Articles in Pittsburgh Penguins

from Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

Is it just me or are we giving too much of a pass to a team that is living off its Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017?

Those championships were incredible, but they seem like a lifetime ago.

The Penguins missed the playoffs last season for the first time in 17 years. No big deal, right? That impressive streak wasn’t going to last forever. But how about the previous four seasons when the Penguins were eliminated in the first round? Their record in those four series was 6-15.

Yes, awful.

I would have made a lot of money the past five seasons if I had violated my No. 1 rule when it comes to the Penguins:

Never bet against Sid and Sully.

I still have a hard time betting against Sidney Crosby and Mike Sullivan. Crosby is one of the five greatest players of all-time. Sullivan is a Hall of Fame-caliber coach. I can’t respect a coach or a player more.

But the two — especially Crosby — are running out of time for their team to be a legitimate Cup contender.

This season has to be their last, best chance.

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from Mike Zeisberger of the NHL's website,

When the Timbit minor hockey kids came out on the ice at Scotiabank Centre during the first intermission of the Nova Scotia Showdown to play a truncated five-minute game Monday, each one of them was wearing No. 87.

Much like many of the fans in the stands who were watching them.

This, after all, was the first time in 17 years that center Sidney Crosby -- No. 87 in your programs for the Pittsburgh Penguins, No. 1 in the hearts of most hockey fans here -- was playing an NHL game in his hometown area, and the entire region was stoked. Wearing his jersey was their way of paying tribute to their local hero.

Message received.

Crosby is a native of Cole Harbour, 10 miles from downtown Halifax, and had been champing at the bit for months in anticipation of the Penguins’ preseason game against the Ottawa Senators, much like his legions of supporters here. His previous NHL appearance here came in a preseason game in 2006 when the team, in Crosby’s words, “was in and out of town.”

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from Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

During his meandering pro career, Magnus Hellberg has stopped pucks in several countries passionate about hockey. His homeland of Sweden. The U.S. and Canada. A big international tournament in Finland. Three years in Russia.

He also played in China, a place that was, well, still learning about the game.

Sitting at his locker at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex the other day, the outgoing and oversized goalie laughed while sharing a story from his time there.

Once, a public address announcer in China had to tell the crowd to stick around after the first period. Apparently, some fans watched the players head to the locker room and the Zamboni drive out, so they assumed the game was over....

Now, the 6-foot-6 goalie hopes to play for another — the Pittsburgh Penguins.

After battling his way back to the NHL and suiting up for three teams last season, Hellberg is competing with fellow newcomer Alex Nedeljkovic for their backup role. Nedeljkovic’s practice usage and his bigger contract strongly suggest that he has the inside track. But Hellberg is trying his best to push him.

“There’s a lot of good goalies [in camp]. Obviously, I want to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I know a lot of other goalies want to do that, as well,” he said. “So I’m just going to enjoy my time, work my ass off here and show what I can do. Then it’s up to management and coaches to make the decision.”

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from Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Management is banking on Nedeljkovic finding a way to shake off two unappetizing seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and regaining the form that allowed him to be selected to the NHL All-Rookie team in 2020-21 as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes.

“(Nedeljkovic is) a guy that brings real good energy to the rink every day,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s shown an ability to have success in this league, and we think he’s very capable. He’s going to be a great fit for us. Sometimes, a change of scenery for a player makes all the difference in the world in giving certain players opportunities to kind of hit the reset button in just trying to establish their game again. We’re going to do our best to help (Nedeljkovic) do that.”...

What followed were a pair of difficult seasons in the Motor City, particularly the 2022-23 campaign when Nedeljkovic was waived this past January (going unclaimed) and he played more games with the Red Wings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins (26), than the NHL club (15).

After posting a 5-7-2 mark with a 3.53 GAA and an .895 save percentage at the NHL level last season, Nedeljkovic was allowed to walk as an unrestricted free agent by the Red Wings.

“I wasn’t in my own way,” said Nedeljkovic, listed at 6-foot and 208 pounds. “Those years in Carolina, I wasn’t (overthinking). I wasn’t overreacting. I was just playing my game, doing my thing and staying on pucks and staying loose. As opposed to the last couple of years, maybe just overthinking plays, overthinking situations and just trying too hard to stop the puck instead of just letting it come to me.”

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from Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

A significant shakeup is coming to the Penguins’ television broadcast team in the wake of the team purchasing and rebranding AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh.

Steve Mears and Bob Errey will not return in their roles, per sources. Josh Getzoff is expected to move over from the radio side to replace Mears as the play-by-play man. Colby Armstrong will likely also take on a prominent TV role.

Despite tremendous local ratings with the previous crew calling games on ATTSN, major changes seemed possible as the Penguins and Fenway Sports Group homed in on their purchase of ATTSN from Warner Bros. Discovery.

News of changes to the TV broadcast team began to leak out Friday, one day after the Penguins announced they had agreed, effective Oct. 2, to acquire ATTSN and would rebrand the regional sports network as SportsNet Pittsburgh.

