Rick Tocchet is walking back his criticism of Matvei Michkov.
The Philadelphia Flyers coach was hard on the rookie last season, both in public and behind closed doors, but he now says he regrets pushing him that way. The shift is one of the bigger items in the latest NHL chatter, and it adds another layer to a story that already had plenty of noise around Michkov’s debut year.
That wasn’t the only notable Canadian angle floating around either. MacKenzie Weegar, a Canadian playing for Utah, has been speaking up for Canada at a time when, as TSN put it, American players either won’t be traded to Canada or want out. The issue is being framed as something bigger than people want to talk about, and Weegar’s stance has become part of that conversation.
There’s also still a steady stream of speculation around Alexander Nikishin. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic included a bold prediction that the unsigned RFA defenseman will be traded to the St.
Louis Blues. The rumblings haven’t gone away, and in this case the chatter keeps circling back to one team.
Back in Pittsburgh, the Penguins’ forward group is crowded to the point of absurdity. PHN+ notes the club has about 20 forwards who could play in the NHL this season, which is far more than most teams carry.
The question hanging over that depth chart is whether the overload is tied to trade talks that never got across the finish line. There are also some prospect changes in the mix, with one player now stuck in an unfair spot.
The Penguins aren’t the only local team with a roster puzzle. On the Steelers side, Alan Saunders is urging patience with Roman Wilson despite some missteps, while also asking what the plan is at safety. After a week of prep for Game 1, he laid out the main takeaways from the team’s work.
And over with the Pirates, the season hasn’t turned around just yet, but the energy is different. They’re still under .500 and outside the playoff picture, yet they’ve been fighting. Their win over the San Francisco Giants came with small-ball and bullpen help, and the club is still scrapping instead of fading.
Elsewhere in the league, the New Jersey Devils made the week’s most surprising move by sending a first- and second-round pick to the Nashville Predators for Luke Evangelista. The player said he was taken aback when he spoke with the media on Thursday, but the Devils are moving forward with the deal.
On the lighter side of the hockey world, Sportsnet’s division-by-division look at one player who needs to step up included the Metropolitan Division, and that meant a Penguins name got pulled into the discussion. Sportsnet also had a big preseason night for Medicine Hat, where the Rucks were featured alongside younger brother Landon. Markus and Liam posed with their new teammate, and Liam finished the night with a hat trick.
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 🡒]