The Pittsburgh Penguins have spent much of this season chasing the version of themselves they expected to see, and too often it’s slipped away just as things started to look encouraging. The problem has been less about one bad stretch and more about a handful of key names simply not delivering the way the team needs.
That starts with Sidney Crosby, whose opening to the year has been rough enough to make him one of the surprise question marks on the roster. He’s not the only one under the microscope, though. Several other players the Penguins were counting on - from established wingers to offseason bets to a young goalie with buzz - have fallen short of expectations.
Rickard Rakell was supposed to help absorb some of the damage caused by injuries around the lineup, but that hasn’t happened. Instead, he’s become a concern in the top six, and Pittsburgh doesn’t have many internal answers waiting behind him. His name is already floating in trade talk, though his value is likely lower than it has ever been.
Bryan Rust has been effective when he’s actually available, but availability has been the issue. He has played in just five games so far, and while his performance in those appearances has been solid, staying in the lineup has been the real problem. With trade rumors also circling, it has not been a smooth start for him either.
Declan Carlile was one of the Penguins’ offseason swings, the kind of move teams hope turns into a hidden win. Instead, it has gone the other way.
He has been unplayable in recent weeks, and there doesn’t appear to be an easy fix. The best answer might be to take him out of the lineup and let other internal options step in while he tries to sort things out.
Egor Chinakhov has had some missed time, but even when he’s been on the ice, he hasn’t made much of an impact. That’s a sharp drop from his breakout season with Pittsburgh last year, especially since his situation around him hasn’t changed all that much.
The biggest issue is simple: he hasn’t scored enough. He has only two goals, and that’s not enough for this team.
Then there’s Crosby again, because the captain’s name belongs in this conversation twice over. The Penguins can point fingers elsewhere, but he hasn’t produced at the level they need.
His top-line linemates haven’t helped, and the question now is whether this is just a slow start or something more troubling. Perhaps Father Time is finally catching up to Crosby, or maybe the franchise icon needs a little bit of time to get into the swing of things.
In goal, Sergei Murashov is another early-season disappointment, even if it feels a little harsh to say that about a goalie who has helped keep Pittsburgh in games it had no business being in. Still, compared with the expectations that followed him into the season, the story hasn’t matched the hype. There’s time for that to change, but the fairytale version of the start hasn’t shown up yet.
In Other News...
Penguins Just Created A New Opening For Rutger McGroarty
Rutger McGroarty is back with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after Pittsburgh reassigned the young forward, a move that trims the NHL roster but also keeps the door cracked open for him. Since breaking in during the 2024-25 season, McGroarty has appeared in 34 NHL games and put up four goals and nine points, while his work in the AHL has continued to show why the Penguins view him as a real part of their future.
For now, the assignment gives Pittsburgh a little more flexibility up front and keeps McGroarty in a place where he can keep building confidence and production. He has already shown he can handle the minors with scoring touch and strong underlying numbers over two seasons, so the next step may depend less on what he does in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and more on how the Penguins manage the rest of their roster in the days ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Loss Just Raised Bigger Questions About Where This Team Is Headed
The loss to the Canadiens did more than add another mark in the standings for Pittsburgh, it sharpened the sense that this season is drifting toward a tougher conversation about direction. There have been bright spots, including Tristan Jarrys consecutive shutouts, but the Penguins have also been living with the kind of uneven play that invites scrutiny from the coach and the front office alike.
Dan Muse now has a team that needs a reset in more ways than one, and the questions around the roster are only getting louder. Trade chatter keeps circling around names like Nikita Kucherov and Dylan Larkin, while the broader NHL landscape keeps moving around Pittsburgh, from Carolinas interest in Simon Edvinsson to the latest international hockey buzz, leaving the Penguins to decide what kind of next step they really want to take. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Defensive Problems Are Becoming Harder To Ignore
The defensive issues that have followed the Penguins through October were back in plain view after the loss to Montreal, and Dan Muse did not try to soften the picture. Pittsburgh has spent much of the month living with mistakes and breakdowns that turn routine shifts into dangerous moments, and the result has been a team that has struggled to find any consistency in its own end while the rest of the Metropolitan Division sorts itself out around it.
Muses comments fit a larger pattern for a club that has not been able to string together reliable defensive performances, even as the standings continue to tighten. The Penguins have been trying to keep pace in a division where every point matters, but the recurring problems around their net are making the margin for error awfully small, and the next stretch will say plenty about whether these are fixable habits or a more stubborn issue. [Read more 🡒]