The offseason rumor mill is already spinning up, and Connor McDavid is right back at the center of it. The chatter started on 97.5 the Fan in Philadelphia and spread to Montreal, with former players feeding the latest trade speculation. As always, the credibility of that noise is another story.
A lot of the wildest claims are still living on fake rumor accounts and anonymous “insider” pages, the kind that toss around phrases like “according to multiple reports” and then stretch things far beyond what’s actually been reported. One especially bad example floated, “Penguins in Advanced Talks for Shane Wright.” That one, to be clear, had no backing anywhere close to that.
The bigger point is that fans are getting better at sorting out who’s actually reporting and who’s just making noise. If someone doesn’t cover a team or work in the business, the odds are overwhelming that the tip is fake. The fake stuff may be more entertaining, but it’s still fake.
Connor Bedard also made news after signing his new five-year, $75 million deal. At his press conference, he made it clear his future is in Chicago, and he also went a step further by campaigning for Patrick Kane to return to the Blackhawks.
In Pittsburgh, PHN tried to tackle one of the hardest questions in the sport: what does a realistic Penguins rebuild timeline actually look like? The answer came with specifics, and it was framed as the foundation for a larger stretch of stories leading toward a big event Saturday.
Around the rest of the hockey world, Boone Jenner’s new four-year deal with the Washington Capitals drew plenty of criticism, but Jenner sounded ready for the challenge. The move came on July 1, and the reaction has been split. Still, the view from one corner was that the Capitals were right to make the bet on a 33-year-old who brings leadership and a warrior’s edge.
Elsewhere, Anthony Mantha is now a New Jersey Devils winger on a two-year contract, and the expectation is that he’ll be aiming for a bigger payday in a year. James Nichols dug into what the Devils are getting from Mantha, speaking with people who have covered him to get a clearer picture of his fit in New Jersey.
On the local front beyond hockey, Pittsburgh Baseball Now reported that four college pitchers signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Steelers Now also noted Aaron Rodgers posting photos on social media showing him working to patch things up in his family life.
In Other News...
Penguins Offseason Suddenly Hinges On One Outside Decision
The Penguins offseason picture has turned into a waiting game, and not just because of what happens in Pittsburgh. Around the league, arbitration and offer-sheet fallout are still shaping how teams plan their next moves, while the Penguins are left sorting through their own priorities with a prospect pipeline that suddenly looks a lot more encouraging than it did a year ago. The organizations recent rankings paint a rosy view of the future, with the usual top-five, top-20 and trade-value debates giving a better sense of where the system stands.
Kyle Dubas, though, is still being nudged in one direction even as he seems intent on steering another, which is why the next outside decision matters so much to the Penguins. If the market keeps shifting around them, Pittsburghs options could change quickly, and the front office will have to decide whether to keep leaning into patience or accelerate the plan. For a team trying to balance the present with a brighter-looking future, that tension may end up defining the summer. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Rebuild Timeline Suddenly Feels Like A Bigger Dubas Test
Kyle Dubas has spent much of Pittsburghs rebuild trying to keep two timelines moving at once, protecting the value of veteran stars while also giving the organization a real young core to grow into. The problem is the middle ground has been thin. The Penguins have prospects and a few players knocking on the door, but not nearly enough of the in-between talent that usually helps a team bridge from one era to the next, so Dubas is left trying to fill that gap through trades and faster-than-usual development.
Rutger McGroarty, Owen Pickering and Tristan Broz are all heading into seasons that should say a lot about how close they are to becoming everyday NHL pieces, while Harrison Brunicke has already pushed his timeline forward enough to make the next stage of his development worth watching closely. Even the 2025 draft class is still a few years away from being part of the answer, which is why the pressure on Pittsburghs current crop feels so immediate. The rebuild is no longer just about patience, it is about whether enough of these young players can arrive soon enough to matter. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Offseason Has Fans Asking If This Roster Got Any Better
The Penguins spent the offseason making a flurry of moves, adding Hendrix Lapierre, Kaden Korczak, Nick Robertson, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Andrei Kuzmenko and Declan Carlile in an effort to reshape a roster that needed more than cosmetic touch-ups. On paper, it is the kind of activity that suggests urgency, but the real question in Pittsburgh is whether these transactions actually solved anything or simply rearranged the same problems in different spots.
There is some upside in the mix, but there are also clear fit questions hanging over the group, especially on defense where the right side already looks crowded and the left side still lacks clean answers. Lapierre came at a premium for a player whose NHL offense has been limited, Kuzmenko is another bet with a history that makes him hard to project, and the overall picture leaves fans wondering whether the Penguins added depth, confusion, or a little of both. [Read more 🡒]