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via the YouTube channel of the Pittsburgh Penguins,

Throughout the first fifty years of the franchise, the Pittsburgh Penguins grew and fought through a multitude of adversities. At one point, winning the Stanley Cup seemed like a pipe dream. Through all the tumultuous twists and turns, the Penguins are one of the most successful franchises over the past half-century.

Watch the almost 3 hour video below.

from Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now,

Dubas is a Magician, but Goalies are Achillies Heel

There should be no question that Kyle Dubas is one of the better GMs in the game. He finds a way to get things done, whether it be an extension for Mitch Marner against all odds or the trade for Erik Karlsson. Dubas is creative and shrewd.

However, goaltending has been a soft spot on most of his teams. Dubas has rolled the dice with the Penguins goaltending, too.

No, starting goalie Tristan Jarry isn’t the big gamble, but the backup goalies. Alex Nedeljkovic had a terrible 2022-23 season. He played more games in the AHL than the NHL, but he’ll be both the Penguins’ insurance policy against further injuries to Jarry and the goalie tasked with playing about 30-35 games.

As a third goalie, Nedeljkovic was a very good bet. As the primary backup, the Penguins are one moment away from relying on Nedeljkovic to preserve their increasingly high hopes this season.

Laurent Brossoit and Antti Raanta would have been much safer signings for similar money (if they were willing to come to Pittsburgh). With the benefit of hindsight, Alex Lyon, who signed with Detroit for $900,000 for two seasons, also seemed a slightly better, if not safer, and less expensive option.

Nedeljkovic is undoubtedly a gamble. If the goalie recaptures his rookie-year form, it will be rewarding. The Penguins may regret the gamble if he has another year like the last.

more on the Penguins...

from Sportsnet,

Star defenceman Erik Karlsson has rediscovered his love of the game and the reigning Norris Trophy winner is now hoping to bring that spark to the Pittsburgh Penguins with his eyes on the top prize in hockey.

Karlsson captured the league's top defenceman award for the third time in his career last season, however, the San Jose Sharks missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year and led to a summer of swirling trade rumours.

Karlsson spoke to the Pittsburgh media for the first time since the trade on Wednesday and explained why he's glad to join the Penguins after a long summer.

"I was very excited about the opportunity to have a chance to go somewhere where I could be on a team that was contending," Karlsson said. "It was a lot of ups and downs and it was really hard to get a grasp on where things were actually at because obviously, I wasn’t in most of the conversations behind the scenes. ... I’m familiar with Pittsburgh from my days starting in Ottawa and so on and kinda knew quite a bit about it without really knowing that much. It was exciting when I heard that they were interested, so I'm happy that it worked out in the end."...

"I feel like I’m in a really good spot in my life right now. I had a lot of fun playing hockey last year and coming to the rink every day even though it wasn’t under the easiest of circumstances and we didn’t win many games. I credit everybody in San Jose from the coaching staff to my teammates there. We had fun together and we made it fun coming in and putting in the work. That was something that looking back probably was missing a little bit from the previous years."

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Watch the full press conference below.

from Mark Madden of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Dubas got Erik Karlsson from San Jose. Karlsson was last year’s Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defenseman. He’s signed through 2027 at a cap hit of $11.5 million. (The Sharks retained $1.5 million of that.)

In return, Dubas ditched four players he didn’t want: Forward Mikael Granlund, defensemen Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta and goaltender Casey DeSmith. That’s a combined cap hit of over $14 million.

By the time the machinations of the deal were totaled, Dubas had saved the Penguins $3 million in cap space.

The only real assets the Penguins surrendered were first- and second-round picks. They didn’t give up a top prospect, of which they have very few. (Two, maybe.)

Dubas mostly undid the idiocy of Ron Hextall’s tenure as GM in one trade — and got Karlsson, who had 101 points last season for a team than won 22 games and lost 60.

When I first heard about the deal, I thought it was a joke. If somebody had called my radio program proposing that trade, I’d have ridiculed them and hung up.

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via the Pittsburgh Penguins,

The Penguins have promoted Andy Saucier, Erik Heasley, Amanda Kessel and Trevor Daley to the following roles, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.

• Andy Saucier as Director of Professional Personnel
• Erik Heasley as Director of Minor League and Amateur Scouting Operations
• Amanda Kessel as Special Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager
• Trevor Daley as Special Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager

"At this time, I feel it is best for continuity that I formally continue in both roles as President and General Manager in the hockey operations department," said Dubas. "We will continue to reevaluate the GM position alongside all others in future off-seasons, to ensure that we are optimizing all facets of the department. We have a small but extremely dedicated management team here, and I have come to know each of them quite well over the last couple of months. We have also added both Jason Spezza and Vukie Mpofu to provide us with a nice mixture of playing experience, front office acumen, and growth potential."

from Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now,

The stalemate over the much-hyped and now much-awaited Erik Karlsson trade is now dragging into its third week. With the passing days, the Pittsburgh Penguins trade effort seems less like an impasse and more like a bluff by the San Jose Sharks that Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and other general managers are ready to call.

