The mood surrounding a Jake Guentzel possible return to Pittsburgh has gone from fantasy land and no way a month ago to now don’t rule it out?……..

Something has changed in the last couple weeks where word is buzzing around the league the Hurricanes brass who had initiated extension talks with Guentzel prior to the postseason starting and have been cautiously optimistic of sign him on a 5-6 year deal, have intel that Pittsburgh after never making a legitimate effort to resign Guentzel, plan To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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MORE BUZZ

Jason Zucker in returning to Pittsburgh this past Monday expressed disappointment he never got a phone call from the Penguins. Zucker not being resigned was a case of a new General Manager coming in and believing you had to change the team somewhere and just couldn’t validate bringing everyone back even when the market was weak for Zucker. Pittsburgh never got involved.

— Mike Sullivan has been given full authority on whether he wants to bring his coaching staff back or not. It’s going to be his call when it comes to the Top-2 Assistants. There will be no push from the GM to remove either assistant. Todd Reirden has earned high marks inside the organization for his work with Ryan Shea late in the season and Reirden is said to have been become a positive buffer between Erik Karlsson and the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

[hide] “Everyone that’s in place here is in place because I’ve either brought them here or have elected to keep them here,” GM Kyle Dubas said Friday of the staff. “What I say about the coaching staff is the amount of work that all of them respectively put in throughout the year, their efforts, their push to change and evaluate the way we were playing, especially when it wasn’t going well. Todd, Mike, Ty, Andy, Madison & CJ, they were unrelenting in their push and quest to try to bring us back. It wasn’t for a lack of effort on their part at all.” [/hide]

Could we see a coaching staff change later in the summer?

The organization is bracing for teams To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Alex Nedeljkovic excellent win-loss run to end the season will not pressure the Penguins into making him a priority to resign prior to free agency, team and league sources confirm. Nedeljkovic’s agent To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Missing the playoffs for the second straight season, will the Pittsburgh Penguins make the postseason again in the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era? It’s not crazy to wonder.

The Penguins have a lot of soul searching. Will there be an easier year to make the playoffs again than this season and they still fumbled a playoff spot in losing a number of winnable games? There is a myriad of games the Penguins will look back on and be sick to their stomach. Internally the Penguins felt coming into the season they were around a 101-point team, team sources said. They are going to be off that mark by around 11-13 points.

For all of the optimism over the last three weeks, everyone is a year older, they are likely to run it back with the same head coach that hasn’t won a series since 2018, has been plagued for at least two years of poor system play, blown leads and embracing young players. Not to mention there are major goaltending questions moving forward, among other areas that have to be addressed.

But, this three-week run has at least delivered some important developments the Penguins can be optimistic about when trying to improve the roster this off-season.

Among them:

— Combined with wildly inconsistent first 65-68 games, this great 12 game or so run should be a good glimpse for Kyle Dubas of how to improve the roster of what works and what doesn’t with this group when targeting a certain style group of players to this mix. The good ones learn from their mistakes and the pressure will be on Dubas.

— The Jake Guentzel trade wasn’t a disaster by any means. Michael Bunting emerged immediately as a Patrick Hornqvist type the Penguins have lacked for years and his net-front presence, wall play and smarts to get to the tough areas, ignited Evgeni Malkin on the second line who the Penguins can have some level confidence they can get another quality year out of him when mid-season the organization was becoming very concerned with Malkin big icture. Bunting also added a much-needed dimension for a perimeter power play that become more of a threat with the addition of Bunting and subtraction of Guentzel. Then there’s the hope inside the organization that top Penguins prospect Ville Koivunen acquired in the Guentzel trade, emerges next season as a young up and coming player the Penguins desperately need in their lineup. Pittsburgh strongly believes he can push and win a spot in the top-9. A bonus is Vasily Ponomarev could make it three players from the Guentzel trade the Penguins have as regulars in their lineup next season.

— The emergence of Drew O’Connor. O’Connor has checked every box of what the Penguins had been lacking. Suddenly the Penguins might have a 23-25 goal a year player in O’Connor next season who you can play anywhere in the lineup. His 200′ and offensive game made huge strides over the last month of the season and Pittsburgh has themselves an impact Top-9 forward they didn’t realize they had.

— Jack St. Ivany has also been quite the development over the last 10+ games. Excellent hockey sense for a young defenseman who the Penguins have already trusted late in games, St. Ivany’s emergence solidifies a hole on the right side the Penguins felt they had prior to the season on the third pair. He’s locked himself into getting a one-way contract from the Penguins this summer.

— Erik Karlsson — I will die on the hill that Karlsson is going to have a huge season in year two as a Penguin. Karlsson’s emergence over the last 12-13 games has a chance To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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MORE BUZZ

— Pittsburgh starting Alex Nedeljkovic is them pointing their middle finger at Tristan Jarry. If you really believed Jarry was still your guy next season, you’d thank Nedeljkovic for the run he gave you and you’d give Jarry this game out of respect of being your No. 1 and that’s an opinion from multiple To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— Pittsburgh in right move is scratching Emil Bemstrom who is three goals away from the Penguins relinquishing a 2026 third round pick to Columbus.

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— Players inside the room feel this is Jeff Carter’s final game of his excellent NHL career as Carter has hinted to some of the core he is [hide] likely done, sources say. The ball, though, will be in Carter’s corner if he wants to return. Mike Sullivan certainly wants him back; Penguins management is expected to leave the door open for him to return this summer as he’s also a great presence for young players. [/hide]

The Washington Capitals enter tonight controlling their destiny. Win in Philadelphia and they have punched their ticket to the postseason and a Round 1 matchup with the New York Rangers. If the Capitals pull this off, you have to tip their hat to them.

Caps lose to Buffalo Thursday night, then take out Tampa Bay Saturday night with a convincing win and they just dominated the Boston Bruins Monday night, who were playing for the division title and who had made the Penguins look like an AHL team defensively on Saturday night. It was a flawless defensive performance where the Capitals were swarming the Bruins any time they touched the puck. Washington was in control of that game all night, and nothing stood out more in watching them than just the defensive clinic they put on.

Will the Capitals, though, close the deal tonight in Philadelphia? Washington has been so inconsistent this season and are 1-7 in their last eight games in the second night of a back-to-backs. Albeit longshot odds, Philadelphia with something still to play for, John Tortorella will have that team ready to go. Philadelphia winning tonight shouldn’t stun anybody.

Where Penguin fans are going to be sick to their stomach is if Washington loses and Detroit goes to the playoffs tonight with a win. Detroit for days has been living on the edge. Pittsburgh in devastating fashion handed that point to Detroit Thursday night that now has a great chance of ending Pittsburgh’s season tonight. Detroit was a regulation loss against Toronto Saturday night from being eliminated to minutes away from being eliminated last night against the Habs. They might be destined to get in with the luck they’re having and the unworldly keep-in from Shayne Gostisbehere on the game-tying goal was something else. Players, coaches don’t think this way, but Montreal with a loss will lock in 5th worst record in league. A win could jump them up to seventh. Every incentive to pack it in like they did in the third and overtime.

