The Penguins’ crease is still the kind of place that can swing a season in a hurry, and the early read on 2026-27 is pretty simple: there’s no easy answer in net, but there is reason to keep watching.
Last summer, the conversation started with Alex Nedeljkovic being shipped to San Jose, which opened the door for an unknown in Arturs Silovs. That uncertainty didn’t go away in 2025-26.
If anything, it got messier. Stuart Skinner finished 45th with a .900 5v5 save percentage, Silovs was 51st at .893%, and Tristan Jarry, after being traded, landed just ahead of him at .894%.
The Penguins still finished 20th overall with a .901% 5v5 save percentage, helped by the fact that Jarry and Skinner each spent part of the season with Edmonton.
The raw save percentage numbers tell one story, but they don’t tell all of it. Pittsburgh’s defense was leaky enough to make life miserable for its goalies, sure, but the Penguins weren’t simply getting buried every night.
Natural Stat Tricks had them 23rd in 5v5 scoring chances allowed and high-danger scoring chances allowed, yet they were 14th in 5v5 high-danger save percentage. Skinner and Jarry also posted strong Goals Saved Above Average numbers even while their save percentages sat low.
That fits with another important number: NST tracked expected 5v5 goals allowed of nearly 183, while the Penguins actually gave up 173 at 5v5. In other words, the goaltenders gave the team real help, even if the headline stats didn’t always look flattering.
Still, projecting forward is tricky. Pittsburgh didn’t make much in the way of upgrades on the blue line, and the way this team is built points toward a faster, looser style that leans into trading chances and trying to outscore problems.
Dan Muse saw that formula work last season, and there’s little reason to think the Penguins are suddenly going to become a possession-and-defend team overnight. That’s bad news for goalie stat lines.
It’s not the kind of environment that usually produces a big individual performance in net.
There is some hope in the mix. Silovs had his best stretch in the playoffs late in the year, and he wasn’t fully healthy after dealing with a late-season knee injury.
He could absolutely be better in 2026-27 than he was a year ago. As was noted last month, he’s also now the most veteran and experienced goalie in the organization, even though he was still considered a rookie by NHL standards in 2025-26.
Then there’s Sergei Murashov, the wild card. His excellent AHL season last year gives the Penguins something real to dream on, and he has the talent and athleticism to push for more.
But even if he hits, the setup in Pittsburgh probably won’t hand him a clean runway to rack up a shiny GAA or save percentage. The team’s structure just doesn’t point that way.
That’s why the Penguins’ goaltending outlook feels so open-ended. The club can score, and it can give its goalies some breathing room by outlasting defensive breakdowns.
What it needs is someone who can survive the tough stretches and keep games within reach. Silovs flashed that in Games 4-6 of the playoffs last season, and Pittsburgh will need more of that, plus some rookie magic, if it wants a solid 2026-27 and another push back toward the playoffs.
The lesson from last year still holds: asking “what if the Penguins get better goaltending next season” is the right question. They didn’t really get a huge bump in save percentage, but they did get enough GSAA from the trio to have a better overall season in 2025-26 than in 2024-25. The challenge now is repeating that, or somehow improving on it, with a new mix in net and, possibly, Joel Blomqvist waiting to get involved too.
In Other News...
Bryan Rust Still Carries A Huge Penguins Question Into 2026-27
Bryan Rust is about to begin his 13th NHL season with the Penguins, and the familiar expectations around him have not changed much. He has been one of the most dependable parts of the lineup for years, with at least 20 goals in seven straight seasons, and he still looks set to matter in all the ways Pittsburgh has come to rely on him - on Sidney Crosbys top line, on the penalty kill, and wherever the power play ends up needing him.
Rust also enters the season on the doorstep of a career milestone, sitting just shy of 300 assists as he prepares for his 711th NHL game. For a player who has spent so long as a steady two-way piece, the bigger question is less about whether he will have a role and more about how the Penguins choose to use him as the season unfolds, especially if his deployment on special teams shifts in a different direction. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Face A Roster Decision That Could Change Trade Talk
The Penguins are still in the middle of the kind of roster conversation that can quietly shape an entire offseason, and Tommy Novaks contract situation is part of what makes it tricky. For a team that has already been the subject of plenty of trade chatter, every move or non-move around the roster carries extra weight, especially when the front office is trying to balance immediate needs with longer-term flexibility.
What makes this one worth watching from Pittsburghs side is the possibility that the next decision could alter how much more trade business is coming. Penguins fans have been bracing for one kind of deadline-style activity, but the Novak discussion has opened the door to a different outcome, and the range of what happens next may be wider than it first looked. [Read more 🡒]