The Penguins got a little breathing room this week, and in a season that’s already been heavy with unease, that mattered. Two wins won’t erase the noise around the team, but they did give the room a chance to exhale - even if the conversations around it still keep drifting back to the uneasy stuff.
Erik Karlsson is the clearest example. He hasn’t been around the media nearly as much lately, and that fits the reality hanging over his future.
There’s no trade on the doorstep, but there also doesn’t seem to be any other ending to his Penguins stint unless the team suddenly catches fire. Karlsson did speak after the game in San Jose, but when reporters were allowed into the room Friday, he was already on his way out.
That same day, TSN reported what had already been floating around: teams are interested in Karlsson, including the Carolina Hurricanes, and he’ll meet with general manager Kyle Dubas in January to talk through his plans. Karlsson knows it.
The room knows it. He was savvy enough to leave without taking questions, and at this point, that silence says plenty.
He’s been a valuable source of hockey insight over the last 18 months, so if he doesn’t want to talk, that’s fair. Sometimes the absence of words does the work.
Friday also brought a more immediate on-ice story: Declan Carlile, who spent a couple of weeks taking heat before the Penguins’ West Coast trip, is back in a better place. The mistakes were piling up, the turnovers were costly, and the criticism around his lineup spot got loud. Dan Muse moved him all over the defense - with Karlsson on the top pair, with Kaedan Korczak on the second, and with Kris Letang on the third.
On the trip, Carlile steadied himself. He had a couple of rough moments against Anaheim, but they didn’t end up in the net, and overall he looked much more like the dependable defender he was early in the season. After practice Friday, he was still wearing the evidence of the job: a split lip and a missing tooth, or teeth, after taking a puck to the face late in the session.
He said he was aware of Muse backing him before the road trip.
“I heard about it a little bit. I didn’t really see it on all social media with stuff, but yeah, no.
I mean, I appreciate it. Obviously, I respect him a lot, and he’s given me a good opportunity here so far this year,” Carlile told PHN.
“And obviously, it is what it is. And I’m happy that he thinks that I’m playing well because you know I feel like I’ve been playing well for the most part all year, so it’s been good.”
Muse’s support also lined up with the way he handled Carlile’s minutes. In the last two games of the trip, against Anaheim and San Jose, Carlile’s ice time dipped below 17 minutes per game. Even so, he held up well.
There’s also a bigger picture here. Carlile is 26, but last season was the first time he got a real NHL runway.
Before that, he spent three years at Merrimack, then most of three seasons in the AHL, before carving out a depth role and eventually helping the Tampa Bay Lightning for 42 games when Victor Hedman and others were out. Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has already said he “kicked himself” for not claiming him on waivers early last season.
Carlile, though, isn’t carrying himself like a player rattled by any of it.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s something I prepared for a long time. I’v e played pro hockey for five years now.
“I think it’s just taking the opportunity that’s presented itself. I think I’ve kind of done that my whole career, and just try to play my game.
And (my game) is hard. It’s defending.
It’s doing the right things at the right time. And yeah, I think it’s just one of those things where it’s a new team, a new system that I haven’t played before, and obviously learning it and learning how to play with different guys.
Obviously, I haven’t gotten a chance to play with any of these guys before this season either. So I think it’s all coming together right now.”
Nick Robertson is giving the Penguins a different kind of useful. Fans have quickly warmed to the 25-year-old winger, who has seven goals in 19 games, and the fit has worked out in a way that doesn’t quite match the pre-season script.
For years, Robertson was a familiar name on trade boards. Now he’s in Pittsburgh, and instead of being slotted into a pure scoring role, he’s found a lane that leans on his defensive game too.
He’s noticed the shift himself.
“I think (what I’ve added to my game) is the PK. I think PK and five-on-six for me is something new and more D-zone starts.
Obviously, when I was playing with Dewey and Lizzo, so I think that part of my game, the defensive side, the relied upon part of the game, other than the offense and stuff that I was used to before, I think that part of my game kind of ignited a new area of my game to focus on,” Robertson told us. “I know it’s cliché, but I’ve taken kind of ownership of being a complete player.
I want to play in every aspect and in serious situations.”
He’ll be on the third line Saturday, his third different third line in as many games. The goals are there, but the Penguins still haven’t settled on the perfect spot for him.
In Other News...
Hurricanes Linked To A Major Trade Target They May Not Control
The Penguins blue line has become part of a larger trade conversation as teams around the league look for help, and Erik Karlsson keeps surfacing as one of the more intriguing names. Toronto would like to add a defenseman but is boxed in by the salary cap, which makes any move complicated unless it can clear money first. For Pittsburgh, that keeps Karlsson in the middle of a market that is still trying to sort out who can actually afford to do business.
Among the clubs kicking tires, Carolina has been tied most closely to Karlsson, which is enough to keep the rumor mill humming in Pittsburgh. But any path forward is not as simple as a team deciding it wants him and calling it a day, because the veteran defenseman still has say in where he goes. Until that part of the equation is settled, the interest around him remains just that - interest. [Read more 🡒]
WBS Penguins Let Rivalry Milestone Slip Away In Brutal Collapse
The 300th regular-season meeting between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey had all the markings of another hard-nosed chapter in a long rivalry, and for most of the night the Penguins looked ready to make it their own. They carried a 3-1 lead into the third period and had the game in hand before the Bears started clawing back, turning what should have been a landmark win into a tense finish.
Hershey finished the rally in overtime to steal a 4-3 victory, leaving the Penguins to sort through a collapse that will sting for a while. Taylor Gauthier was busy throughout the night, and Cal Petersen held up his end for the Bears as they found a way to turn a milestone game into a memorable comeback, one Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would have liked to close out much differently. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Practice Sent A Clear Message About A Roster Shakeup
Dan Muse used practice to reshuffle the Penguins lines, and the message from the morning skate was hard to miss. Rookie Sergei Murashov was being singled out as having secured a roster spot, giving the club a little clarity at a time when the lineup has been in flux and every adjustment feels like it carries a little extra weight.
Elsewhere on the ice, Bryan Rust and Elmer Soderblom were both on injured ice before practice, with Rust skating but not at full intensity. The broader picture around the Penguins is still changing too, with trade chatter continuing to swirl around Erik Karlsson and other names around the league, leaving the roster conversation very much alive even as one young player appears to have carved out his place. [Read more 🡒]