Hockey season… at least as far as the Pittsburgh Penguins are concerned… is over. The 3-0 hole the Pens dug themselves against the Flyers proved to be too much to overcome, as they lost to the Flyers 1-0 in overtime last night.
On one hand, a frustrating loss. The Pens largely got the better of play for the third period and overtime, as reflected by the shots on goal. But they couldn’t get one past Flyers’ goalie Dan Vladar, and every 4-6 minutes they’d make a boneheaded play or get a bad bounce that gave the Flyers an uncomfortably good chance the other way. So despite largely Getting The Better Of Play(tm), it still felt like a Flyers win was more likely than not. So, yeah… a frustrating way to end the season.
On the other hand, I find myself not too disappointed the next morning. On a superficial “sour grapes” level, I feel like the Carolina Hurricanes are going to stomp WHOEVER came out of the series anyway. But more importantly, looking at the bigger picture, a frustrating end to the season doesn’t change that the season as a whole was a gift.
Think about it. Going into the year, there was legitimate speculation whether the Pens were planning to tank and bottom out in an effort to get Gavin McKenna, and WAY too many hockey pundits were insisting we “owed it to hockey” to trade Crosby to a contender because it was self-evident the Pens would suck. Instead, the Pens managed to navigate their way to 98 points and a playoff spot, AND do so in a way that still moved the longer-term rebuild significantly forward. As much as 98 points creates certain expectations of success and it stings to fall short, the Pens are MILES ahead of where we thought they’d be when the first puck was dropped back in October.
First, and maybe most importantly, they have a path forward at goaltender. Going into the season, we were tied to the annoyingly inconsistent Tristan Jarry for the next two years because of his contract. The best version of Jarry, seen in glimpses, made an All-Star Game earlier in his career; the worst version is a boat anchor. But in one of his better acts of trade wizardry, Kyle Dubas managed to get Jarry (and semi-prospect Sam Poulin) off the books for defenseman Brent Kulak, goalie Stuart Skinner (also has consistency issues, but at least his contract is expiring) and a draft pick. So… for better AND worse, they have freedom at the position moving forward. I imagine they’ll run it back with ONE of Silovs or Skinner and pair the survivor with promising rookie Sergei Murashov (24-9-3, 2.20 GAA, .919 save percentage at SWB). Or perhaps we’ll continue to fetishize John Gibson because he’s a local.
(After last night’s performance… let it be Silovs. Just sayin’.)
The Pens also managed to find some pieces that look like they’ll be part of the rebuild. First-round pick Ben Kindel made the team out of camp as an 18-year-old and played almost the full season, scoring 17 goals. Speaking of trade wizardry, getting Yegor Chinakhov from Columbus is starting to look like an absolute fleecing, as he put up 18 goals in 46 games for us. Free agent signing Justin Brazeau started the season fast, but then tailed off (partly due to injuries), but still ended the season with 17 goals. Heck, even 6’8″ giant Elmer Soderblom had an intriguing first impression, putting up 5 goals and 5 assists in the 20 games after he came over from Detroit.
Really, the one frustration on the development front was Rutger McGroarty. I would’ve liked that kid to step up and seize the opportunity a bit more. Still time, but it’s starting to feel like he’d better show SOMETHING in 2026-27.
Anthony Mantha was also a nice story, reviving his career with a 30-goal performance after missing almost a full year due to injury. I doubt he’s part of the long-term plan because he’s a free agent and SOMEONE probably throws a bag his direction. But it’s still a feel-good season and makes him a solid contender for the Masterton Trophy. Personally, there’s a little piece of me that would like to see another year of him just because he was the guy I always traded for in NHLXX franchise mode because I thought the Pens needed more size. But I recognize that’s not a rational basis for Kyle Dubas handing out $5M here in the real world.
The outlook on defense is still a bit more muddy. Yeah, they added a few pieces like Samuel Girard and Ilya Solovyov, but nobody who really made you say “yeah, this is the guy to build around”. It looks like maybe the help’s going to have to come from the minors or free agency here.
Cap-wise, they’re in pretty good shape, though I haven’t looked at the rest of the league or what the full free agent class is looking like yet. They were already $10M under the cap this year, and the list of pending free agents is tolerable. Kevin Hayes’ $7M is free money back in our pocket, I’d like to think a Malkin reunion would come in cheaper than the $6M he’d been getting on his last contract, they’re going to need to pay at least one veteran keeper to pair with Murashov, and the rest is just the usual lower-roster churn. I suppose it MIGHT be worth working out an extension with Chinakhov, who’s an RFA, so that might cost some bucks.
They’re also OK on draft picks, though not as loaded as they were when the season started. They’ve got a first, a pair of twos, and a third, but they originally had another 2nd and 3rd that became Chinakhov and Soderblom, respectively. They had also previously shipped out a 4th (the Karlsson deal) and 5th (the Bunting/Novak deal with Nashville). So they’ll have fun early and sit on their hands later in the draft unless they make other moves between now and then.
Add all that up, and there’s good cause for optimism as we close the book on 2025-26 and head into 26-27.
But then there is the elephant in the room. What’s the fate of the Big 3?
Crosby’s fine. On-ice, Crosby seemed to be ageless this year, other than the injury he suffered at the Olympics. Still beat a point per game, finished one goal shy of 30. And he’s still under contract through the coming year. Honestly, I’m still fine with “he plays as long as he wants and retires a Penguin”. Still probably won’t stop people from whining about how we owe it to hockey to trade him to Montreal.
Malkin’s issue is contractual. He had a solid enough year (19-42-61 in 56 games), but he’s a pending free agent. So… pass-fail, he probably played well enough to consider renewing him, but what sort of dollars and term would make sense? Also, what if some other team comes sniffing around for some veteran leadership — is nostalgia worth a bidding war? If you can get Malkin on a short deal for reasonable dollars… heck yeah, keep the boys together. If he wants multiple years or big dollars, or if a bidding war starts… maybe it’s time to say good-bye.
And then there’s Kris Letang.
(cue ominous music)
Sorry, but he’s the weak link of the three. He’s never been a great defender, but you could usually put up with it because of the offense he generated. But 3 goals and 31 assists while also getting turnstiled quite a bit? Oof. Problem is he’s also got the longest contract of the three (signed through 2027-28) so unless he happens to retire, the Pens would have to own the optics of actively pushing him out the door or paying $6M to a guy who’s drifting toward the third pair.
So yeah, it’s not ALL sunshine and rainbows for next season. But for today, in the immediate shadow of being bounced from the playoffs, I suppose I choose to focus on the positive.
Mental Zoomies 