ANAHEIM, Calif. - For the Penguins, the hard part isn’t just the losses piling up. It’s the in-between.
The roster shift everyone can see coming is still just that - coming. And as much as it might look tidy in theory, this kind of turnover rarely works like a clean handoff. The Penguins are headed toward a younger look, but the path there is going to be slow, uneven, and messy.
That’s the backdrop for three things worth watching right now.
First, the youth movement has to be paced. The Penguins can’t just flood the lineup with young players all at once and expect it to work.
A steady trickle is the smarter way to bring them along, especially because getting established in the NHL is never a straight line. Even Jake Guentzel was scratched in his prodigious rookie year.
Jake Livanavage, Avery Hayes, and Rutger McGroarty have started their AHL seasons well enough to force the issue, and that’s exactly what the organization wanted. General manager Kyle Dubas just hasn’t made room yet.
The defense prospects are part of that same conversation, even if their paths have been interrupted. Harrison Brunicke and Owen Pickering are both injured.
Brunicke is out with an unspecified injury, while Pickering was hurt Saturday and did not practice Monday. Neither player had a loud start, either, and there are questions about whether the AHL playoff-to-training-camp turnaround or the reality of being blocked at NHL camp played a part in that.
They’ll get there eventually. Just not right away.
Second, Tommy Novak looks better on the wing than he does at center. That’s the cleanest way to say it.
His game has simply popped more from the side than from the middle, where his impact was often muted. He’s always going to give you a statistical baseline, but the fit on the wing unlocks more of what he does well.
With Ben Kindel and Egor Chinakhov, the line has posted a 61% Corsi, a 62% expected goals-for mark, and a 2-0 goals-for edge, though that comes in a small two-game sample. The numbers stay in a similar range when Novak and Kindel are paired with different wingers. Without Kindel, Novak’s numbers dip to a 52% Corsi and 57% xGF, and he’s minus-2.
Justin Brazeau has also carved out a clear identity. Last season, he hit career highs with 17 goals and 34 points, though a nagging injury slowed him after the first half. This year, he’s the only big body in the Penguins lineup and the only forward who consistently looks willing to live in front of the net.
“He’s awesome. He’s fun to play with.
Very, very good IQ, and you know what you’re going to get from him, right,” said Hendrix Lapierre. “Like, you know that those pucks are going to be (put) into good areas when he has it in the neutral zone.
You know, he’s going to be in front of the net, and he uses his body when we’re in the O-zone.”
The Penguins’ third line has gone missing over the last two games, but Brazeau hasn’t. He’s still drawing attention, and he’s standing out in a roster that’s leaning small and light.
He’s also now listed at 6-foot-7 instead of 6-foot-6. On the second power-play unit, he’s helped create offense simply by getting in the goalie’s way, including on Egor Chinakhov’s power-play goal against LA.
And then there’s the part that stings because it looks so familiar. The preseason read on this team has held up.
The Penguins were projected to be one of the league’s highest-scoring teams, but also to give up even more than they score. They were expected to be a puck-possession club that would sit near the bottom in hits and struggle to defend.
That has played out, and then some. The defensive breakdowns have been persistent, and they’re hard to ignore.
The question now is whether a younger group would actually help that side of the game. On paper, it probably would.
McGroarty and Hayes both know their way around the defensive zone, and Hayes could bring the kind of puck-chasing edge that would fit next to Malkin and Crosby.
That’s the sort of conversation Penguins fans want to be having. But for now, they’re still waiting. And that, as the song goes, is the hardest part.
In Other News...
Penguins Already Face An Uncomfortable Trade Deadline Reality
Early in the 2026-27 season, the Penguins have already found themselves in an uncomfortable spot as the standings start to sort out across the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh is part of a broader group of teams, along with the Flyers and Maple Leafs, that have stumbled out of the gate, and that has pushed the trade deadline conversation up the calendar. On Daily Faceoff LIVE, analysts began sketching out which clubs could eventually drift into seller territory if the results do not improve.
For the Penguins, the chatter is especially awkward because it comes before the season has even fully settled in. Columbus also came up in the discussion, but Pittsburgh is the one drawing the kind of attention that usually comes with deadline speculation, not October uncertainty. If the early slide continues, the Penguins could find themselves in a familiar but unwanted position, with rival teams watching closely to see which direction the front office chooses to take. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Trade Deadline Tension Now Centers On Their Aging Core
The Penguins trade deadline conversation is starting to sound less like a simple sell-off and more like a delicate negotiation with the roster they already have. Sportsnets Elliotte Friedman reported that the team is weighing whether to move some veteran players in an effort to add youth, a direction that puts the spotlight on an aging core and the reality that not every contract is easy to move.
Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell and Evgeni Malkin are among the names in the mix, and each comes with some form of trade or no-movement protection that could shape what Pittsburgh can actually do. For the Penguins, the next stretch will matter as much as the deadline itself, because their performance and the players willingness to go along with any move may end up deciding how far the front office can push this reset. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Rough Night In Anaheim Brings Immediate Lineup Fallout
A rough night in Anaheim left the Penguins with more than just a lopsided result to sort through. The performance drew plenty of scrutiny on its own, but the immediate fallout also included a roster tweak as the team dealt with another injury concern and turned to its depth for help.
Ville Koivunen is day-to-day, and Pittsburgh responded by recalling Rutger McGroarty on Sunday after he played back-to-back games for Wilkes-Barre and then traveled to Los Angeles. For a team trying to steady itself after an uneven showing, the timing of the move underscores how quickly the Penguins may need to adjust as they look for a better answer in the days ahead. [Read more 🡒]