Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rickard Rakell, right, and Sidney Crosby (87) skate during the second period of a preseason NHL hockey game iagainst the Buffalo Sabres n Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
All of the projections and prognostications, the “should be’s” and the “could be’s,” projected the Pittsburgh Penguins to be last in the Metro Division, happily languishing outside the Stanley Cup playoffs as their first NHL Draft pick in 2026 was very early in the night.
Yet an offseason of assumptions has been dumped upside down as all of the expected moves and departures became arrivals and stays.
All of the good players are still here, and general manager Kyle Dubas has added more speed, more grit, and more youth around them.
So, with no departures but real change behind the bench and plenty of additions and youth to add to the locker room and lineup, there is a new Penguins atmosphere and an excitement emerging.
It wasn’t expected, but here we are. As constituted, you can forget the tank.
Pittsburgh Hockey Now spoke with several new additions this week. Even off the record, each was quick to point out a belief that this team is better–a lot better–than anyone is giving them credit for.
“There’s a buzz in here,” defenseman Parker Wortherspoon said.
Indeed, a few other veterans of the Penguins’ championships and fall expressed similar sentiments, but let’s be realistic. Every player on every team should feel their team is good.
And they all say so.
“I think we’re a lot better than people think,” Caleb Jones told PHN.
But there are legitimate reasons to believe this crew is better.
First, the leads.
Remember last season when the Penguins blew eight multi-goal leads in the first 21 games? Remember when they coughed up eight third-period leads?
Just for the sake of funsies, imagine if the Penguins held onto a few of those multi-goal leads, and a few of those third period leads–making them merely an average team with the lead.
If you added 12 points (six wins) to last year’s Penguins record–are you ready for this–the Penguins would have made the playoffs as the second wild card.
Yep.
Dan Muse
Second, the coach.
While fans were ready to send former coach Mike Sullivan packing several years before Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas decided the coach’s time had expired, Sullivan had a unique grasp on the team.
For better and worse.
The core players trusted Sullivan, and Sullivan trusted his core players. The result of the trust was too much comfort on both sides. Neither was uncomfortable, and the team performance mirrored the overly sated relationship, even as Sidney Crosby routinely performed at extraordinary levels, especially for a player much closer to 40 than 30.
The group was not necessarily too old physically, but en masse, they were old mentally. They knew a bad game wasn’t the end of the world, and the result was far too many bad games and too many letdowns.
Sullivan and the leaders decided there should be no tactical changes with the lead. The attack often remained the same, and they ceded momentum and goals as mistakes mounted.
New coach, new outlook. That “buzz” Wortherspoon mentioned is palpable. From assistant coach Mike Stothers banging on the glass to plenty of young players genuinely making a push for the roster, there is energy around and within the team.
And Penguins fans giggled with a bit of delight this week when Sullivan’s New York Rangers blew a 4-1 lead in their first preseason game.
Muse’s team can’t possibly be worse with the lead. And, if preseason Game 2 vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets is any indication, Muse noticed the success of last November and December when the Penguins were a defensively oriented team.
The Forwards & Goaltending
The Penguins’ forwards group is better now than it was last season, as the best players remain, with the additions of Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty (still injured), Anthony Mantha, and others, potentially including Tristan Broz, Justin Brazeau, and Robby Fabbri.
The group is much … much faster.
We don’t necessarily know if the defensive corps will be better this season, though it can’t be any worse. And the goaltending is a question mark because Arturs Silovs replaced Alex Nedeljkovic as the second goalie with Tristan Jarry.
Silovs had ups and downs in his first game action with the Penguins Wednesday night.
Read More: Penguins Report Card: Missed Opportunities & Battling a ‘B Game’ vs. CBJ
The Penguins must rely on Jarry to be substantially better. Better goaltending would immediately rectify some of the blown leads syndrome, but even just a little better than last year, which was the worst year of his career, would go a long way.
Playoffs?!
There is a dichotomy between the projections and the reality. The projections assume Dubas will trade 35-goal scorer Rickard Rakell. They assume Erik Karlsson and others will follow Rakell out of town.
Yet, none have been. Dubas has worked hard to create the perception that he won’t make a trade until a team meets his “sky-high” price. Those were his words back in July.
So, as long as the team has four legitimate top-six forwards, including Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Rakell, and Bryan Rust, with a few talented newbies in the mix, and the freshly minted team can maintain energy and structure when it matters, they’re better than last year.
And a lot better than most outside pundits are predicting.
If the roster remains, Penguins fans might well feel the pull of the playoff race colliding with the desire to see Dubas call Gavin McKenna’s or Keaton Verhoeff’s name at the draft because these Penguins are much better than anyone thought they would be.
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