​Last summer we highlighted potential surprise players for the Penguins with a spotlight on Filip Hallander (no), Harrison Brunicke (kinda but not really), Alex Alexeyev (no) and Arturs Silovs (yep). 1.5 out of four is a .375 batting average that would look pretty good in baseball, at least. With hindsight, there were no shortage of players who ended up being major positive surprises like Kindel, Parker Wotherspoon, Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau and Ryan Shea at the top, with the total number impressive performances exceeding expectations stretching all over the lineup. Finding basically a point per game winger in Egor Chinakhov wasn’t one that many had in the sights either at this time last season, showing that the best surprises are ones that aren’t even on the radar ahead of time.With that in mind, who could be some players that make a major mark on next season? For this, I’m not going to consider Sergei Murashov – most expect he will be in the NHL and while it would be a surprise if he plays at a high level, it’s not exactly out of the range of possibilities that no one would have expected. That’s too easy of a development to see on the horizon to stretch the surprise element. I’m not going to go with Andrei Kuzmenko either, though he might have a large impact on the season since he’s a guy with a 39-goal, 74-point NHL season under his belt. Seeing him producing points when given an opportunity wouldn’t be a shock, even though it would be a nice development if he performs a little better than the general expectation.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt isn’t going out on a huge limb to point out that Carlile will have the opportunity to make a big impact, but this is the showcase example of probably the casual fan looking up in the middle of the year and thinking ‘wow who is this guy’. The Penguins have a history of success when it comes to plucking defenders out of obscurity and see their stocks rise as a result, with Wotherspoon and Shea being prime recent examples. Carlile, as one of the few NHL caliber left defenders with the organization, should be in-line for as big of a role as he can handle. His underlying metrics show that he just might have some potential for a Wotherspoon-esque glow up. For a surprise, Carlile would have to slot in as a top-four matchup defender and handle it pretty well. There’s no guarantee that will happen (even though he’s carrying a decent amount of excitement and hope), Carlile has only 46 career games under his belt and has never spent a full season in the NHL at this point. Then again, like Wotherspoon, Carlile could find himself practicing in September with Erik Karlsson – possibly never to surrender that spot for the balance of the season.It seems like Lapierre is very tertiary in the eyes of many right now, nearly forgotten given all the other, flashier acquisitions of the summer. A surprise for him would be getting a jersey consistently and making a positive impact. He