If the Penguins are to contend with the Capitals, Bruins, and Lightning for Eastern Conference supremacy, they're going to need to be able to roll four lines.
The Jason Zucker trade has already made the Pens deeper. He's forced Patric Hornqvist onto the Penguins fourth line.
Instead of three players from Wilkes-Barre, now the fourth line has two, plus a player who scored the game winning goal in the Stanley Cup Final.
Hornqvist scored two goals and registered an apple on another in the Pens 5-1 win over the Red Wings on Sunday. He also played nearly 14 minutes of ice time. That's a far cry from the roughly four minutes that Alex Galchenyuk had been averaging at the end of his Penguins career.
Ideally if/when the Pens get healthy, the "fourth" line will be McCann/Bjugstad/Hornqvist.
If that's the case, this team has a shot to win the East, and ultimately the cup.