CRANBERRY, Pa. -- After signing a six-year, $30 million contract to stay with the Penguins, Rickard Rakell is extremely excited for the opportunity at hand and is ready to get to work.
Rakell almost certainly could have commanded more on the open market than the $5 million a season he's getting from the Penguins, but he said it boiled down to being on a competitive team.
"A big thing for me was having the chance to win," Rakell told reporters over a web meeting Wednesday morning. "I had a really good feeling about the Penguins the second I got there last season. For me, it’s a package thing. I want to be in a great organization with great teammates. It’s a great opportunity for me and I’ve got it now. I’m thankful for the great opportunity and I’m super excited to get going again.”
Rakell was well aware of the fact Ron Hextall had a number of players to take care of before shifting focus to his contract negotiations. Once some of the other pieces, like Kris Letang and Bryan Rust, were taken care of, Rakell said getting his deal done was a relatively smooth process.
"I would say it went pretty quick for us," he said. "I always knew, going back to last season, I knew that management had a lot of work in front of them with Malkin and Tanger and Rusty getting new contracts. I was just trying to sit back and wait for my turn, basically. It went smooth, it went fast."
After last season ended, Rakell returned home to his wife in Anaheim. She gave birth to their first child, Daisy, several weeks ago. He said being a father has been a life-changing experience and that it helped get his mind off of his contract situation.
In 19 games with the Penguins last season, Rakell scored four goals and had nine assists, five of which were primary. 11 of his 13 points came at five-on-five.
Rakell predominantly played on Evgeni Malkin's wing and is looking forward to building more chemistry with him.
"I was super happy to see he (Malkin) signed his contract, as well. I think for the two of us, if we can find some more chemistry and get some more time in training camp and get to know each other a little bit better, I think we can be really good. He’s such a great player and (I) just gotta find a way to be successful with him."
Rakell also spent some time flanking Sidney Crosby. The Penguins absolutely dominated during that time. I asked how he felt playing with one of the greatest of all-time and how they were able to produce such overwhelmingly strong results.
“I thought we had some really good games together," he said. "He’s really easy to play with, I was just trying to stay open. He plays a really fast game and he can find you whenever you’re in a good scoring position. That was just my impression of playing with him, just basically keep my stick on the ice and be ready, and just try to relax, play my kind of game and it usually ends up pretty good.”
It was tough for Rakell to spend the majority of the Penguins' first-round Stanley Cup playoff series in the press box due to a concussion, but he said that just gives him more fuel for next season.
"I had so much fun playing with this team in a short period of time last year and I’m just super excited to see where it can go from here, and how I can elevate my type of game and help as much as I can."