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LATEST PENS BUZZ

Surely Erik Karlsson lost his mind in the third period of the Red Wings debacle, hey a save from Alex Nedeljkovic would have been nice in that moment too, but if there’s one thing to take away from the last three weeks when looking towards next year is Karlsson and all parties involved looked to have has figured things out and for Pittsburgh you can only hope this is the player you get in 2024-2025. Karlsson finally looks comfortable, and yes he’s had some warts even during this run, but this is what Kyle Dubas & Co signed up for and Karlsson’s had many downright dominant moments over the last 10-15 games where team executives have put him right behind Sidney Crosby [hide] in how he’s dominating the ice. With organization concerned about Kris Letang’s, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Buzz: Boy did Pittsburgh’s Top-Line come to play in a must-win situation: The O’Connor – Crosby – Rust line was on the ice for 25 shot attempts and just 6 against. Scoring chances were a whopping 13-4 when Pittsburgh’s top line was roaming the ice…….. Crosby will enter game #82 Wednesday night with 42 goals – 50 assists – 92 points on the season, as he’s racked up back-to-back 90 point seasons in his age 35, 36 seasons. Prior to last season, Crosby had just one season (Age 27-34 Seasons) of 90+ points in his previous eight years. It feels like he’s had a 130 point season, that’s how impactful he has been……….

Goaltending Chatter: Will be fascinating how management evaluates the goaltending situation this off-season. How much stock do they put into the run Alex Nedeljkovic is on from wins-losses standpoint as it’s not like he’s putting together .920 save percentage hockey on a nightly basis here. They really like Joel Blomqvist, sources say GM To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Expect the Unexpected?

Anybody who thinks the Penguins season ended Saturday night hasn’t been paying attention to the rest of the field. No one should be surprised if the Penguins win out, get some Steelers luck in getting in or completely flame out. Anything’s on the table with this group. Also, no one should also be surprised if someone takes home the final wildcard spot with under 90 points and three other franchises are like ‘how didn’t we get in’. When you have so many teams involved that have been plagued with so much inconsistent play, expect anything to play out over the final three days of the regular season. The Flyers who looked dead days ago getting in with 89 points even wouldn’t be a stunner. That’s how wild this final East race is with the amount of mediocrity among the teams in the mix.

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Washington Capitals | 87 Pts, 30 RW, 34 ROW | 4/15 vs BOS; 4/16 @ PHI |

Playoff Odds: 30% | Washington with a -40 Goal Differential, controls their destiny. What a year it is. Win out in any combination and they are in. Problem is the schedule. Washington, though, has played well against the Bruins this season, going 1-0-1, outscoring Boston 5-3 in the two meetings. The Bruins need a win tonight to clinch the Atlantic Division.

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Detroit Red Wings | 87 pts, 27 RW, 37 ROW | 4/15 vs MTL; 4/16 @ MTL |

Playoffs Odds: 33% | The models like the Red Wings because of the weakest strength of schedule. Detroit finishes season with a home and home series vs the Montreal Canadiens. But, again going 2-0 is no sure thing for the Red Wings with their goaltending and they’ve lost 7 of their last 10 games, going 3-4-3 during that span. This isn’t a club necessarily playing their best hockey right now.

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Pittsburgh Penguins | 86 Pts, 31 RW, 34 ROW | 4/15 vs NSH; 4/17 @ NYI

Playoff Odds: 24% | A loss in regulation tonight vs Nashville and any combination of a win from the Capitals or Detroit Red Wings eliminates the Penguins from playoff contention. Three points ahead of Vegas, Nashville who already clinched a playoff spot, would clinch the first wildcard spot with a point tonight and avoid Dallas in Round 1 so they have a lot to play for in their season finale. There is a scenario tonight where the Penguins could enter Tuesday controlling To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Philadelphia Flyers | 87 Pts, 30 RW, 34 ROW | 4/16 vs WSH

Playoff Odds: 18% | Regardless of tonight’s outcomes, the Flyers will still be alive for a playoff spot for Tuesday night’s season finale vs the Capitals.

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3rd Place Clinching Scenario: Any combination of a win tonight vs the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders will clinch 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division. The Islanders, though, could still theortically miss the playoffs if they lost out in regulation or even went 0-1-1. If the Islanders ended the season tied with the Penguins @ 90 points or the Washington Capitals with 91 pts, they would lose the tiebreaker to either team. They would also lose a tiebreaker against the Red Wings for final wildcard spot if the team two teams finished tied with 90 or 91 points.

Post Penguins – Bruins Fallout

You can only put a band aid on for so long. What we saw from the Penguins through the first 65 games is more of who they are than the great 7-0-3 run they put together. Seeing atrocious defensive play away from the puck, giving up a shorthanded goal, ect, in the Bruins loss was just a matter of time to creep up again as it did in the third period of the Red Wings game where the Penguins being such an older team.

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There was evidence prior to Saturday night that maybe the Penguins got everything they could out of Alex Nedeljkovic. Even early saves he was making, he looked like a goaltender who isn’t tracking or seeing the puck well and that has gone back to the Tampa Bay game. He probably should have been pulled after the second goal. Tristan Jarry, though, looked cold as you’d expect. The only reason to go with Alex Nedeljkovic tonight is Pittsburgh’s winning percentage with him this season compared to Tristan Jarry and that’s how Mike Sullivan basically answered To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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The third period of the Boston Game highlighted the failed Reilly Smith trade in a nutshell. 4-3 game after Drew O’Connor scoring the goal of his career, moments later Pittsburgh gets a rush attempt and Lars Eller makes a great cross-ice pass for a Reilly Smith chance in tight and in typical Smith fashion he doesn’t come to close to burying it. Than not too long after, he’s slow moving down to cover Geekie in the slot and its game over as Bruins go up 5-3. What a massive drop off in production the Penguins got this season from Jason Zucker to Reilly Smith. It’s not even the lack of production from Smith, he’s just a cone on the ice at times. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Lineup Buzz: Outside of Jeff Carter, Mike Sullivan has no faith in the Penguins 4th line. Jansen Harkins is healthy, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Bruins (46-18-15, 107 pts) @ Penguins (37-30-12, 86 pts)

3 Games to Go: Another huge night for the Penguins where there’s about a 50% swing for their playoff odds between a regulation win and a regulation loss:

A regulation or OT win would see Pittsburgh’s playoff percentages jump all the way up to 78%, while a regulation loss would plummet to around 35%. Pittsburgh’s edge with Regulation Wins tiebreaker remains significant where gaining even a point in an Overtime or shootout loss would keep Pittsburgh’s playoff odds above 60% with two games to go.

