The Pittsburgh Penguins have spent the Kyle Dubas era talking about getting younger, but the roster heading into training camp tells a different story.
That’s the tension at the heart of Josh Yohe’s latest look at the team for The Athletic, where he framed Pittsburgh’s burning question as simple: is there room for the young guys? Right now, the answer looks cloudy at best.
“Ville Koivunen just got paid. Rutger McGroarty is a significant prospect.
Avery Hayes looked like he belonged last season. But the Penguins are staggeringly deep at forward,” Yohe wrote.
That depth is the problem. Instead of creating openings and letting younger players force their way into the lineup, Pittsburgh appears set to roll into camp with another veteran-heavy group. The club has talked for a while about leaning into its younger talent, but the current setup doesn’t seem to leave much runway for that to happen.
Yohe pushed the point further when he asked, “Is there any room for these three forwards [Koivunen, McGroarty, and Hayes] when the season begins?” And if the answer is no, he added, “And if there’s not, what does that say about a youth movement that should be underway?”
That’s the awkward reality for a team that has repeatedly said it wants to transition toward younger players while Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang are still part of the picture. The words and the roster construction don’t line up cleanly.
Koivunen’s new eight-year contract makes the situation even more striking, because there’s still not much of a clear path for him to crack the opening roster out of camp. McGroarty and Hayes are in the same boat. The Penguins may only have one or two forward jobs available, and that’s being generous.
The blue line adds another layer of uncertainty, too. The projected defensive pairings don’t look settled, and the overall construction of the roster leaves more questions than answers as camp opens.
If the idea was to push the Penguins toward the playoffs with a veteran group, that’s the direction they’ve taken. But if the goal was to accelerate a youth movement, the offseason didn’t do much to help. Right now, Pittsburgh looks crowded, uncertain, and short on obvious openings for the next wave of forwards.
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