2026 Elimination Eval: Pittsburgh Penguins

The battle of Pennsylvania has certainly come a long way in the last year alone. At this time twelve months ago, the Pittsburgh Penguins were watching the NHL playoffs from their couches, having finished four points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers for last place in the Eastern Conference. With their last postseason run ending in the first round at the hands of the New York Rangers back in 2022, the Penguins snapped a three season playoff drought, finishing second in the Metropolitan Division. This was their longest, and really only, playoff drought in the post-lockout era of the NHL. 

Expectations

When we did our 2025-26 standings season preview, five of the seven of us who participated in that roundtable had the Penguins finishing last in the Metro. While not everyone across the hockey world had the Penguins that low, to predict the strong season they had would have certainly been considered an outlier. The Penguins weren’t far from the basement last season and didn’t do anything major to drastically improve their roster, at least from what we saw during the off-season. 

The approach to this window of hockey in Pittsburgh has been to not completely go full rebuild, but to begin piecing together a future beyond the “Big 3” while remaining as competitive as possible with them in the meantime. With general manager Kyle Dubas taking over in 2023, there was a bit more attention being put on the future versus the present, but the objective remained the same. That gave Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, who all wanted to stay in Penguins jersies, something to play for. 

The Penguins navigated free agency accordingly. They signed Anthony Mantha and Parker Wotherspoon to one year deals, brought on Justin Brazeau on a two-year contract, and made a handful of other depth signings to fill out the lineup. After a hot 7-2-1 start to the season, the Penguins continued to have success throughout the season and remained atop the Metro standings. An abysmal eight game losing streak where they dropped nine of 10 games in December hurt their stock a bit, but it was during that stretch that they made their first of two trades that significantly helped turn their season around. 

As the Edmonton Oilers attempted to address their own goaltending situation, the Penguins acquired Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak, and a second round pick in exchange for Samuel Poulin and Tristan Jarry. This was big for two reasons. First, it got the Penguins the goaltender that went on to be the one they opened the postseason with, and it got them Samuel Girard, a 27-year-old top four defenseman with Cup experience. 

The Penguins did that by flipping Kulak to the Colorado Avalanche in what you can consider a steal of a deal, acquiring both Girard and a second round pick. This was a perfect move for Dubas to make. You can argue whether you think Girard or Kulak is the better defenseman to have for a playoff run, but the fact of the matter is, they got a high draft pick on top of an arguably better, and younger, defenseman. 

Among their deadline moves, the Penguins picked up 6-8 forward Elmer Soderblom from the Detroit Red Wings for a third round pick and attached Danton Heinen to a package of mid-round draft picks to acquire Egor Chinakhov from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Those were two low-risk, beneficial moves that not only helped them now, but have potential to help them down the road. 

Series Recap

After a scoreless opening period that began tight but gradually tilted in the Flyers’ favor, the Penguins gave up the first goal of the series as Jamie Drysdale converted on a strong shot from the top of the circle. With four minutes to go in the second period, Evgeni Malkin walked in from a similar angle and let a shot go to tie the game up 1-1. With the score tied and 20 minutes to go, it was anyone’s game, but the Flyers made it theirs. Goals from Travis Sanheim and Porter Martone—who became quite the story throughout this series—pushed the Flyers to a well-insured 3-1 lead with just two and a half to go. Bryan Rust brought the Penguins within one but couldn’t complete the comeback, falling behind in the series early. 

Game 2 would be another step in the wrong direction for Pittsburgh, as after another scoreless first they gave up a pair of goals in a span of four minutes. Once again, it was the rookie Martone getting his name on the scoresheet with Garnet Hathaway picking up the second goal on a bit of a bad turnover from Skinner that led to that Flyers line outworking the Penguins defenders. Luke Glendening would pick up an empty netter in the third to make it 3-0. Despite playing solid and controlling parts of the game, they couldn’t find a way to beat Dan Vladar. 

As the series headed to Philadelphia, it would become the low moment for the Penguins, who were in dire need of a win. While Maklin got them on the board early with a power play goal, the second period was all Flyers. Giving up goals in bunches was a bit of an issue in Game 2, but became even more of one here. Following quite a scrum, Trevor Zegras scored a big power play goal to tie the game up at one. For as exciting as the goal was, seeing Zegras celebrate with a full line of his teammates in the penalty box was even more of a scene. 

That became a huge momentum shifter as four minutes later, Rasums Ristoalainen—who after 820 career games in the NHL was playing in his first ever playoff series—scored to secure his first ever playoff goal. Defensive-defenseman contributions also became a bit of a story as Nick Seeler made it 3-1 two minutes after the Ristolainen goal. Erik Karlsson had an answer for the Penguins in the third but Noah Cates scored a power play of his own and Owen Tippet capped the 6-3 win off with the empty netter. Not only were the Flyers threatening the sweep, but they’d have the chance to do it on home ice. 

When you’re on a team with two of the greatest players in franchise history and one of the greatest hockey players of all time, who else would you turn to in order to get out of this hole? I said going into this game Crosby was going to be a lock to score and, sure enough, it was Crosby finding the back of the net on the power play to get the Penguins on the board first. An early goal from Rickard Rakell extended the lead and Letang would give them some insurance after another rookie in Denver Barkey got the Flyers on the board late in the second. Travis Konecny brought the Flyers back within one but an empty netter from Connor Dewar secured the 5-3 win to bring the series back to Pittsburgh. Credit to Arturs Silovs who got the start and stepped up in net after Skinner went 0-3 to start the series, getting them a win at a critical point of the series. 

Game 5 became the high moment in the series for Pittsburgh as Soderblom got them on the board early in the first and an early second period goal from Dewar made it a 2-0 game. While the Flyers climbed their way back, Letang scored at the end of the second to make it a 3-2 game. That score would stick throughout the third as the series would go back to Philadelphia one last time. 

