The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading into training camp with a roster squeeze that says a lot about where this thing stands right now.
On Tuesday night, the team reassigned 2025 second-rounder Peyton Kettles, 2026 third-rounder Pierce Mbuyi, and five other prospects back to junior hockey. With only three days of practice on the schedule before preseason games start and the club trimming from three practice groups to one, it’s hard to miss the message: there isn’t much room here, even for higher picks.
That’s what makes this feel so odd. It might be unprecedented for the organization not to invite a second-round pick to camp.
Or a third-rounder. And if those guys are already headed out before the first puck drop of camp, it’s fair to wonder how long others will stick around - including first-rounder Liam Ruck.
So much for camp being a place where young players can actually develop.
Instead, the Penguins are looking more and more like one of the league’s older teams again. The league around them keeps getting younger and, in plenty of cases, better.
The Washington Capitals have moved on from Nick Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, John Carlsson, and other core pieces.
The Philadelphia Flyers have cleared out enough and are now pointing toward a future where players like Porter Martone grow into something bigger. And the New Jersey Devils already have two top-nine forwards who are 25 or under.
The Penguins? Even if they wanted to build that way, could they really ice a lineup with five of their top nine players 25 or younger?
Right now, the answer looks like no. Ben Kindel and Egor Chinakhov are in the mix.
Maybe Nick Robertson makes it three. But none of the Penguins’ top six are under 30.
In fact, they’re not even under 33.
Even Koivunen and his eight-year contract look headed to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That’s not exactly how a youth pipeline is supposed to operate.
The other part of this is that the offseason chatter about trades never really turned into anything meaningful. There was plenty of expectation that the Penguins would shuffle some older pieces out and make room for something new.
Instead, the roster mostly stayed put. The team lost 33-year-old Anthony Mantha on July 1, then added 30-year-old Andrei Kuzmenko and 35-year-old defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk.
That doesn’t exactly scream youth movement.
It also leaves the same blunt question hanging over Geoff Hoffman and Kyle Dubas: what’s the actual plan for moving from this era to the next?
Because right now, the path for the prospects looks blocked. Dubas gave Philip Tomasino a long runway in 2024-25 and was willing to extend Tommy Novak in the middle of the lineup for 2025-26 and beyond, but Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Avery Hayes, Tristan Broz, and Owen Pickering all appear to be stuck behind the current group.
Ben Kindel doesn’t have a clear route to scoring-line minutes or meaningful power-play time, either. And even Egor Chinakhov, with his 90 mph wrister, may not get top power-play work.
For months, there’s been talk - and even some public acknowledgment - that trades were being pursued. But with camp about to begin, the logjam is still there. It looks a lot like the Parkway East at 5 p.m. on a Friday.
So what exactly is the plan?
In Other News...
Penguins Are Watching An NHL Standoff That Could Shift The Market
Connor Hellebuycks absence from training camp has become one of the more closely watched contract stories in the league, and it is the kind of standoff that can ripple beyond one goalies situation. Around the NHL, teams have been locking up young players to long-term deals, with Anaheim recently giving Cutter Gauthier a six-year contract and several other clubs following the same path, a sign that front offices are trying to buy certainty wherever they can find it.
For the Penguins, it is another market development worth tracking even as their own camp storylines settle in. Pittsburgh already trimmed the prospect group invited to camp, leaving seven players out, and the organization is still sorting through a mixed showing from its prospects in a recent tournament. If Hellebuycks situation pushes teams to think differently about how they handle elite talent, the Penguins will be watching closely to see whether it changes the pricing, the timing, or the leverage around the next move they need to make. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Just Doubled Down On A Very Pittsburgh Identity
The Penguins are deepening a partnership that already fits their city as neatly as black-and-gold hockey does. United States Steel Corporation will serve as the teams official helmet sponsor for the 2026-27 NHL season, putting the companys logo on every Penguins helmet, from home and road sets to alternate and practice lids. It is the latest sign of a relationship that dates back to 2021 and now comes with a much more visible place on the uniform.
The branding will first be on display when Pittsburgh takes the ice for its preseason game on Sept. 21, 2026. For a franchise that has long leaned into its industrial roots, the move feels especially on-brand, tying the club even more tightly to one of the citys most recognizable names. What remains to be seen is how the broader public will react once that logo is out there in full view every night. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Preseason Starts With One Huge Crosby Question
The Penguins are heading into preseason with plenty to sort through, and almost all of it traces back to the same place: how the veteran core fits into the 2026-27 season and beyond. Pittsburgh is also preparing for the NHLs expanded 84-game schedule, which only raises the importance of balancing the demands on its older players while giving younger hopefuls a real chance to stake out roster spots.
Sidney Crosbys contract situation is the biggest issue hanging over camp, even if it is not the only one. Evgeni Malkin is entering his 20th season, adding another layer to the conversation about how long this era can realistically last, while the preseason will double as a proving ground for young players trying to break through. For the Penguins, the coming weeks are less about exhibition results than about figuring out how the next version of the roster takes shape. [Read more 🡒]