The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in a familiar, ugly place, and the numbers through November 13 tell the story. They sit third last in the Eastern Conference with 16 points, and the season has already started to look a lot like 2024-25: bad losses against the league’s best, routine wins over the teams they’re supposed to handle, and almost no sense of consistency from night to night.
That lack of stability has bled into everything. The Penguins have struggled in just about every on-ice area, and the roster construction isn’t helping.
The locker room culture can’t be in a good spot for a team built around Sidney Crosby and Co., especially with so many holdovers from last season still around. At the same time, other NHL teams have already caught on to Dan Muse’s system, and it’s starting to look stale and predictable.
Kyle Dubas appears ready to move just about anyone except 87 and 81.
The bigger question is whether that means the Penguins are finally waving the white flag only two months into the season. Reports around the team point toward a fire sale of veterans, with the idea being to turn the roster over to younger, faster players and start building around fresh blood in an aging Pittsburgh lineup.
That youth movement is already sitting there, waiting for a chance. Rutger McGroarty, Harrison Brunicke, Bill Zonnon, Avery Hayes, Tristan Broz, Owen Pickering, J ake Livanavage and others are all being blocked by older veterans who aren’t producing enough. Dubas seems to want to clear out that veteran core so those players can finally get full-time NHL minutes and the organization can commit to a rebuild that, in the view of the piece, should have happened three or four years ago.
The problem is that moving those veterans may not be simple. A lot of them carry no-move or modified no-move clauses, which gives them real control over what happens next. Rickard Rakell already reportedly turned down a trade that would have sent him to Chicago, even though Dubas and Kyle Davidson were in agreement on it.
The future of the franchise’s biggest names is also hanging in the air. Sidney Crosby does not have a contract extension, Evgeni Malkin could be traded this season, Erik Karlsson is as good as gone, and Kris Letang could also emerge as a wild-card trade candidate. For Penguins fans, that’s a rough reality to sit with as the legends edge closer to retirement or a move out of Pittsburgh.
Dubas, for his part, is facing a serious reckoning. The question of whether he has failed the players and the fanbase is very much on the table. Since taking over as president of hockey operations and general manager, with full autonomy and the support of two different ownership groups, the Penguins have won only one playoff series, and that run nearly ended in a sweep.
His tenure has included some rough contract calls, including the Ryan Graves contract, the Andrei Kuzmenko contract and the Tristan Jarry contract.
But there’s another side to the ledger. Dubas has drafted well, which has long been his strength, and he has also brought in players who have helped the club, including Elmer Soderblom, Nick Robertson, Erik Karlsson and Tommy Novak.
Still, the overall approach has been shaky. The last two years have featured a roster built by taking chances on players who needed a change of scenery or had struggled elsewhere, and that kind of model has not held up. This season is offering the clearest proof of that.
There’s also a goaltending issue that needs attention. As of November 13, Dan Muse has started Arturs Silovs 12 times and Sergei Murashov seven times. Murashov’s appearances have come in tough spots against strong opponents, while Silovs has been getting more consecutive starts, which could leave Murashov cold when he does get back in the net.
The answer, at least for now, looks like a return to the kind of split-start approach used last season. That would give both goalies a better chance to find some rhythm.
Right now, though, this has all the signs of another bottom-10 season for Pittsburgh. It’s shaping up to be another long, hard-to-watch ride for the Penguins.
In Other News...
Hurricanes Linked To A Major Trade Target They May Not Control
The Penguins blue line has become part of a larger trade conversation as teams around the league look for help, and Erik Karlsson keeps surfacing as one of the more intriguing names. Toronto would like to add a defenseman but is boxed in by the salary cap, which makes any move complicated unless it can clear money first. For Pittsburgh, that keeps Karlsson in the middle of a market that is still trying to sort out who can actually afford to do business.
Among the clubs kicking tires, Carolina has been tied most closely to Karlsson, which is enough to keep the rumor mill humming in Pittsburgh. But any path forward is not as simple as a team deciding it wants him and calling it a day, because the veteran defenseman still has say in where he goes. Until that part of the equation is settled, the interest around him remains just that - interest. [Read more 🡒]
WBS Penguins Let Rivalry Milestone Slip Away In Brutal Collapse
The 300th regular-season meeting between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey had all the markings of another hard-nosed chapter in a long rivalry, and for most of the night the Penguins looked ready to make it their own. They carried a 3-1 lead into the third period and had the game in hand before the Bears started clawing back, turning what should have been a landmark win into a tense finish.
Hershey finished the rally in overtime to steal a 4-3 victory, leaving the Penguins to sort through a collapse that will sting for a while. Taylor Gauthier was busy throughout the night, and Cal Petersen held up his end for the Bears as they found a way to turn a milestone game into a memorable comeback, one Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would have liked to close out much differently. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Practice Sent A Clear Message About A Roster Shakeup
Dan Muse used practice to reshuffle the Penguins lines, and the message from the morning skate was hard to miss. Rookie Sergei Murashov was being singled out as having secured a roster spot, giving the club a little clarity at a time when the lineup has been in flux and every adjustment feels like it carries a little extra weight.
Elsewhere on the ice, Bryan Rust and Elmer Soderblom were both on injured ice before practice, with Rust skating but not at full intensity. The broader picture around the Penguins is still changing too, with trade chatter continuing to swirl around Erik Karlsson and other names around the league, leaving the roster conversation very much alive even as one young player appears to have carved out his place. [Read more 🡒]