Latest Pens Buzz: League Whispers of Guentzel Possible Summer Return on 4-5 year deal pure Fantasy or Reality?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PENGUINS – HURRICANES WHAT WE LEARNED The Penguins were out attempted 87 to 43 in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, including a minus-43 mark (76/33) at 5 vs 5. Pittsburgh was minus-19 (33/14) at 5 vs 5 in scoring chances, yet, it ended up being a night of quite a few positives playing out on the Penguins end in the 4-1 victory: Among Them: –Surprise, Surprise, the Penguins defended really well in the third period…………………… —Alex Nedeljkovic was a brick wall. He’s had moments this season where he’s really zoned in early on and can’t sustain it over course of the game. That wasn’t the case Tuesday night where from start to finish he was reading shooters

From System/philosophical changes, Penguins will need a coaching bump more than ever to make up sizeable ground in 24-25

The Penguins earlier in the season had moments to hang their hat on where they competed well with some of the NHL’s elite. Talent wise this month, though, has showed the obvious the Penguins don’t have the horses to compete with ‘Edmonton’s star power, New York Rangers run and gun style, Dallas Stars heavy game or the Colorado’s of the NHL who beat you with a combination of speed/skill/strength. Each of those four games over the last 14 days has given the Penguins another reality check that they probably aren’t a few personnel moves and luck from putting together a 180’ and being 15-18 points better next season. However, three wins in their last 14 games and netting just eight

Latest Pens Buzz: Sullivan Coaching Chatter; Penguins gauged market for Marcus Pettersson to get ‘Value’ feeling before summer extension decision & More Buzz

PENGUINS DWINDLING PLAYOFF HOPES It was fun for a couple days while it lasted that just maybe the Penguins could put a string of games together and remain relevant in the playoff race for another week or so. Pittsburgh’s slim playoff hopes, though, took a sizeable nosedive with the upcoming schedule they have in a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. The game did not break open until a Luke Hughes power play goal off a lazy neutral zone Evgeni Malkin second period penalty. Pittsburgh, though, lost this pivotal game really in the first period. New Jersey got Pittsburgh running around in their own end, and not staying in lanes from the early moments after puck

Latest Pens Buzz: Surging Capitals, WBS Watch & More Buzz

The Washington Capitals are becoming quite the story in moving into the top wild card spot despite a minus-27 goal differential and their big free agent goaltending signing two summers ago having an .894 save percentage. Not only does Washington hold the second wildcard spot, they’re also just a point behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third in the division. On top of everything, they went away from the established veteran coach in Peter Laviolette to a younger coach with fresh ideas and a reset for the group as management had an eye on developing than being all-in on competing. What’s playing out is just bonus hockey for Washington as the Capitals are suddenly playing at a 92-point pace. There have

Penguins – Red Wings Fall Out

‘Everybody’s Losing’ In a four-point game where a regulation loss would have sunk the Penguins nine-points behind the floundering Detroit Red Wings who entered the night 1-7 in their previous eight games, Pittsburgh controlled the game from start to finish with an impressive 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night at PPG Paints Arena. Pittsburgh will now enter the week in the same position they were in entering the weekend — five points out of a wildcard spot as the once surging New York Islanders had quite the rough week going 0-3-1 following a six-game winning streak. — Penguins – Red Wings Fallout What the Penguins did in their win over Detroit was put their foot on

Pens-Sharks Fallout: .516 PT%? & Penguins suddenly have a meaningful next three games to get up for….

NOT DEAD JUST YET? Pittsburgh’s 6-3 win over the woeful San Jose Sharks was about as uninspiring it could get. Pittsburgh trailed 2-1 after one period and were involved in a tied hockey game after forty minutes. Facing a goaltender with a Goals Against Average heading towards the 5.00 range who couldn’t control a rebound all night, the dam was eventually going to break open and for the Penguins thankfully did in the third period as the Penguins outscored the Sharks 3-0 in the final frame for the win. Pittsburgh’s play without the puck had moments where again the team looked disinterested and was quite alarming against the caliber of opponent, especially in the first period. Overall, in the game

West Cup Contender believes they offered better roster player for Guentzel? Carter back in 24/25?

~Newsworthy Tidbits from Kyle Dubas Weekly GM Show with the Penguins~ Dubas had high premium on getting an impact roster player back for Jake Guentzel Prior to completing deal with the Carolina Hurricanes last Thursday, the Penguins during the early part of that day made one last play to shop the Hurricanes offer around, most notably to Vegas, Vancouver, Colorado and the New York Rangers. A team or two believes they put a better prospect on the table than Koivunen who the Penguins love but one thing that got overlooked by so many others is the Penguins trying to play this window of competing next season put a higher premium on getting a top-9 roster player with a little bit

Latest Pens Buzz: Organization went into Sens game still thinking playoffs? Support for Sullivan waning & More Buzz

An overtime loss to the lowly Ottawa Senators Tuesday night saw the Penguins playoff chances actually make a jump going from 5% to 7% according to Latest Money Puck Odds. Losers of four straight and seven of eight, Pittsburgh’s odds at the #1 pick are currently about the same as playoff odds which gives this organization a good dose of reality. However, this is not comedy in that the Penguins power brokers in the organization actually went into this week believing if they could run up some wins against the lowly Senators and Sharks and beat a team in front of them in Detroit Sunday night, there was a chance to build up some momentum to play some meaningful hockey

Rumors: Ottawa approached Pittsburgh in February about an Erik Karlsson Return

Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas has stated he is all-in on Erik Karlsson for the future repeatedly lumping Karlsson in with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and behind the scenes pushing for the team to market Karlsson with those four and better in the future. It wasn’t an accident Karlsson was on the cover of the Team Yearbook given out a few weeks ago. A Dubas bluff? Don’t think so but [hide] the Ottawa Senators seeking a PR win, had a conversation with the Penguins last month about Karlsson and have put it out there to Pittsburgh this is something we’re willing to do in the summer and rival teams believe Ottawa is willing to move significant futures to

Latest Pens Buzz: Crosby Camp aware of Summer Aggressive Plan/Targeted List of players

Following Penguins 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers Sunday Afternoon, Pittsburgh has not lost six of seven games and outscored 15-1 over their last three games. Watching Penguins in person closely it’s a different perspective than on TV. The caliber of teams on the ice Sunday was night and day. Edmonton is who the Penguins used to be six, seven years ago. Everyone knew that coming in. What’s striking is just how mentally the Penguins in a span of 7-10 days have become a hockey club that just knows they can’t win and yesterday’s game it didn’t matter if the Penguins put up 70 shots on goal. It just felt watching the teams body language, no matter what they were