The Penguins are about to get back to work, and the timing feels right. Their prospects open the season next weekend at the Prospects Challenge in Detroit, and a day or so later, training camp begins. After a long offseason, the real stuff is finally close.
This summer didn’t unfold the way Pittsburgh expected, but Kyle Dubas has kept pushing the organization in a clear direction. He used the 2025 draft to stock the system with talent deep into the board, headlined by first-round pick Ben Kindel, and he has also added younger pieces through trades over the past year, including Egor Chinakhov, Connor Dewar, and Kaedan Korczak.
With that backdrop, here’s the cleanest way to sort through the Penguins’ outlook:
The first thing to expect is movement. Trades are coming, even if the exact timing is still unclear.
Dubas has made it plain he’s looking for a centerpiece for the rebuild, or at least some useful additions around it. Jason Robertson was the big name in the mix, but Pittsburgh didn’t close the deal.
There are surely other targets out there, though many are already gone, and Dubas has kept the details close to the vest. The problem is price: top-end players now cost four major assets, and the Penguins don’t have that kind of package to hand over yet.
Whether the roster starts to swing in or swing out, changes are on the way.
The offense should be better, too. Last season’s Penguins scored 293 goals, which was third-most in the league behind only the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche.
They were dangerous all year, and there’s a good chance they take another step forward. Egor Chinakhov will be around for a full season.
Nick Robertson is expected to have a bigger role and could reach 20 goals. Elmer Soderblom should bring more offense than Noel Acciari’s 25 points over the course of a season.
Even the third defense pair should help the team keep the puck more than last year’s version did.
There’s also reason to think the power play stays dangerous. It scored 56 goals last season, ninth-best in the NHL, and as long as Erik Karlsson is running the unit and Todd Nelson has a chalkboard, it shouldn’t fall off too far.
But more scoring may be a necessity, because the rest of the roster still has issues. The Penguins did not improve their defensive coverage up front, the blue line could be a wild ride, and the goaltending may swing between strong and shaky with the young but inconsistent Arturs Silovs and rookie Sergei Murashov.
That’s why a playoff return looks unlikely. Last year’s run had a lot going for it: career years from a bunch of players, injuries that broke the right way, and a weak Eastern Conference.
A repeat of all that is hard to see. Anthony Mantha scoring 33 goals was part of the perfect storm.
The East is also in much better shape now. Toronto is bouncing back after a down year that landed it the first overall pick and Gavin McKenna.
New Jersey has a fresh start under new GM Sunny Mehta. Washington looks stronger with Alex Tuck and Jordan Kyrou.
The Islanders have a major upgrade behind the bench with coach Pete DeBoer. And the Florida Panthers, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, spent the summer getting healthy and adding Brady Tkachuk.
All of those teams missed the playoffs last season, and that’s the point: the conference isn’t giving anyone a free pass anymore. Pittsburgh finished with 98 points, but a drop of just three wins would have left them with 92 and likely on the outside looking in. The Penguins may not be as good as they were last season, and even if they are, the teams around them look better.
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 🡒]