Getting to Know: Rickard Rakell

"He's an awesome guy."
That's how both Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust described their teammate Rickard Rakell, who joined the Penguins at the trade deadline in March after being acquired from Anaheim. He's been just as good a fit off the ice as he is on the ice, where he's slotted onto the top line alongside Sidney Crosby.

"I think just having a guy like that come into the locker room and just kind of fit right in and be a great guy makes things a little easier," Rust said.
Get to know more about the 28-year-old forward, who spent his entire NHL career in the Western Conference with the Ducks - who drafted him in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft - before coming to Pittsburgh.
HOCKEY NICKNAME: 'Raks'
"There's so many, but I think it's Raks," he said. "That's the most common one."
HOMETOWN: SOLLENTUNA, SWEDEN
Rakell and his siblings - brother Robin and sister Rebecka - were born and raised in the Stockholm suburb. Growing up, Rickard idolized Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mats Sundin because the Hockey Hall of Famer was from nearby Bromma, which is about a 20-minute drive.
Rickard also loved a fan favorite here in Pittsburgh, two-time Stanley Cup Champion Patric Hornqvist - who is also from Sollentuna. "He's seven years older. When I was 14, 15, he was a superstar at home," Rakell said. "He was a player I looked up to. I've spent some summertime workouts with him. There's been some great battles."
While Sollentuna is in southern Sweden, Rakell's wife Emmeli is from a town called Skelleftea in northern Sweden - which is where Marcus Pettersson and his girlfriend Beatrice also grew up.
When Rakell and Pettersson were teammates in Anaheim from 2017-19, they became really close, really fast, as did their significant others. Those bonds have only grown stronger since the Rakells recently moved closer to Marcus and Beatrice. And after getting traded here, Rickard spent all of half a day at a hotel before moving into the Pettersson household.Read more about the friendship between Rickard and Marcus, and their current living situation.
BABY GIRL RAKELL: DUE JUNE 2022
It's hard for Rickard to put into words how excited he is that Emmeli is expecting their first child, a baby girl, due in June.
"It still feels unreal to me," Rakell said. "Just knowing and getting closer and closer, I'm getting more and more excited about it. It's definitely gonna change things for us. I can't wait."
Instagram from @rickardrakell: Mom & Dad est. summer 2022🍼 I love you @emmelirakell ❤️
Their new addition will join Black Labs Stella and … wait for it … Heinz! And yes, the puppy is named for Pittsburgh. Right now, Emmeli and the dogs are staying in California because she is unable to fly because of her pregnancy. But Rickard hopes that eventually, Heinz gets the chance to potentially run around his namesake football stadium.
"We got him when he was a year old from a breeder, and his name was already Heinz," Rakell said. "So I did ask her how he got that name, and she said that it was from Heinz Field. So it's a pretty funny story of how I ended up here, and I hope he can come out here someday."
One of the tattoos on Rakell's sleeve is a rendering of Emmeli's eye, with him and Stella outlined within it. He got it before they got Heinz, so he said the plan is to add the good boy in at some point.
HIDDEN TALENT: PLAYING THE SAXOPHONE
Rakell decided that for his wedding, he was going teach himself how to play the saxophone. "It was COVID and everything, and I don't play a lot of video games, so I figured I had to kill off some time," said Rakell, who ended up having even more time than he expected as the couple had to push back their original date because of the pandemic.
Rakell had never played an instrument before in his life, saying that it was "so hard" in the beginning. And whenever he struggled, Stella let him know.
"That's not an instrument that sounds very good (if you mess up). If I hit a bad note, my one dog, she was just out," Rakell said. "When I'm at home by myself, they always want to be close to us, but those were the times they'd leave the room."
But after plenty of practice, Rakell was able to perform the song 'No Man, No Cry' by Jimmy Sax at his nuptials that took place in August of 2021. "I had a lot of fun. It turned out well," he said.

But for as much as Emmeli appreciated the time and effort that led to the big moment at their big day, after a certain point she reached Stella's level of patience.
"I had to practice at home, so she is so over it now," Rakell said with a laugh. "She wouldn't let me bring the saxophone over when we came from Sweden."
FAVORITE SPORTS BESIDES HOCKEY: ANYTHING WITH A RACKET
Rickard's late grandfather Áke Rakell, who went by Gunnar, was a Swedish international table tennis player. He won a bronze medal at the 1959 World Championships, and Rakell said his competitive spirit never died out.
"He was so passionate about table tennis," Rakell said with a laugh. "Even though he was old, he was going and practicing every day almost. He would not let us win. That's the thing I remember. He would show off a little bit, but then it was over. I think if you play a really good ping pong player, you can think that you're pretty good until you play somebody who knows what he's doing."
Then Rickard's dad Roland is a tennis coach back home, so the kids played a lot of that growing up as well - in addition to hockey, of course. "If we've been doing something as a family, it usually involves sports," Rickard said. "Kind of the story of our family. It's so much fun."
Rickard said he can't live without his two screens: his iPad for watching Swedish reality shows through an app, like their version of Survivor, and his iPhone, so that he can FaceTime his family. He also never takes off the gold necklace that his mom Annika gave to him.
OTHER PASTIMES HE ENJOYS: FISHING AND COOKING
Scrolling through Rakell's Instagram account (@rickardrakell), it's clear that he loves being outdoors, as there's photos and videos of him camping, hiking and kayaking. But the activity he enjoys the most is fishing.
"I'm really into fishing, but I cannot say that I'm good," he said with a laugh. "I just buy different kinds of rods and lures, but I haven't seen that much fish back home, and that's unfortunate. I still need a fishing boat to really kind of give myself a chance. I keep telling myself that."
At the end of the day, he said he just really likes getting out on the water, scouring mostly for perch and pike.
When he's not outdoors, Rakell likes trying out recipes that he sees on Swedish cooking shows. Pettersson praised his chef skills, saying that Rakell recently made a really good pasta with saffron. He also makes a mean pasta Bolognese, which has become their pregame meal, along with Swedish dishes like sausage stroganoff that give them a little taste of home.
"I like trying new things," Rakell said.