Sam Girard’s adjustment to playing with the Penguins has been a little bumpy at times, and part of that has been because of the learning process of adjusting to a new system.

“I was (in Colorado) for nine years, you know?” Girard told me this week. “Like, it’s totally different in Colorado. It’s a man-to-man system in the D zone. Here, it’s all different.”

Girard feels as if he’s mostly adjusted to the changes, but acknowledged that he needs to keep “going forward” with it. He said that it’s “pretty easy” to play with Kris Letang, and feels as if they’re starting to make progress in being able to read off of each other. 

The Penguins’ 6-2 loss to the Avalanche wasn’t actually a bad showing from that pairing. The Penguins outscored the Avalanche 2-1 with Girard and Letang on the ice, and though the Avalanche outshot the Penguins 25-22 at five-on-five, shots were even in either direction with that pair on the ice. Girard feels as if that game was a turning point for the better for him, but that he still has room to keep going.

“I think I can improve all of my game,” he said. “But I feel like last game, I was starting to feel more comfortable with transition and the way we play defensively, as well. So I think I’m going toward the right way.”

MORE PENGUINS

• Connor Dewar told me he hasn’t had any conversations yet about a contract extension, and hasn’t had a conversation about when those conversations might happen, either. He’s not worried about it, leaving it to his agent and management to sort out. He just knows he wants to be back: “It’s been great. A player in my role, anytime you can find a way to support a bunch of future Hall of Famers, it’s not a bad spot to play.” — Taylor Haase

• Blake Lizotte is wearing a brace on his right hand/wrist area. He’s still not expected to be evaluated until the last week of the regular season. — Taylor Haase

• I saw Evgeni Malkin on Wednesday, and he was carrying a similar hand/wrist brace around with him but wasn’t actually wearing it. His injury is to that area after he got hit by a puck, but it seems like it’s not quite as severe of an injury as Lizotte’s is. — Taylor Haase

• On the subject of injuries, I feel the need to note again here that Kevin Hayes is still being considered injured. That’s how the Penguins are able to emergency recall forwards while Hayes sits in the press box during games. — Taylor Haase

• The team is deliberately not publicly differentiating between standard and emergency recalls anymore, but if the recall is due to injury — or even a precautionary recall because of a potential injury, as the Penguins did Thursday with Avery Hayes and Joona Koppanen — those are always going to be emergency recalls. — Taylor Haase

• Anthony Mantha’s absence from Wednesday’s practice had him deemed day-to-day with a lower-body injury, but it was really more akin to a maintenance day, or recovery day. But the team doesn’t like using the term “maintenance day” anymore, because then everyone freaks out if they use that label and a player does end up missing time. — Taylor Haase

• Girard says he and Letang speak French with each other on the ice and on the bench, but switch to English if they’re around other teammates. — Taylor Haase

STEELERS

• This is a time of year where rumors fly around like crazy. The first couple waves of free agency have passed, we’re still about a month away from the draft. Fans and media personalities need football fodder, so the smallest spark can set a forest on fire.

In double checking with multiple sources on this, Patrick Queen is not expected to be traded. It would take something significant to change that. Queen isn’t interested in going anywhere else and the Steelers want to keep him. In fact, it’s more likely that he signs an extension than he’s traded, though I haven’t heard anything about an extension being in the works.

What I can deduce from the smoke that was surrounding Queen, both from what I had a source tell me when that sparked a few weeks ago and from recent conversations, is teams were calling the Steelers about Queen. Just because Khan answers the phone doesn’t mean he’s either shopping Queen or thinking about trading him. He’s just doing what any general manager does. When the phone rings, you answer it.

I also know the Steelers have been approached about potential trades for Nick Herbig, who is good enough to be a starting edge rusher on just about any team. However, the Steelers have no plans to trade him or any of the players that are up for extensions from their rookie contracts. — Chris Halicke in Downtown

• For those wondering about why Darnell Savage hasn’t signed his contract yet, I’m unfortunately not at liberty to go into details about why there’s a delay. All I can say is there is a significant hangup in the process between the time the contract figures were agreed upon and when he was expected to sign his contract. For now, you’ll have to put 2+2 together. — Chris Halicke

