Penguins' Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel cover ‘Hockey News' season preview

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and his newly acquired winger, Phil Kessel, are on the cover of The Hockey News’ NHL season preview issue set to be released this week.

The cover says, “GOAL RUSH: With all that offense, the Pens have to strike it rich, don’t they?”

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Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford announced last month that Kessel will start training camp playing on Crosby’s line.

• Penguins to start camp with Kessel next to Crosby

The Penguins acquired the three-time All-Star from Toronto in July to give the franchise a needed boost after a first-round playoff exit.

"It's so hard to score in this league. There's a lot of tight games, a lot of one-goal games," Rutherford said. "To add somebody like him was important."

Kessel was the marquee addition during a busy but fruitful summer for Pittsburgh, which made the postseason for the ninth straight season, but managed only eight goals while falling to the New York Rangers in five games.

• Penguins acquire All-Star F Phil Kessel from Maple Leafs

The 27-year-old Kessel scored 25 goals to go with 36 assists for the perpetually struggling Maple Leafs. Coach Mike Johnston considers Kessel a potentially good fit on Crosby's right side, but stressed that he would experiment liberally.

"Things do change in camp," Johnston said. "We've got eight exhibition games. We want to try combinations together so we're ready for the beginning of the season."

Rutherford hopes Kessel's arrival and the return of forward Pascal Dupuis and defenseman Olli Maatta from injuries that took up most of last season will allow Johnston to implement more of the attacking style that led the team to hire him in the first place last summer.

"We'll definitely be able to open it up," Rutherford said. "We'll have a better chance of scoring more. At the same time, you have to play the game the right way. You have to shut down teams at a certain time, and we're still going to be able to do that."

The Penguins open camp in mid-September. Their first preseason game is Sept. 21 against Columbus. Pittsburgh begins the regular season Oct. 8 in Dallas.

WPXI