For the Bruins there’s also a lot on the line for playoff seeding. Boston is three points behind the New York Rangers for home-ice throughout the playoffs with a game in hand. The Division Race between the Bruins and Panthers (106 pts) is also neck and neck. Boston, though, has a game in hand and would clinch the Atlantic Division with a win in Pittsburgh and a regulation loss by the Panthers tonight against Buffalo. Florida has a big edge over the Bruins in regulation wins, Florida 41, Boston 35, in the event the two teams would end the season tied in points:

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Big Day for Playoff Ramifications:

First on the Docket is Islanders – Rangers @ 12:30 PM. Trailing the Islanders by three points, Pittsburgh has to gain a point on the Islanders over the next two games to still be in contention for third place in the division when the two teams meet in Long Island on the season finale. Meanwhile for the Rangers (110 pts), the Carolina Hurricanes (109 pts) are right on their tail for first place in the Metro and the Presidents Trophy. The two are separated by one point and each have two games remaining. In the event Pittsburgh held on to the second wild card spot, you’d much rather see the Rangers in Round 1, than Carolina.

5:00 PM Matchups: Lightning @ Capitals | Devils @ Flyers | Washington would move back into a playoff spot with a win and a Pittsburgh loss in regulation. A Capitals Regulation Win & a Pittsburgh loss would also see the Capitals move just one Regulation Win behind Pittsburgh with two games to go for those keeping an eye on tiebreaker scenarios. Philadelphia with just two games remaining has to win out and get help. There is a scenario where the Flyers would move back into a playoff spot by night’s end if everything broke their way tonight. By puck drop tonight, the Penguins are going to know where things stand for three of the four games they’ll be keeping an eye on.

7:00 PM Red Wings @ Leafs | Moneypuck has the Red Wings playoff odds dropping all the way to 4% if they lose in regulation tonight. They will turn to James Reimer in goal who last played in a 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 28th.

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Penguins Lineup Buzz

Alex Nedeljkovic (17-6-7, 2.89 GAA, .904 SV%_ will continue his career long stretch of starts, making his 11th straight start tonight vs the Boston Bruins. This will now be 12 straight appearances in a 22-day span. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has downplayed that Nedeljkovic could be showing signs of being tired To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

• For Pittsburgh one thing they’ve done very well in the previous two meetings was the ability to drive play 5 vs 5. Pittsburgh is +33 in shot attempts against Boston this year at 5 vs 5.

~Linus Ullmark (21-9-7, 2.55 GAA, .917 SV%) goes for the Bruins Tonight. Ullmark third in the NHL in saves percentage, has allowed 3 goals or less in eight straight starts. He stopped 38 of 39 shots in Boston’s 5-1 win over the Penguins last month.

Injury Buzz: The Penguins expect Noel Acciari and Ryan Graves to be ready for the playoffs if they make it. Would Graves jump right back into the lineup? That is unclear but Coaches have plans to reinsert Acciari back into the lineup as soon as he is cleared. He’s getting close.[/hide]

An improbable run has the Pittsburgh Penguins leading the second wild card spot by one point and controlling their destiny with three games to go.

Will they pull this off or was squandering a chance to bury the Detroit Red Wings in regulation with a two-goal lead going to come back to haunt them?

The synopsis of Pittsburgh’s 6-5 overtime win vs the Red Wings is despite all the flaws with this hockey club, the Penguins once again found a way to get two points and get back to controlling their destiny as things went the Penguins way on the scoreboard with the Capitals losing in Buffalo 4-2.

Pittsburgh’s magic # entering Friday is five points to clinch a playoff berth.

Islanders 89 Points, 3 GR, 3rd in Metro

Penguins 86 Pts, 3 GR, 2nd WC Spot

Capitals 85 Pts, 3 GR | Red Wings 85 Pts, 3 GR | Flyers 85 Pts, 2 GR

“We’ve got some learning opportunities from this game where I think we let them back in the game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “But I give our players a lot of credit for just digging in and competing. That’s what I love about this group right now. Their care factor is high to get into the playoffs.”

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Pittsburgh scored on four of their first 12 shots…….. they never trailed and had multi-goal leads of 4-2 and 5-3, yet, a constant common theme all season for Pittsburgh, they make highly winnable games more difficult than they should be with below average fundamentals.

1st Period: Drew O’Connor opening goal 2:40 into the game, Detroit responds 59 seconds later. Penguins go up again on a Kris Letang goal off the rush, 4:35 later a Letang turnover leads to the Wings scoring with 13 seconds left in the first period.

2nd Period: Pittsburgh being largely outplayed storms out to a 4-2 lead on 2nd period goals from Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust. The inability to close out a period rears its ugly head as Jeff Petry scores with 46 seconds remaining in period to draw the Red Wings back within one.

3rd Period: Players on this roster who have made it a career of rising to the occasion continue to rise down the stretch. None other than Jeff Carter whose shorthanded goal 3:02 into the third should have been the dagger that was good night for the Red Wings but it wasn’t. Erik Karlsson decided to lose his mind defensively, leaving the front of the net on a Dylan Larkin goal at 12:56 of the third and then on the very next shift, Karlsson makes a horrendous pinch that leads to a Lucas Raymond hat trick and we have a tied hockey game.

For every Red Wings push, though, the Penguins deserve all the credit for responding and Erik Karlsson blasting the overtime winner was quite the moment after the disaster end of the third period he had. And you had to feel good for him because before the third period debacle he has finally been a dominant force in a Penguins uniform.

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Players Buzz / Storylines

Three games to go, just enjoy this magical run the Penguins are on after being nine points out with just 22 days left in the regular season. If they pull this off despite all their flaws it is going to be something. Despite some of the positive signs of systematic improvement with their play over the bulk of these last four to five games, Thursday night was another wakeup call of how poor of a fundamental hockey club the Penguins are in critical areas of the game, which is going to make it all the more impressive if they close the golden opportunity they’ve been gifted.

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Sidney Crosby/Bryan Rust have been quite the 1-2 punch down the stretch on the top-line. Again, Rust is going to end up near the top of the list of greatest Penguins wingers when he’s all said and done. They are becoming Crosby/Kunitz like with how the two feed off other with the puck and away from the puck. They can beat you a number of ways.

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— Alex Nedeljkovic is starting to look gassed and since the Tampa game has not been tracking and seeing the puck well at times. On a 7-0-3 run and 11 straight appearances in a 20 day span as of last night, this is uncharted waters for Nedeljkovic. This run has been all about various players stepping up in certain situation. Going with Tristan Jarry vs Boston is very tempting and seeing if he becomes a positive storyline on securing a playoff spot. Nedeljkovic has allowed 10 goals on 52 shots in two games vs Boston. Everything screams go with Jarry on a very short leash. Despite not seeing any action since March 22nd and poor #’s in the month of March, this is still your $5 million+ a year goaltender who leads the NHL in shutouts. Will they do it? Indications are unlikely.