Goaltending was the story throughout Game 6 as Silovs did everything he could to help the Penguins try and win this game. Vladar would finish the night with 42 saves, and Silvos with 31, but it was a shot from Cam York in double-overtime who decided the series. A shot from the point went through some traffic and snuck through Silovs, putting an end to the Penguins' season. 

Prediction

Shoutout to Jake who was the only one of us to predict that the Flyers would win the series in any capacity. Eric and Roberto were right in the sense that the series went six games but the heavily favored Penguins did indeed fall short. All things considered, this was a tough series to foresee. It was a rival matchup of two teams who took surprising steps forward this season. You had the guys who have been there before in Pittsburgh against the young stars with nothing to lose in Philadelphia. This series easily could have gone to seven and if Pittsburgh managed to win one of those first games, it almost surely would have. 

Was the Season a Success?

It has to be fair to suggest this season was not only a success for the Penguins, but a bit of an overachievement. No one expected them to have the glow up they did and even if you were expecting them to take a step in the right direction, anything beyond wildcard consideration would have been a stretch. As much as the Penguins would love to send their long-term core off with one more Cup, the fact of the matter is they already won three throughout their career. That’s more than mostly anyone who plays in the NHL can say for themselves. The Penguins are doing right by their guys and not completely rebuilding, but you do have to wonder how patient the front office will be during that process. 

UFA’s/RFA’s

There’s no doubt Evgeni Malkin is the most notable pending UFA that the Penguins have to make a decision on, but the list does not stop there. Anthony Mantha, Kevin Hayes, Noel Acciari, Connor Dewar, Connor Clifton, Ryan Shea, Ilya Solovyov, and goaltender Stuart Skinner are all at risk of hitting the open market on July 1. On the flip side, the Penguins have two RFA’s in Egor Chinakhov and goaltender Arturs Silovs. General manager Kyle Dubas will have a busy summer ahead of him, no doubt about it. 

To be honest, chances are that most, if not all, of these pending UFA’s will indeed end up on the open market. Anthony Mantha is going to make a ton of money from another team, with the Rangers being one potential suitor. The same is even possible for more depth players like Hayes and Clifton given how shallow the free agent pool is shaping out to be. Dewar and Acciari are two guys that Dubas favors who could return as experienced depth pieces. But beyond that, and of course extending Chinakhov and Silovs, I would expect some job openings on this roster heading into training camp. 

Biggest Question Moving Forward

The big question for the Penguins is the obvious one: Is this it for the Big 3?

To take that question one step forward, what does a post-Malkin world look like in Pittsburgh? As far as Crosby goes, he’s still under contract and has shown no signs of this being his last year, so until we have reason to believe otherwise, I’m not even going to entertain the idea of him not being in Pittsburgh next season. Malkin, on the other hand, very well could have played his last game in a Penguins uniform. And if that’s the case, it could change everything for this franchise. 

No three teammates have played together as long as Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang have. The three of them defined an era of hockey in Pittsburgh, winning three Stanley Cups in the process, and are undoubtedly Hall of Fame bound. The last time the Penguins rostered a team that did not include the Big 3 was before the first iPhone came out. 

By all accounts, it sounds like Malkin intends to keep playing and would prefer to do so in Pittsburgh. The feeling, however, may not be mutual, as general manager Kyle Dubas is prioritizing the future of this franchise and rightfully so. The question is, how do you begin to do that with such an iconic part of this team now missing from the top six? 

Projected Lineup 

Rakell - Crosby - Rust
McGroarty - Novak - Chinakhov
? - Kindel - A. Hayes
Soderblom - Lizotte - Brazeau
Howe - ?

Wotherspoon - Karlsson
Girard - Letang
Graves - Brunicke
Pickering - St. Ivany

Silovs* - ? 

Next in line:

• Goaltending: Sergei Murashov, Gabriel D’Aigle
• Forwards: William Horcoff
• Defenseman:  Jake Livanavege

(*-RFAs)

Final Thoughts

No one expected the Penguins to be as good as they were this season. So, what changed?

A fresh face in Dan Muse getting the head coaching job surely played a role in that, but you have to wonder how much of that had to do with Muse’s coaching as opposed to the “new coach bump” teams tend to get when there’s a change in leadership. I will say, I do have confidence in the Muse/Dubas tandem leading this new direction of the Penguins, in theory. This offseason is going to be a massive test for them, especially with consideration to the fact that free agency isn’t going to bring a ton of potential solutions. 

They need some middle-six help, but realistically they need some younger stars to start taking on an elevated role. Can Rutger McGroarty be that for them? Can they pull off another Chinakhov-type of trade to get some wing help in the top six? Rakell and Rust are obviously good players capable of playing that high in the lineup, but if you can get some youth to play with Crosby, now you have some veteran wingers you can spread throughout your middle six. 

Defensively, you’re putting a lot of trust in Karlsson and Letang, who are knocking on the door of 40, not to mention on Ryan Graves and Parker Wotherspoon? How much of that is sustainable moving forward and what can this front office do to try and reshape how their blue line looks? Samuel Girard, in my opinion, was a great step in the right direction. I’m not sure how many other trades like that are in the cards for Dubas, but if he can continue to tinker with his roster in a productive way, there’s always the chance that the Penguins can stay in the playoff conversation next season. 

If Ben Kindel and Hunter Brunicke can be full time NHLers next season that’d be a huge help. There are some additional names in the pipeline like Avery Hayes, William Horcoff, and North Dakota standout Jake Livavange who could help. But the Penguins are a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of prospect depth so, continuing to draft and develop is going to be key moving forward.