Kyle Dubas has taken plenty of heat for the way he’s built the Penguins’ forward group this summer, and the biggest gripe is easy to spot: the pipeline looks crowded, with little room left for a deserving young player to break through. Still, if the roster stays intact and the veterans remain in black and gold, there’s another side to this picture. The Penguins may have enough firepower to pile up goals in a hurry.
Start at the top, where Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust already proved what they can do. Last season, that trio scored 82 goals even while missing a combined 46 games.
All three are now another year older and firmly into their 30s, but there’s no reason to expect a major drop-off. Crosby, now 39, probably isn’t chasing 40 goals anymore, yet a healthy season could still put him and his linemates around 30 apiece.
At the very least, 25 each feels like the floor.
The second line could be even more interesting. On paper, 65 to 70 goals from that group might sound ambitious, especially after Evgeni Malkin, Egor Chinakhov and Tommy Novak combined for 53 last season.
But Chinakhov’s 18 goals came in just over half a season, and with his shot, release and the chemistry he showed with his linemates, he could push toward 30 - maybe even 35. Malkin, despite the usual concerns that come with age and his injury history, is projected for 20.
Novak is expected to add 15.
Then comes the wild card: Andrei Kuzmenko, Nicholas Robertson and Ben Kindel. There’s real uncertainty here about how the three will fit together, or whether they’ll fit at all.
The numbers are tempting, though. Combined, they scored 46 goals in 2025-26, with 17 from Kindel, 16 from Robertson in Toronto and 13 from Kuzmenko in 52 games with the Kings.
If they catch fire, each could get to 20 goals or more. If not, they could land closer to 15 apiece.
Either way, it’s a boom-or-bust unit, and Kuzmenko and Robertson’s defensive issues could leave Kindel carrying more of the load at both ends of the ice, which might trim his offense.
The fourth line, meanwhile, looks built to chip in more than people might expect. Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte combined for 21 goals last season, while Avery Hayes and Elmer Söderblom added nine more as fill-ins.
That made 43 goals from the bottom group overall, a strong number by any standard. A more conservative call this time is 30 goals total, with 10 apiece from Dewar, Lizotte and whoever fills Noel Acciari’s spot, whether that’s Hayes, Söderblom, Rutger McGroarty, Justin Brazeau or some mix of those names.
Put the whole forward group together, and the ceiling is obvious. If everything breaks right, the Penguins could reach roughly 250 goals from their forwards alone. Add another 33 from the defense, as in last season, even if that’s a bit of a stretch, plus whatever comes from call-ups and fill-ins, and the black-and-gold could once again be one of the NHL’s most dangerous offensive teams.
In Other News...
Sidney Crosby Looms Over Penguins Camp For One Huge Reason
The Penguins prospects are already on the move, with Detroit set to be their base as they get ready for their first game next Saturday and begin the soft launch of the 2026-27 season. Even with the formal training camp start date still to come, informal skates are underway and the calendar is already filling up, with the first preseason game scheduled for Sept. 21 against Buffalo.
All of that naturally keeps Sidney Crosby at the center of everything in Pittsburgh. The bigger question hanging over camp is whether Crosby will extend his contract before the season gets going or enter the year in the final season of his current deal, a possibility that would only add more intrigue to every camp session, every preseason shift and every bit of news coming out of the organization. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Fans Will Have Strong Opinions On This Perfect Player Debate
The idea of building a perfect player out of todays Penguins is the kind of thought experiment that always gets fans talking, because it asks them to separate favorite names from favorite traits. Sidney Crosby is the obvious starting point for hockey IQ, while Erik Karlsson brings the kind of vision that changes how a play develops before it fully exists. Add Bryan Rusts mentality and Evgeni Malkins knack for delivering in big moments, and the result already feels like a snapshot of why Pittsburghs stars have defined so much of the franchises recent identity.
What makes the exercise more fun is how quickly it becomes a debate over which skill matters most, not just which player is best. Kris Letangs athleticism belongs in the mix, Egor Chinakhov supplies shot and finishing ability, and Elmer Soderblom offers the size piece that rounds out the build. Even without a final answer, the argument says plenty about how Penguins fans see the roster now: as a collection of distinct strengths, each one worth borrowing for a different part of the game. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Move Is Already Bigger Than A Routine Prospect Extension
The Penguins eight-year deal for prospect Ville Koivunen has already started to ripple beyond Pittsburgh, because it was the kind of commitment that other teams notice when they are weighing how to handle their own young talent. A move that might have looked routine on the surface suddenly feels like part of a larger conversation around how much value clubs are willing to lock in early, and it comes with the added backdrop of a market that is shifting around the league.
Elsewhere, the Canucks signing of defenseman Zeev Buium fit right into that same wide-ranging evaluation of prospect value, while the Red Wings were said to have asked for a top-line center in trade discussions involving Dylan Larkin. The Islanders have also admitted they are in a transition phase, and the Bruins used the 2025 NHL Draft to grab James Hagens sixth overall, all of which makes the Koivunen contract look less like a standalone decision and more like one more sign of how aggressively teams are trying to shape their future now. [Read more 🡒]