Penguins’ projected production focus shifts to the second tier with Egor Chinakhov and other role players

Pittsburgh’s 2026-27 outlook is starting to take shape around a familiar idea in hockey analysis, the difference between a team that competes for a playoff spot and a team that separates itself often comes from role players delivering consistent production. In a recent preview of Penguins player over/under projections, the attention is directed to a group that sits just outside the franchise’s primary core, including Egor Chinakhov, Rickard Rakell, Tommy Novak, Elmer Soderblom and Samuel Girard.

The framing is straightforward. These are not expected to be the Penguins’ youngest development pieces, and they also are not categorized as pure depth. Instead, the projection exercise treats them as players who should see enough minutes, touches and matchup opportunities to produce results that matter to a full-season body of work. In that sense, the analysis is less about identifying surprise breakout candidates and more about testing whether Pittsburgh’s secondary layer can land on the range of outcomes the projections assume.

Egor Chinakhov is positioned at the center of the discussion. The emphasis on him reflects how teams tend to build around a top-end attack and then require middle-six scoring to stabilize scoring depth across different game states. When a winger in Chinakhov’s lane is expected to produce, it is usually because the roster structure places him in situations where he can influence even-strength play, supplement power-play elements, or provide a dependable option when Pittsburgh is not controlling play at full tilt.

The same logic reaches outward to the other names in the list. Rickard Rakell brings the type of experienced, two-way scoring profile that, in a season projection, often functions as a stabilizer when younger players or more situational choices are not producing at the same rate. Tommy Novak is included as another piece in the secondary production framework, reflecting the way centers and wingers who can win their share of role minutes become crucial once games tighten and scoring chances have fewer margin-for-error moments.

Elmer Soderblom and Samuel Girard round out the group, with the article’s selection suggesting that Pittsburgh’s 2026-27 production picture is not only about forwards and goals. Defense contributions and complementary offense are typically part of the “secondary” lens as well, particularly when teams want to maintain pace and shot generation without overexposing their top core.

What is important to understand is what this type of over/under preview does and does not do. It is a forecast tool, rooted in past usage patterns and expectation ranges, not a guarantee of season-long performance. Because the projections in this case are described as “projected” and attached to a role-based group, they function more as a checklist than a certainty, and they become most useful when you track how each player is used as the regular season gets closer to its real constraints: line combinations, special teams deployment, and opponents’ adjustment strategies.