If San Jose GM Mike Grier isn’t bluffing as he attempts to drive up the price for Karlsson, he will buckle just the same because the Sharks do not have a strong position.

Grier is trying to rebuild his club after the big bet on Karlsson and Brent Burns by former GM Doug Wilson went bust, and he is using his Karlsson chip. Unfortunately for the teal and white, there was not an overaggressive GM willing to splurge to get it done.

One can hope. One can sell the positives. But in this case, a Karlsson acquisition carries significant risk, from his injury history to upsetting team chemistry to age and decreased production.

The Penguins don’t need Karlsson. Nor do the Carolina Hurricanes.

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Magnus Hellberg is signed through the 2023.24 season, and his contract carries an average annual value of $785,000 at the NHL level.

from Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

One of Kyle Dubas’ first big decisions as Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations is what to do with the franchise’s goaltending situation.

Specifically, with regard to free agent starter Tristan Jarry.

Jarry’s checkered history of ill-timed injuries and postseason slumps have left Penguins fans wanting more from the goalie position. And with career backup Casey DeSmith the organization’s only other option, the fanbase seems eager for Dubas to turn the page on the Jarry era in the crease.

But, for who? What goalie is worth signing at a big-ticket free agent price? Will any of them be worthy of a similar price tag to what Jarry may get?

It’s a strange market for goaltending this season. It’s not a great summer to be a seller or a buyer when it comes to free agent goalies attempting to bait big contracts or prospective teams hoping to spend shrewdly in order to better themselves between the pipes.

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via the Pittsburgh Penguins,

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced today that Kyle Dubas has been named President of Hockey Operations. Dubas becomes just the second person to hold this position in the history of the franchise.

Dubas, 37, will oversee all aspects of the Penguins hockey operations department including establishing the strategic vision and philosophy for the franchise. Fenway Sports Group Principal Owner, John Henry, and Chairman, Tom Werner, issued the following joint statement:

from Nick Horwat of The Hockey News,

The Pittsburgh Penguins were seemingly close to naming a new hockey operations staff when Kyle Dubas became available after the Toronto Maple Leafs lost in the second round.

At that moment, the Penguins put their whole process on hold and looked for permission to talk to Dubas.

By all accounts, they were granted permission to interview Dubas and rocket him straight to the top of the priority list.

Not only did Dubas receive an interview with the Penguins, but he also met with their captain.

According to DK Pittsburgh Sports, Dubas met with Sidney Crosby at the Penguins’ practice facility late Tuesday night.

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from Josh Yohe of The Athletic,

When we close our eyes and think of Ron Hextall, we see the Flyers goaltender chasing Robby Brown around Civic Arena ice. We see the madman in a goalie mask, looking to initiate violence, as only a Flyer could. In our minds, we see a menacing figure. Brute force. The ultimate alpha figure.

Hextall apparently left that side of his personality on the ice, and it’s too bad. He could have used it.

The remarkably inept Hextall tenure came to a merciful end on Friday morning, 793 days after it began on Feb. 9, 2021. There were major oversights, botched trades and personnel assessments of the most curious kind during Hextall’s time as general manager. (More on those later.) There were no playoff series victories. This spring, there will be no playoffs in Pittsburgh for the first time since 2006. It was the final straw.

We could calculate all of his mistakes — and there were many — but there is a greater theme with Hextall, one that someone transported from 1989 to 2023 never would fathom: As general manager, Hextall was soft. Really, really soft.

That, more than anything, resulted in his demise.

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Pittsburgh Media Release,

The Pittsburgh Penguins have relieved President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke, General Manager Ron Hextall and Assistant General Manager, Chris Pryor of their duties, it was announced today by Fenway Sports Group.

John Henry and Tom Werner issued the following statement:

from Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

There was a macabre fascination to the way the Pittsburgh Penguins regular season finale played out in Columbus.

The Pens lost to the awful Blue Jackets 3-2.

In overtime.

After blowing a third period lead.

To a significantly inferior foe.

While outshooting the opponent and making a journeyman goalie in the other net (Michael Hutchinson) look like Patrick Roy.

Does it get any more fitting than that? That’s been the Penguins story throughout 2022-23 — following game scripts just like that all year long.

That game Thursday night was played under utterly bizarre circumstances. The Penguins were playing their first regular season game as an eliminated team since 2006.

The Blue Jackets were probably better served to lose, in order to give themselves the best possible chance of winning the draft lottery for the rights to draft highly touted prospect Connor Bedard. They entered the game with 57 points. They left with 59. Meanwhile, after their results Thursday, the Anaheim Ducks have 58 points, and the Chicago Blackhawks have 59. The Blue Jackets still have one game left against Buffalo on Friday night.

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