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Poll: Who makes up for James Neal’s goals in Pittsburgh?

Sidney Crosby, James Neal, Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin

Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby (87) celebrates his goal with Evgeni Malkin (71), James Neal (18), and Chris Kunitz (14) in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Saturday, March 22, 2014, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

When the Penguins dealt James Neal to the Nashville Predators for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling, it was viewed as a necessary change. Whether it was because of Neal’s penchant for playing things on the edge or not is up for debate, but one thing he did a lot of in Pittsburgh was score goals.

Over the past three seasons, no one in a Penguins uniform scored more goals than Neal. Not Chris Kunitz, not Evgeni Malkin, not even Sidney Crosby. Now with Neal in Music City, the question now is: Who picks up the slack?

The obvious answer would be Hornqvist. In Nashville, the big Swede was able to make a living parking around the net and scoring the dirty brands of goals guys like Tomas Holmstrom and Dino Ciccarelli became known for. With the Pens, putting him around the net while Malkin, Crosby, Kunitz, and Letang fire away could mean he becomes a power play beast.

Then there’s 2014 first-round pick Kasperi Kapanen. He has the speed and skill but he’s young and untested in the NHL. If he makes the team out of training camp it could be him. Then again, the Pens’ big guns of Crosby, Malkin, and Kunitz could just all step up themselves and make up the difference.

So who pulls it off the most? That’s what we want you to answer.

[polldaddy poll=8259601]

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