Trusting His Game Has Led to Rakell's Career High in Goals

After a difficult 2023-24 campaign for Rickard Rakell, Kyle Dubas said the forward was too good of a player not to have a bounce-back.

“I’m confident that he will,” Pittsburgh’s President of Hockey Operations and GM said. “I look forward to that happening.”

It has ended up being a career year for the 31-year-old, who set a new personal best with 35 goals on Sunday against Boston after appearing in his 800^th NHL game on Friday in New Jersey. Rakell also tied his career high in points with 69. While it was difficult to talk about individual success after a disappointing loss, Rakell did acknowledge that “obviously, it feels way better than it did last year.”

It’s been well-documented how the Penguins challenged Rakell to have a strong summer after a season that got off to a rough start before the Swede got injured. Once Rakell came back, his play was up and down.

So, after the year ended, Rakell worked with the team’s Director of High Performance Marty Lauzon and Director of Performance and Sport Science Jesse Green to repurpose his training, focusing on quickness and strength back home in Sweden, and came to camp in tremendous shape.

“I think his fitness level has allowed him to sustain the level of play that he's had,” Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “The grind of the schedule in and of itself is a challenge, and so that would be the first thing I would say.”

From a mental standpoint, what has helped Rakell is just trusting his game. Despite what happened last season, it didn’t change the type of player that he is. Rakell is a perennial 20-goal scorer who’s now passed 30 twice in his career.

“He obviously has a knack (for scoring goals),” Sullivan said. “He's got a deceptive shot. He has the ability to change his angle. He's brave. He can play in tight space and get a shot off in tight space. He doesn't need a lot of separation. He's just a smart player.”

Rakell has brought those offensive instincts along with a renewed commitment to playing a 200-foot game, which has resulted in trust from the coaching staff as well. Rakell spent the majority of the season on a line with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust, who are also having terrific years. The captain praised how strong Rakell has been on the puck.

“Don't try too change too much of what I'm good at, and go to the areas on the ice where I believe that I'm going to be able to do something good,” Rakell said. “Then just work hard when I don't have the puck, and then trust my game when I have the puck.”

While Rakell’s confidence has been in a good place all year, he’s been careful not to get too high or too low. “It’s nice when the puck is bouncing your way... and it’s also nice to feel like you get rewarded,” Rakell said. “But with that said, I think the biggest thing is just stay hungry. I know it sounds cliché, but just take it one day at a time.”

That mindset served him well leading up to the trade deadline, where Rakell was unsure of his future. But Dubas decided that keeping Rakell as part of the Penguins was the right thing to do.

“He’s got a long history of the type of player that he is, but we see him every day, the type of person he is as well,” Dubas said after the trade deadline passed. “When you have players that perform that way on a game-in, game-out basis that show the ability to respond when things don’t go well, and can propel themselves back into being near the top of the league and perform at that level ... I would say that you don’t just push that out the door because that may be what’s wanted ... we’re happy to have him, he’s a big part of what we do and I know he really wants to be here.”