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— The presence of Rickard Rakell driving play in the last couple weeks has been a game changer for the top six. Rakell last night looked so reminiscent of the Rakell of last season where he’s holding onto the puck and waiting for lanes and offensive opportunities to develop. He’s pushing defenders back with the threat of making a skilled play and it hasn’t just been Michael Bunting that’s jump started Evgeni Malkin’s game. Where has this guy been in 23/24?

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— This run has been fun to see unsung players step up on a game-by-game basis. Jack St. Ivany has been one and add Ryan Shea to that list. He’s given the Penguins some positive minutes this week and he reads the play well when to pick spots defensively.

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— Pittsburgh again continues to play with pretty much nine forwards in the third period of games. Emil Bemstrom one shift in third, Radim Zohorna gets a penalty in the third and only see’s two shifts. Valtteri Puustinen again saw little time in the third. We’ll likely see another forward change Saturday night. [/hide] [/hide]

A 2-1 Capitals win over the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday Night that saw Alex Ovechkin hit the 30-goal plateau for the 18th time, has the Capitals back in position to control their own destiny, yet, was Washington winning in regulation still a better outcome for the Penguins despite the math?

With four games remaining Washington’s max points total is 93 points, Pittsburgh and Detroit at 92 Points.

Remaining Four games:

Capitals @ Buf, vs TBL, vs Bos, @ Phi

Penguins vs DET, vs Bos, vs Nas, @ Nyi

Red Wings @ PIT, @ Tor, vs MTL, @ MTL

There is no evidence the Capitals have a 4-0 finish run in them. Bet on a 2-2 finish from them? I still keep coming back to that 89 point mark of where the Penguins need to at least get to. With the regulation wins tiebreaker on their side, the table has now been set for the Penguins to essentially jump three points (due to tiebreaker) ahead of the Red Wings with a regulation win Thursday night on home ice. They could put a real dagger in Detroit with a regulation win and on the flip side, Pittsburgh could be in a world of trouble with a regulation loss against a Detroit and a Capitals win against Buffalo Thursday night. That would put the Penguins three points behind the Capitals with three games to play. It’s a huge night for all three clubs.

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MORE BUZZ

Bad News for the Penguins Tuesday Night: The New York Islanders (87 points) have won five straight and is Pittsburgh’s door closing for having two options to get in? Not yet with the clubs meeting face to face in the season finale but Pittsburgh will need to at least gain a point over the Islanders through the next three games to still be in position to jump them for third in the Metro. Pittsburgh again would win any tiebreaker over the Islanders due to ‘RW’.

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Was the Sidney Crosby skate issue an excuse or actual reason Crosby did not start overtime vs the Leafs Tuesday Night? Lars Eller starting OT in the Leafs loss was a choice just like Eller starting the previous overtime in Columbus on March 30th was also a choice where the Penguins started Eller and Reilly Smith. Since the Colorado OT loss, Penguins coaches have believed in this direction of going with a defensive minded presence to start OT.

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Pittsburgh played the third period vs Toronto with basically nine forwards. Jesse Puljujarvi, Emil Bemstrom and Valtteri Puustinen each saw just two shifts and under two minutes of ice time in the third. Is that Jansen Harkins’ music I hear? Won’t be a surprise if we see a personnel change To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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There was a lot of buzz among pundits leading into the Toronto game that Tristan Jarry was in play to start to give Ned a break? Indications are Jarry got no consideration and the Tampa game at home was a much stronger consideration by the staff To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Stunning, Fascinating, chalk it up however you want in what’s playing out with the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last week or so. After last Saturday’s shootout loss vs the Columbus Blue Jackets, there was still a gloom and doom feeling around this team. They had a massive challenge ahead with a daunting five game stretch in seven days and still needing a ton of luck with everything bouncing their way to be in the discussion for a playoff spot.

A week later almost everything has bounced their way and it pretty much continued Saturday night, minus the New York Islanders winning.

On a 6-0-2 run, Pittsburgh has stormed off four straight wins and enter Sunday in the final wild card spot.

Pittsburgh’s thrilling 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning was a story of two halves.

The first 30 minutes or so of the game you could see the body language of this hockey team of how they’ve taken everything in their game to another level. They can taste the playoffs. None other than Sidney Crosby setting the tone with the opening Goal, 4:20 in, and the Penguins were swarming Tampa Bay in all three zones of the rink where we again saw significant stretches of near elite level play away from the puck. That was another great sign in how what played out vs the Capitals played out again that propelled the Penguins to jump out to a 4-1 lead after two periods.

In the third everything came crashing down where the clear superior team started to find their A-Game and the ice started tilting more and more in Tampa Bay’s favor even in the second despite the Penguins scoring three goals in the second frame. Yet, the Penguins found a way in a game they’ve lost nine out of 10 times this season. Michael Bunting delivered the heroics with the go-ahead goal at 14:32 of the third period and despite the Lightning cracking the Alex Nedjelkovic code in the third period where the Penguins netminder was slow with seeing pucks well, the Penguins miraculously survived an end of the game onslaught from the Lightning that included a 6-on-4 advantage.

Start believing Penguins fans, this team has something cooking and it’s going to be more surprising if they don’t get in and who would have thought that even a week ago

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Players Buzz

1. Sidney Crosby hit the 40th goal plateau for just the third time of his career and in his age 36 season. 16 of 24 on faceoffs, the Penguins drove possession at 60% with Crosby on the ice and he was just a menace on the forecheck. One of the most physical games he’s played where playoff mode Crosby was activated. This team is just fueling off Crosby.

2. All this talk before Jake Guentzel was traded of where he ranked on the Penguins list of best wingers ever? Where is Bryan Rust going to end up on that list? Rust has a chance with another season or two like this to be on Chris Kunitz territory. What a 200-ft player Rust is.

3. The Michael Bunting effect, whatever it might be, even the biggest Evgeni Malkin supporters didn’t think he still had this left in him. 2 Goals and Assist in the win, including the primary assist on the Bunting game winner, Malkin is making magic happen inside 35 ft and the last couple games great committment away from the puck.

4. Erik Karlsson was an absolute monster in the win. He was the best player on the ice and it wasn’t even close. His most dominating performance in a Penguins uniform since the Red Wings game early in the season. If the Penguins can get this player the rest of the way look out. Karlsson in the win had 3 assists, a 72 CF% 5 vs 5 as he was on the ice for 31 shot attempts to 12 against and he posted an 84 xGF%. And his performance was one of those where the metrics met the eye test. He looked like peak Ottawa Karlsson in the win.

5. Ron Hextall left a parting gift in Jack St. Ivany. In the final minute of play, St. Ivany had 3 Blocked Shots in an 11 second span (19:05 – 19:16).

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MORE BUZZ

— A great trend that continues for the Penguins in creating offense in the tough areas from the second line of Bunting-Malkin-Rakell as they had a game high 3 rebound attempts.