• A little insight to the way Khan likes to manage the salary cap. I’ve explained this before, based off conversations I’ve had going back multiple years now with people on the inside, but all contracts are structured to be restructured down the road. It would take a very special circumstance to not make that the case. However, if you see Khan restructure a contract, that’s his absolute last resort. He hasn’t been forced to do it over the past couple years because the Steelers have been in a great cap situation. But, I learned some new context recently on this, so I wanted to share that. So, this idea that the Steelers are fine with “kicking the can down the road,” it’s unequivocally not true. — Chris Halicke

• Getting the Cam Heyward contract extension done was mainly about getting cap space this year, but also to avoid what happened last summer. There could potentially be other contract disputes to deal with (multiple players up for extensions), so adding Heyward to that list for a second straight summer was a motivating factor for getting it done and out of the way very early. — Chris Halicke

• Two players that the Steelers have a lot of faith in: Dylan Cook and Spencer Anderson. That’s why you haven’t seen the Steelers shop near the top of the guard market and there’s been even less noise surrounding the tackle position, even though Broderick Jones’ (neck) prognosis is still very much up in the air. Brock Hoffman’s really been the only one added that can push for a starting spot on that side of the line, putting him up against Anderson. We’ll see what the draft holds, but guard seems like a more likely position to be addressed there. — Chris Halicke

• Nobody on the inside will give away the Steelers’ strategy heading into the draft — for good reason. But based on what I know, expect skill positions to be more of a focus this year. That doesn’t guarantee a skill position in the first round. But, with 12 picks in the chamber, Khan has plenty of ammunition to get a skill player (or two) that can make an impact. — Chris Halicke

PIRATES

• Joe La Sorsa will begin the season with Class AAA Indianapolis after exercising his upward mobility clause upon not making the opening day roster. None of the remaining 29 teams were willing to put La Sorsa on their major-league roster, so he’ll remain in the organization. This was the same situation that landed Mike Clevinger in Indianapolis. Both will now provide additional minor-league pitching depth, and I wouldn’t be surprised if either of those two are added to the 40-man roster to factor into the major-league equation at some point this season. — Jose Negron in Downtown

• Depth is something the Pirates actually have this year, and not just on the pitching side with the likes of Brandan Bidois, Thomas Harrington, Cam Sanders and Evan Sisk among others. There’s a good amount of excitement about this around the organization. Konnor Griffin’s knocking on the door of the big leagues and guys like Jhostynxon Garcia and Tyler Callihan could play major-league roles this season, too. Not to mention there are other promising prospects, including Termarr Johnson and Esmerlyn Valdez, starting the year with Class AAA Indianapolis. Good, young players are knocking and pushing toward the big leagues. If the inevitable injuries come into play this season, the Pirates may not be looking toward players that have people shaking their heads. Instead, they’re faced with a good problem where there are talented, and in some cases, experienced players that can move up and contribute. — Jose Negron

• It’s no secret that there are high expectations for a starting rotation that, quite honestly, does lack major-league starting experience between Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and even Carmen Mlodzinski. Don Kelly doesn’t want to “put them in a box” in terms of expectations, though. Ashcraft showed last year that he could exceed expectations in a bulk relief role. Then he got a chance to start, impressed in that role and ultimately earned a rotation spot this spring. Kelly said it best: “Go out, earn innings and build the pitch count to where they can go as deep into the game as possible.” — Jose Negron

• With that said, there’s a reason why both Hunter Barco and José Urquidy are on this team to give the Pirates further length out of the bullpen. Both will be valuable in helping those less experienced starters manage their innings. — Jose Negron

• During his last two media availabilities, Ben Cherington has approached the topic of adding to the roster by saying they’re always looking to find ways to improve it. But even if they are keeping their eyes out and the roster does indeed change a few games in, there seems to be a significant amount of confidence in the 26 men that make up the roster to begin the season. — Jose Negron

• The success Mlodzinski had with the splitter played a big role in the results he produced this spring. Kelly described the split as a “big equalizer” for Mlodzinski, who incorporated it into his arsenal after seeing his fastball and slider get hit more in 2025. But over the last six weeks while in Bradenton, Fla., Mlodzinski has seen the volume increase, which really helps determine whether the pitch is actually for real. There were even times where Mlodzinski regretted not throwing the splitter more than the fastball. That’s pretty telling. We all know former Pirates closer David Bednar throws a devastating splitter, and now Mlodzinski has one of his own to attack hitters, especially from the left side of the plate. It helped him earn a spot in the starting rotation for a second straight year and perhaps it’ll help him keep it. As Mlodzinski said earlier this spring, “I feel like this is the first year where I have a pretty real pitch in that.” — Jose Negron