Pittsburgh Penguins Fans are excited, and it is not because of the fashionable yellow third jersey, or a little ceremony for the longest serving trio in profession sports. No, Penguins fans aren’t excited over honoring Sidney Crosby, but rather finally getting a look at the players who will become the next generation beyond Crosby.

Or at least play with Crosby for most of the next decade.

In this week’s Penguins wrap, there is some Penguins trade speculation, it’s all about the kids, and a little sideswipe from an old employer toward Erik Karlsson.

Of course, Pittsburgh Hockey Now has the in-person coverage from the road, at home, and all points in between. We’ll shove off for California early tomorrow morning.

Penguins Wrap

As part of the Penguins wrap today, we’re not highlighting all of the stories we’ve written this week–that would be a list with more than 25 stories. Instead, we’re listing the relevant ones that we hope you read or should read to stay current. This train is moving quickly again this season with another compressed schedule.

San Jose Hockey Now: “He was not the most, how do I say it, team-friendly player.”

We’ll start with our colleague Sheng Peng, who was part of the small media contingent that spoke with the San Jose Sharks owner. He doesn’t speak to the media but once every several years, and he had a few things to say, including some digs about Doug Wilson’s son being in over his head as head of the scouting department and regrets about acquiring Erik Karlsson.

The reference in the story to the Sharks not drafting Tim Stutzle is another direct crack about acquiring Karlsson.

PHN+: There was a little segment on Thursday’s ESPN Original video about Sidney Crosby that exposed the existence of a story we hinted at last season, but it wasn’t a feel-good story. Last season, did team veterans derail a Penguins rookie?

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: In truth, we didn’t know what happened. The media was gathered in the media room near the conclusion of the Penguins’ 4-3 win over the New York Islanders, so we didn’t get a replay of the surprising cross-check by Jonathan Drouin on Connor Dewar. The league did. After a hearing, the NHL suspended Drouin one game.

One of the most relevant report cards we’ve done–Our report card from Thursday night was all about two things: analyzing Dan Muse’s new system and rookies. Yep, it’s fun to watch these Penguins rookies.

It appears some of our readers and I are on opposite sides of this debate. The Penguins unveiled their third jerseys Thursday–they’re yellow with three black rings for the sister bridges. I love them. Readers…did not. Take a look at the Penguins’ third jerseys.

The Penguins let Matt Grzelcyk walk via free agency and essentially replaced him with Parker Wortherspoon. Hey, so far, so good. Wortherspoon has become the anchor on the pairing with Karlsson, and the results have been pretty good so far for the new Penguins free agent.

PHN+: I was a little uneasy writing both PHN+ stories this week because they flirted with breaking the confidences of sources and people who talk to us. But I thought you’d like to get some flavor of what the last few days of training camp were like, on the inside. The emotions and reactions of some players, such as Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke, making the team, while Owen Pickering and Tristan Broz were among those who did not. We took readers behind the curtain, to the end of camp, and the beginning of the Penguins’ season.

Regarding Kindel and Brunicke. We chatted with the boys the morning before their first game and at night after their first game, which was a win over the New York Rangers. The Penguins’ rookies, before and after.

Well, the first two games have done a lot to counter the predictions and projections, eh? So, let’s get a good look at my crystal ball and what we expected for the 2025-26 Penguins.

Thank you to the new subscribers and the flood of new readers this season. We’re in the midst of the best October we’ve had in years. Most websites are struggling with traffic, but we’re flourishing again.

Thank you very much to you, our existing subscribers.

I know our website is a bit of a mess right now, and subscribers are seeing ads. I’m not exaggerating when I say there is a team of people working on the migration of the entirety of Hockey Now, including the Steelers and Pirates, to the Publisher Desk platform. It’s taking a LOT of work to untangle our previous setup up which was clean on the outside but a bit of a tangled mess on the inside (we created workarounds that were never supposed to exist or work. Call it ingenuity and heart). But we created quite an unsustainable system. So, the Publisher Desk people are swamped with issues and migration; fixing the reply button on comments is down the list.

I don’t always like their priority list, because you and I are in direct communication, and when you’re not happy, I’m both a beat writer and customer service. But I have to respect their work, as there are greater objectives in play.

Tags: erik karlsson Penguins Prospects Pittsburgh Penguins

Categorized: Pittsburgh Penguins