— Pittsburgh entered the weekend where realistically they probably needed to at worst split the next two games vs Tampa Bay and Toronto. They now have some room for error Monday night. If you’re going to lose one, it needs to be that one, not Thursday vs the Red Wings. 89 points is still setting up as a sweet spot.

— A significance of the Penguins winning in regulation Saturday afternoon, they are now up to 31 regulation wins. Pittsburgh is +5 over the Islanders in Regulation Wins.

— One thing the Penguins deserve no credit for is talk they made a decision to get younger. Younger bodies in the lineup were by default due to injuries. Noel Acciari brings a heart and soul game coaches and management love but let’s not sugar coat things. He should have always been playing wing from the start and was a disaster in driving offense at center position and his passing metrics drive home that point. Jansen Harkins, that one still isn’t making sense and who is surprised the Penguins are not losing as many one-on-one battles with an anchor in Ryan Graves not in the lineup.

— How close do the Penguins feel they were to signing Collin Graff? Pittsburgh feels they ended up a close To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The bounces just keep going the Penguins way…….

Friday Night every team the Penguins needed to lose, lost in regulation.

Friday Scoreboard: BUF 4 – PHI 2 | CAR 4 – WSH 2 | NYR 4 – DET 3

Philadelphia continues to get the worst goaltending in the NHL since January lost 4-2 to Buffalo and have dropped six straight. Washington on the road in Carolina jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Alex Ovechkin. It was short lived. Carolina would score four unanswered goals and cruise to a 4-2 win as Jake Guentzel had a big night in the Hurricanes comeback win with 2 goals, 1 assist. Washington is now floundering and have lost five straight. Meanwhile, the New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in a 50-50 game that could have gone either way and Detroit has lost five of six games.

It is fascinating what is playing out for the Penguins. They suddenly have two doors now to get in:

Third place in the Metropolitan Division or the final wild card spot:

3rd in Metro: Islanders 83 Pts | 25 RW | vs Nashville, vs Rangers, vs Montreal, @ Rangers, @ New Jersey, vs Pittsburgh

2nd Wild Card: Flyers 83 Pts, RW 28 | @ Columbus, @ Montreal, @ Rangers, vs New Jersey, vs Washington

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Capitals 82 Pts, 28 RW | vs Ottawa, @ Detroit, @ Sabres, vs Lightning, vs Bruins, @ Flyers

Red Wings 82 Pts, 26 RW | vs Buffalo, vs Washington, @ Pittsburgh, @ Toronto, vs Montreal, @ Montreal

Penguins 81 Pts, 30 RW | vs Tampa Bay, @ Toronto, vs Detroit, vs Boston, vs Nashville, @ Islanders

Internally the Penguins believe 89 points is going to be a good sweet spot to get in and with so many teams bunched up, the Penguins have a huge advantage they’ve built up with 30 regulation wins. They are currently +5 over the Islanders, +2 over the Flyers, +4 over the Red Wings and +2 over the Capitals.

Saturday’s Scoreboard Watch: Flyers @ Blue Jackets | Predators @ Islanders

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Will Goaltending, three waves of Systematic Play continue to play out?

Disregard what the metrics said Thursday night vs the Capitals where the Penguins were badly out-attempted and out chanced. The Penguins were sensational with three waves of systematic play in all three phases of the rink.

We saw some of it Monday vs the Rangers and much more so against the Capitals where the Penguins defended through the neutral zone and into the defensive zone with numbers. The backpressure from the forwards through the middle of the ice bottled up the Capitals all night. Another display of systematic work was the forward support along the wall in the offensive zone.

Pittsburgh at times looked to be running a less aggressive 2-1-2 vs Capitals. The aggressiveness, though, of d-men pinching along the wall was still the norm. Only difference was a great commitment to the F-3 covering up high like clockwork and Pittsburgh having a second forward in the neighborhood to again give the Penguins numbers with their back pressure They’ve gotten killed for years with inadequate F3 forward sport as the Mike Sullivan way is live and die with pinching on the wall and the blueprint is here for the Penguins to ride their newfound systematic way to the postseason. One step back and it could easily be lights out with the high-flying Tampa Bay Lightning coming to town Saturday afternoon and Pittsburgh in Toronto Monday Night.

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Lightning – Penguins Pre Game Buzz

A big development for the Penguins is the team believes……..”I think they’re having a lot of fun right now, they’re competing, they’re battling hard,” Mike Sullivan said after Thursday’s win. “It’s not perfect, but I love our energy, our enthusiasm, our compete level. It is fun to watch. So I couldn’t be happier for the players.”

— The Lightning are 10-1-1 in their last 12 games and Andrei Vasilevskiy has found his game at the right time of the year.

The next two opponents will be a much tougher test for the Penguins to see if they can find a happy medium of trying to push the play offensively, while still having a commitment with proper support and back pressure. Much tougher against teams like Tampa Bay and Toronto.

— Could the Penguins make a surprise goaltending decision and go with To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins in a normal year have little reason to be looked at as a true playoff team. Neither do four or five other teams still in the mix. So why not join the party? Pittsburgh’s 4-0-2 run has given them life to go with a lot of help in the standings and is everything falling into place for a stunning end of the season run?

Something about that Tuesday night’s win where Pittsburgh was so badly outplayed for the first two periods, yet they stormed back with five unanswered goals, has to make you think if just maybe the Penguins are destined for the playoffs?

They suddenly have a buzz about them, and we will find out tonight whether the playoffs are actually becoming a reality or still fantasy……..

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Tonight’s showdown in Washington has the makings of being the Penguins (79 Pts | 75 GP) season. Pittsburgh has seven games remaining with three games remaining against teams they are chasing in Washington (82 Pts | 74 GP), New York Islanders (81 Pts | 75 GP) and Detroit Red Wings (82 Pts | 75 GP). You have to get this one. Win in regulation tonight the Penguins pull within one point of the Capitals and two points of the Flyers for third place. Expectations change throughout the season. Pittsburgh right now is playing with house money. The pressure is squarely on Washington tonight. As John Tortorella of the Flyers said this week, just because you weren’t supposed to be here doesn’t mean you cradle and act like you don’t belong here. Once you get into albeit a surprising playoff spot like Washington has done, you need to finish the job and get in. The pressure is certainly on them tonight as the Penguins have often been a house of horrors for Washington in their own building in the Crosby Area.

More pressure on the Caps? Washington has lost three straight games and has a back-to-back situation ahead tonight vs Pittsburgh and @ Carolina Friday night. The Capitals after doing well early in the season in the second night of back-to-backs, have lost five of their last six games on the second night of a back-to-back, which only intensifies the pressure tonight of ending the skid and making it lights out for the Penguins.

Playoffs Watch Tonight

Penguins @ Capitals

Islanders @ Blue Jackets

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More Buzz

Percentage Swings Tonight: Pittsburgh’s playoff percentages have bumped up to the mid-teens for the first time in quite a while. A regulation win see’s Pittsburgh move up to around 24%, a regulation loss for the Capitals takes them down to under 40%, while a Capitals in regulation and or OT/SO win still has them in the 60% range. Quite the game for both teams.

