn’t get a single mention there, suggesting that the belief around the league is that the Penguins won it all mostly because of their forwards.
It helps to have a pair of franchise centers in Malkin and Crosby to set up the first two lines, but the willingness of Kessel to be the centerpiece on the third line transformed this team.
Even the fourth line had its moments last season, and the return of Matt Cullen gives the Penguins that depth and versatility in its bottom six once again.
“They took so much pride in what they brought to the team,” Sullivan (not a panelist) said of his fourth line. “They were significant contributors to helping us win.”
2. Tampa Bay Lightning (15 points)
The Lightning were the only team besides the Penguins to get more than one first-place vote; they got two. The return of Steven Stamkos this season, still a remarkable achievement by GM Steve Yzerman, makes the Lightning a Stanley Cup contender once again. They are one of the few teams in the East capable of matching up with the Penguins at forward.
Not only do the Lightning have the Triplets together now that Nikita Kucherov has re-signed, but a full season with Jonathan Drouin playing at a high level could help the Lighting improve on last season’s surprisingly average 2.73 goals per game. Tampa Bay was overly reliant on Ben Bishop at times during the regular season, and if they have all hands on deck at forward, it's unlikely they'll be a repeat.
3. (tie) Dallas Stars (10 points)
The top of this list is Eastern Conference-heavy, with the Stars being the exception.
This forward group has star power in Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza and Jamie Benn. GM Jim Nill did a nice job grabbing Jiri Hudler, who he knows well from his time in Detroit, off the free-agent scrap heap. It was an under-the-radar move, but Nill picked up a guy who is just one year removed from a 31-goal season. After being acquired by the Panthers last season, Hudler put up 11 points in 19 games including six goals.
We’re also big fans of Radek Faksa in this space, a player who is the ideal third-line center for the Stars. He plays a strong two-way game and is capable of moving up in the lineup if needed.
3. (tie) Washington Capitals (10 points)
The Capitals were on eight of 12 ballots, and in looking at the group put together by GM Brian McLellan, that might even be low. There sure aren’t a lot of weaknesses now that Evgeny Kuznetsov has emerged as a top-line center. With Nicklas Backstrom skating next to Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals had been looking for a No. 2 center for years, and now they have two No. 1's.
Lars Eller had a strong preseason and has a very defined role in Washington. With the emergence of Zach Sanford, the Capitals have a nice looking third line centered by Eller that includes Marcus Johansson and Sanford on the wings.
5. (tie) Chicago Blackhawks (six points)
Full disclosure: The Blackhawks earned another first-place vote from a late-filing executive after the votes were tallied. So with that in mind, along with the fact that they got another first-place vote, that becomes the tiebreaker vs. the Sharks, the final team mentioned on the ballots.
The Blackhawks are fascinating because they have Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa & Co., but this might be the thinnest the Blackhawks forward group has been in years. Joel Quenneville has experimented with splitting up Kane and Artemi Panarin in the name of balance. That raises concerns about the lack of depth up front in Chicago, but it didn’t bother one responder.
“They find a way,” said an assistant GM of the Blackhawks forwards. “Their top five might be the best top five in the league. Not as deep as other groups, but extra credit for the top end.”
5. (tie) San Jose Sharks (six points)
One of the reasons for the Sharks' resurgence last season was GM Doug Wilson’s ability to fill out the bottom six with legitimate NHL players, something it didn’t necessarily have two seasons ago. He did it with a traditional free-agent signing of Joel Ward that ended up being a really good decision. He also did it with some creativity by bringing in Joonas Donskoi, a decision that was even better.
Patrick Marleau is a third-line forward at this point in his career, and that’s just fine for the Sharks. That gives them a potential 25-goal scorer on the third line. Chris Tierney's play during last year's playoff run went a long way in convincing everyone he was more than capable of centering a strong third line.
The signing of Mikkel Boedker added necessary speed to a group that needed it, complementing the other skills that guys like Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski bring to the table. San Jose has remarkable balance on its roster, and the forwards are a reflection of that.