Trade talk in the NHL keeps circling back to the Metro Division, where the Philadelphia Flyers are drawing plenty of attention and plenty of angst. The Columbus Blue Jackets’ coach is still hard on his team. And in Pittsburgh, the Penguins are sliding into a place that looks increasingly self-inflicted.
It’s a Saturday with a little less heft than usual, but there’s still enough moving around league-wide to keep the weekend rolling. A few losses can be brushed off. Six games start to look like a pattern, and in Pittsburgh’s case, that pattern could lead somewhere uncomfortable if it keeps going.
The Penguins’ latest loss was the kind that leaves a mark. If you usually skip the game recap, the new format this season is built to walk through each goal, and this one was especially rough for the visitors.
The postgame analysis dug into the same theme from a different angle: the Penguins kept pushing themselves toward what they wanted to do instead of what they needed to do at a critical moment. The Xs and Os section and the grades both landed on that same uneasy point.
There’s also a blue-line issue brewing for Pittsburgh, and it’s becoming harder to ignore.
The weekly Insider column in PHN+ focused less on the conversations and more on what’s showing up - and what isn’t - including one major difference from last season. That’s part of the backdrop as the Penguins head toward the second real stretch of adversity in the Kyle Dubas era.
The first one was inherited. This one is different.
There was also some bad news on Egor Chinakhov, who is out with a lower-body injury he suffered at practice on Thursday. He’s being evaluated, and it sounds like this is more than a quick couple of days on the shelf.
Elsewhere around the league, the Flyers are still a hot topic. One report says there’s only one untouchable player in Philadelphia, though the team is not eager to move a few others.
Elliotte Friedman also said on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast that trade interest is heating up around blocked Capitals prospect Ivan Miroshnichenko. The 22-year-old is ready for his NHL closeup, but he still won’t be cracking Washington’s lineup.
Sportsnet’s Rick Bowness, meanwhile, is still publicly unhappy with his team. He ended last season furious about compete level and a willingness to accept defeat, and he’s opened this season with the same tone, ripping his team in public. That raises a fair question for any rival GM making a call: are you trying to trade for help, or are you taking on someone else’s problems?
In Detroit, the numbers that are starting to emerge on Simon Edvinsson led to a simple conclusion: those figures should have been obvious from the start.
And with that, the morning wraps up. After a short night, the plane to Vegas is waiting.
In Other News...
Penguins Still Searching For Answers As Dan Muse Shakes Up Everything
The Penguins head into Ball Arena still looking to smooth out an uneven start, with Dan Muse set to tinker again before a late-night meeting with the Avalanche. After a frustrating loss to the Blackhawks, Pittsburghs issues have been hard to miss, and the staff is clearly searching for a combination that brings more pace, more structure and a little more consistency from shift to shift.
Muses lineup decisions are part of that broader reset, but the bigger concern remains whether the Penguins can find cleaner execution when the puck drops just after 9 p.m. ET. Special teams have been a particular source of frustration, and against a Colorado club that can punish mistakes quickly, Pittsburgh needs more than a fresh look on the board. It needs a response on the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Let Another Promising Start Slip Away In Colorado
The Penguins looked ready to carry an early road spark into a statement night at Ball Arena, getting first-period goals from Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust to jump on Colorado quickly. For a while, the game had the feel of a clean reset for a team that has been searching for steadier starts, with Arturs Silovs giving them a chance to hold the edge by making several key saves along the way.
Colorado turned the game completely around from there, riding a burst of offense that Pittsburgh could not answer as the Avalanche pulled away to a 5-2 win. The Penguins did get one encouraging individual sequence from Silovs, who stopped Nathan MacKinnon on a penalty shot, but the night still ended with the power play failing to cash in and another promising opening slipping out of reach. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Suddenly Have A Nicholas Robertson Decision To Make
Nicholas Robertson has already forced the Penguins to pay closer attention than they may have expected when they brought in a 25-year-old forward looking for an opportunity. Through seven games this season, he has given Pittsburgh real offensive value despite limited ice time, lower-line usage and a steady diet of defensive-zone starts. Even with those constraints, he has found ways to tilt shifts toward the Penguins and contribute to the scoring-chance battle.
Now the question is how much more responsibility the staff is willing to hand him. Pittsburgh recently bumped Robertson into a bigger role, and that kind of move usually says as much about trust as it does about production. For a team that is always looking for useful depth scoring, his next stretch could say plenty about whether this is just a hot start or the beginning of something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]