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— Once a staple of Mike Sullivan’s system, the Penguins are the 31st ranked rush offense team. Are all parties starting to finally figure out when all of your offense is made in the offensive zone, you know you might want to get to the tough areas every once in a while? More and more players have started creeping off the perimeter and a stunner, more puck luck is happening during this little five to six game run.

Is the Michael Bunting acquisition — James Neal – Patric Hornqvist type-esque — in losing the more talented player but gaining in other critical areas your team lacks? Some in the organization see it To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Game Day Buzz: Some felt Sidney Crosby ran out of gas at certain points over the final two months of last season where he had 21 points in his last 22 games as Pittsburgh missed the playoffs by a point. Putting the team on his back all season, Crosby has 15 points in his last six games. If he kept around the same pace over the final seven games (2.5 P/G), not only is Pittsburgh probably sneaking into the playoffs but Crosby would net his first To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Penguins’ brass is said to be operating (Will State of Today) with the belief that head coach Mike Sullivan does not have wondering eye for greener pastures and the organization would be stunned if he came to them looking for a mutual parting after the season. With nine games remaining in the regular season, those close to the situation have been given no heads up that something is coming. Pittsburgh behind the scenes is operating into April, business as usual in that Sullivan is onboard with the next phase of a retool. Next season Sullivan enters the start of a three-year contract worth around $6.25 To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

And that belief is being backed up league wide of why rival teams fully expect Sullivan to return in 2024-2025. Case in point, Pittsburgh is aggressively involved in the college free agent market and also have their eye on the junior hockey free agent circuit. Buzz among executives and multiple agents/advisers is the Dubas management team has been touting Sullivan’s development with young players as Wilkes Barre head coach many moons ago and that the next phase where the Penguins are heading (embracing young players) is similar to 2015/2016, not in caliber of team, but where an in-flux of young players developed and shined under Sullivan’s guidance to try to quite qualms. Pittsburgh has tried to alleviate concerns among some advising college free agents To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Game Day Buzz

— Tristan Jarry, as expected, gets the start vs the New York Rangers tonight. It is a seismic start for Jarry who let’s say it how is it, has lost the Number 1 job for now. Tentative plan is for Ned to go tomorrow vs New Jersey and Thursday vs Washington. Pressure is on for Jarry to shine tonight to be in consideration to start Thursday and to change the narrative around him where suddenly his future is starting to get questioned with management strongly believing Joel Blomqvist To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Trade Buzz: Jarry carries a $5.375 million cap hit through the 2027-2028 season and is owed $6.4 million in salary next season. Not to mention Jarry has a 12-team no trade clause and his reps at Newport Sports To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— What a daunting schedule the Penguins have the rest of the way, especially the next stretch with five games in seven days, including four of five on the road:

@ NYR tonight who lead the East with 104 points; @ NJD Tuesday Night who have been a terrible matchup for them; @ Washington Thursday Night before returning home against the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday afternoon. Then it’s @ Toronto on Monday Night.

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Penguins 4-3 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night was another microcosm of the 2023-2024 Pittsburgh Penguins. In the loss Pittsburgh allowed a shorthanded goal off a Kris Letang gaffe in the first period and things unraveled quickly in the third period when holding a multi-goal lead for a mere couple seconds

At 8:59 of the third, Rickard Rakell gives Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead off a great individual 1-on-1 goal, something that was reminiscent of ‘Last Season’ Rakell. Nine seconds later Kirill Marchenko makes it a 3-2 game and it was just a matter of time before it was a tied hockey game. Columbus put their foot on the gas and Zach Werenski ties it up, 2:29 after the Marchenko goal. Pittsburgh never got control of the hockey game back. They were out-attempted 6-1 in overtime and were fortunate to have had an opportunity to still try to get two points in the shootout.

How do the Penguins fix this glaring issue that has cost them a number of winnable games dating back to last season? The Kirill Marchenko goal wasn’t a situation of the Penguins getting caught with their 4th line out against oppositions top line. Pittsburgh had their big boys on the ice immediately after the Rakell goal and they still got smoked with poor awareness off the draw and gap control from the D. There’s a massive attention to details and mindset issue at times from the top-on-down that no one has solutions too fixing.

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Big Picture Outlook Takeaways

All this talk of the Penguins top priority this summer of needing to rebuild the bottom-6 like Malkin and Crosby are 29-30 years old is off base. That should be the easy part. There are in-house candidates to poke around the edges and you can always find depth options on the wing or target different style of bottom-6 forwards than the direction Penguins went in 23/24 with the defensive minded route. The hardest task at hand is the Penguins are at least a good two Top-Six Forwards short when rebranding this roster for next season. Not enough bodies who can create their own offense, hold onto pucks to let plays develop and the two-game set with Columbus really highlighted that again. Thought that was the biggest difference when evaluating Pittsburgh’s Top-6 vs Columbus’ Top-6 and it’s not like Columbus is loaded with an abundance of true Top-6 players.

— Drew O’Connor now has goals in three straight games and since the San Jose game, his play has really taken off. Long-term he’s being stationed out of place in a top-line role but guys who can move up and down like him can be so valuable. Best case scenario for Penguins would be if they could build a third line around O’Connor. Don’t see this happening, but there are some in the organization who have been intrigued about trying O’Connor out at center as he has experience playing center in the past at other levels, though, I wouldn’t mess with a good thing. [/hide]

— Are we allowed to say Alex Nylander looks like a legitimate player right now for the Blue Jackets? Poise with the puck was very impressive Saturday night.

— Fascinating goaltending decision coming up Monday vs the Rangers. Alex Nedeljkovic was good again with 35 saves on 38 shots and has now made four straight starts (2-0-2) and appeared in Pittsburgh’s last five games. If he starts Monday, it would be five straight starts and six appearances in 10 days. The belief yesterday is Jarry was going to go To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Will say it again Kris Letang worries me a lot more than Evgeni Malkin when looking towards what you’re going to get out of the core next season. Father time is undefeated and it’s creeping up on Letang’s ability to be a No. 1 pairing defenseman. Malkin is a lot easier next season to shelter and still get 18-22 goals, 50+ points out of him.

— Michael Bunting played just one shift in the third, leaving the ice a minute into the period and Jesse Puljujarvi who had stacked a pretty good run of games together still only saw 6:31 of ice time in the loss. Puljujarvi had 3:47 of ice time through the first two periods.

— Sam Poulin saw just two shifts in the third and is only seeing 5-6 minutes a game, but he’s really struggled with his decision making and is not making plays fast enough with the puck. Will be something to keep an eye on.

— There are people in the Penguins organization who feel Valtteri Puustinen’s ceiling is a more skilled version of Tyler To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Post Trade Deadline biggest disappointment for the Penguins internally was not getting across the finish line in trading Reilly Smith to Los Angeles. League sources say an injury to Carl Grundstrom complicated To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

21-3-2 vs Blue Jackets since February 2017

Until the Penguins are mathematically out of things, from actions with the lineup on a nightly basis to everything you hear out of the organization is going to continue to be about trying to claw back in the wildcard race. Even the lure of securing a Top-10 pick and holding onto their 2024 First-Rounder hasn’t seen management ready to embrace losing as Kyle Dubas on radio and on his weekly GM show was touting a big week ahead with the home and home series and into next week where the Penguins could get back into the race.

Following a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets Thursday night and losses by the Flyers (82 pts), Capitals (81 pts) and Red Wings (79 pts) Thursday night, the Penguins are an insane 21-3-2 vs the Blue Jackets since February 2017 and the schedule makers have gifted the Penguins with the Blue Jackets again on the schedule in Columbus Saturday night………………

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Power Play Storyline Out of 3-2 Win

— Struggling mightily through the first periods in defending the Blue Jackets rush attack offense, two Evgeni Malkin power play goals help propel Pittsburgh to a needed victory as Malkin hit the 20 goal plateau for the 15th time in his career. Are we now locked in again to one clear No. 1 unit? Pittsburgh never figuring things out with Erik Karlsson running the power play is a great travesty of the season. Clinging for their lives, though, the Penguins have gone back to one unit getting bulk of power play time and taking the likes of Sidney Crosby off after 50 seconds or a minute was never going to be justified long-term and was becoming a frustrating point of emphasis for some. It was obviously just Columbus but desperate for two points, Sullivan clearly went to players he trusts with Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust & Kris Letang running the point. The top unit of Rust-Bunting-Crosby-Malkin-Letang had over five minutes of power play time, while the second unit saw just over two minutes. Kris Letang 5:02, Erik Karlsson 2:23. Previous four games power play ice time was close to even between the two. Expect staff to continue in direction of one clear top unit over the other…….

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More Buzz

When the San Jose Sharks traded Erik Karlsson to Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh didn’t even have to give up someone like a Drew O’Connor or P.O. Joseph, the vibe around the league ‘was every organization has a Drew O’Connor and you can find 3-4 of them in the AHL who could do what he does, why would San Jose want him? Months later maybe not exactly. O’Connor is becoming a really interesting role player and a success story for an undrafted college free agent. O’Connor has one cheap season left on the books and will be interesting if Pittsburgh weighs trying to extend him this season if they believe he has another offensive jump in him and he could become more costly if they wait.

—Anyone surprised Jeff Carter immediately going back into the lineup when healthy wasn’t paying attention to how the coaching staff is still operating or how Carter was playing pretty well prior to getting injured vs the Red Wings. Carter logged 14:12 of ice time vs CBJ after missing the previous four games and was 6-0 in the faceoff circle. Pittsburgh controlled 57% of their shot attempts when the 4th line of Puljujarvi – Poulin – Carter was on the ice together and the line created 4 scoring chances. I’ll say it again, don’t be surprised Carter is back next season at or near the league minimum. There’s a belief he plans to play next season and the interest is To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Kris Letang had himself a night: Assists, 31:15 of Ice Time in just 27 shifts as the Penguins were down to five defenseman for much of the game.

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Goaltending Buzz, Pens brass ‘extremely’ confident of Koivunen starting season in Pittsburgh & More Chatter

— Fascinating storyline rest of the way for the Penguins with Alex Nedeljkovic taking starts away from Tristan Jarry. The backup bloom always wears off but what if the rest of the way goes Nedeljkovic’s direction? It brings an interesting summer as multiple league sources say Penguins GM Kyle Dubas thinks very highly of To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! The Ned camp, led by agent Rich Evans reached out to the Penguins about an extension To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— The Penguins brass contended from the start that pundits, so called prospect experts, and even some actual amateur scouts around the league have been way off base with their evaluations of Ville Koivunen and as I stated on the morning after the Guentzel trade, the organization is ecstatic about Koivunen long-term prospects. They see Koivunen clearly in the light of a high-ceiling prospect and the team is definitely looking forward to getting Koivunen in Pittsburgh this summer to get acclimated to the organization and this is not PR spin, the organization starting with the man in charge, Kyle Dubas, is said to be ‘extremely’ To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— “Great Years” ahead for Ryan Graves? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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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 and tracking the puck extremely well. A strong 38 save performance where he’s going to earn more starts as the coaching staff is said to be frustrated with To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

—Jesse Puljujarvi who the coaching staff had showed their hand of how they truly think of him (they’re not big fans) had his second straight game with a goal, blistering a shot from the right circle past Pyotr Kochetkov. Most intriguing, though, for longer-term prospects of what Puljujarvi may be able to bring to the table in a bottom-line role was how well he excelled vs a very good opponent with his wall play and bringing a heavy game below the dots, using his size and long wingspan well on the forecheck. “He’s playing the best hockey since we’ve gotten him the last couple of games since we reinserted him into the lineup. Hopefully, he can build on it,” Mike Sullivan said of Puljujarvi. Known for his defensive acumen, Puljujarvi saw his most ice time of the game in the third period, seeing 8 shifts, 5:08 even strength ice time. He averaged 3:22 a period through first two periods.

— Jonathan Gruden was a favorite of the previous regime late last season where they felt he was ready for a full-time NHL role in 23/24. He was certainly not helped with the GM change. Gruden was majorly overlooked coming into this season and was given no consideration from the new regime. Was that a mistake? Gruden isn’t moving the needle but has that youth energy/grit element of being a much more useful 12th/13th type than Jansen Harkins or even Matt Nieto was. Players in the room like what he brings to the table and there was a lot of praise after Tuesday’s game of some youth in the lineup with likes of Gruden, Sam Poulin…….

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Guentzel Return Chatter & More Buzz

Jake Guentzel vs Penguins | 0 Points, 6 SOG, 21:06 TOI

Guentzel went pointless in his return to Pittsburgh, but the metrics were something else. Guentzel was on the ice for 36 shot attempts and just 8 against, posting an 82 CF% at 5 vs 5; More phenomenal #’s………

90 SCF%, on the ice for 19 Scoring Chances For, 2 Against; High Danger Chances with Guentzel on the ice, Carolina was 7-0.

The Guentzel-Aho-Jarvis Line was a possession monster and was 15-1 in Scoring Chances when on the ice together:

Carolina team officials and the coaching staff have marveled that they knew they were getting a pretty good player but even they might have underestimated from the outside how elite Guentzel is with the little things on the ice.

“He’s probably a better player than I probably even thought To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Guentzel created a stir with the Penguins fan base by declaring last night it was his intention to stay.

“My intention was to stay, but they just thought there was a better direction to go a different way. It’s out of my hands. It’s not my choice,” Guentzel said after Tuesday’s game.”

Some have immediately tried to spin it as ‘yeah you wanted to stay on your terms’ and so on.

I’m lean Guentzel on this one and have been for a while in that all indications have been the Penguins never made a good faith effort to try to resign Guentzel and information coming out of the Guentzel camp is said to be 100% correct that Pittsburgh never even made an ‘official offer’ since Guentzel became extension eligible on July 1. Other than very preliminary conceptual talks in the fall, there was just never any substantive talks for whatever reason. That led to a ton of hurt feelings and has stunned quite a few inside and outside of the Penguins organization as it’s believed the Guentzel camp was not 100% locked in on an eight-year term. They were said to have been willing to discuss lower term, but Pittsburgh never came to the table which made the situation even more frustrating and upsetting from their end, sources say…….

The million-dollar question has been what are the chances of Pittsburgh trying to repair the relationship on July 1 if Guentzel hits the market?

If and I mean a big if,……if Guentzel’s market on July 1 started settling in that To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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MORE BUZZ

— Not a usual sight, Sidney Crosby [hide] was visibly frustrated when taken off the power play with a 1:10 left on the man-advantage and made Mike Sullivan know about it……..Emil Bemstrom a healthy scratch Tuesday had seen his game take a nose-dive for the most part since the initial adrenaline rush of getting traded to a new team wore off. He will be no guarantee to get an RFA tender to retain rights………….Penguin coaches shortened the bench in third period. Valtteri Puustinen played just three shifts in the third period as he saw his ice time diminish with Puljujarvi getting bumped up in the third. Pittsburgh basically went with three lines in the final frame. [/hide]

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 out of a possible 28 points over that span hasn’t changed and a continued spiral won’t change managements’ plan that they owe it to the franchise and Sidney Crosby, to while keeping one-eye on the future, but do everything possible to try to contend next season. The Penguins internally believe the NHL is the one sport that allows a quicker rebound than any sport when your willing to spend to the cap like Pittsburgh does and Kyle Dubas when negotiating his contract is said to have demanded/received approval for pretty much unlimited funds on a year-to-year basis to work the signing bonus To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Who knows maybe Dubas has the summer of his career and hits on 2-3 second/third tier level moves that slightly move the needle (he’s probably due for some good luck after year one);…………. The metrics meet the results and Erik Karlsson is a major game changer offensively in year two, something that won’t shock key decision makers in the organization…………. and while unlikely, maybe Pittsburgh gets some type of influx of young impact talent in the lineup next season, namely top forward prospect Brayden Yager, and Villie Koivunen who is dominating the Finish League playoffs, in addition to Sam Poulin who some scouts are coming around on that can be an impactful third line level player not a couple years down the road but as possibly early as next season. You can add Vasily Ponomarev to that group, though, less higher upside than the top-2. One thing the Penguins are intrigued about is Yager and Koivunen are tracking on the same schedule as being NHL ready much sooner the outside would have ever through six months ago………..But do they have the right coaching staff, support system in place to toe the line of developing and competing? Pittsburgh is getting a reputation among agents of being a place young forwards go to die as one prominent agent said to me, and it’s something the Penguins brass is getting feedback on in their pursuit of top college free agents, namely To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Those scenarios above and probably a little more need to happen for the Penguins to make a major jump. Still, talent issues aside with the roster right now, there’s no bigger hole that has to be addressed than how mentally fragile this team is on a game-by-game basis. For all the wrong reasons it was on display in a big way again in the Colorado loss. The season was over before the Colorado debacle, It was just fitting how it highlighted so much that is wrong this club in how they don’t have what it takes to put complete games together. How much is on the players and coaching? Is it the system that’s opening the team up constantly to giving up an onslaught of goals against just after scoring or late in periods? It’s not like this group is Crosby, Malkin, Letang + a bunch of inexperienced players. Dubas brought in a number of players with Stanley Cup experience this summer to add to the group; Lars Eller and Reilly Smith have won a Cup, Noel Acciari played in a Stanley Cup Final in 2019, yet, this team on a nightly basis makes mental mistakes that resembles a young roster that’s just learning how to win. The Penguins have too many passengers and it might even include some of the old guard where it’s valid to question whether they have the drive anymore to truly do what it takes to win once now that the skill has started to recede a bit because the tape doesn’t lie……..

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Penguins will desperately need a Coaching Bump in 2024?

The Penguins are playing at an 82 point-pace and will likely miss the playoffs by at least 9-10 points in a year of mediocrity. And that is with getting top-5 goaltending up until the start of the March before the wheels started falling off. How likely are they to receive top-5 goaltending again next season? Pretty unlikely. In a normal year they’d likely miss the playoffs by 15-18 points. It’s a daunting hill for the Penguins to climb when your best players are in their mid to upper 30’s and will be another year older.

Pittsburgh next season is going to have to rely on a significant coaching bump more than ever to make up points, similar to how the Washington Capitals have done it this season, and how in the world are they going to get it by running it back? Pittsburgh is in need of fully overhauling an outdated system/philosophies and can a coaching staff that has run its course but is adored by the core, really have much hope of changing the mindset of a hockey club that doesn’t playing winning hockey when it comes to the little things and attention to details that separate true contenders from pretenders?

“We competed hard. You know, that’s one of the most explosive offenses in the league that we played against. We knew they were going to push back. We competed hard,” Mike Sullivan said who has echoed a similar theme of late.

One source close to the coaching staff says the staff, particularly Sullivan, is still frustrated with the Jake To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Points Percentage Watch

12 Games to go, there’s going to be a lot of points percentage watch for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team enters Monday 24th in the NHL in points percentage, 9th worst in the NHL. Realistically not much has changed from two weeks ago where the Penguins look primed to end the season anywhere between 8th-12th. That’s where they still look headed.

With the Penguins believing they will be better next season, there continues to be a sense around the organization To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

San Jose .286%

Chicago .317%

Anaheim .366%

Columbus .408%

Arizona .444%

Montreal .457%

Ottawa .457%

Seattle .493%

Pittsburgh .500%

Calgary .507%

Buffalo .507%

New Jersey .514%

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 drop and Penguins couldn’t put together many significant stretches where they controlled play. The Devils winning by three goals was right on par with the eye test and we often see this with this current group where if a fast-paced rush team gets them running around early, they struggle to adapt………

“The start was disappointing, ” said Mike Sullivan. “They came out with a lot of pace but we didn’t match the urgency. They get a couple quick goals. We’re got to defend harder, we had inside positioning and we didn’t control our net-front nearly as much as we should have.”

Math: Pittsburgh’s odds for the #1 pick (4%) are now better than their playoff odds………

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Tidbits: As some fans are going crazy about Kyle Dubas comments to The Athletic about Mike Sullivan’s future, cannot say it again for the 20th time, the Penguins organization from top to bottom are 100% in sync that Mike Sullivan will be allowed the opportunity to remain behind the bench for the next phase whether it’s going all-in on contending which is the current plan or going the Capitals route. But there are so many layers to consider whether Sullivan is the head coach or not next season. The sense is everything is going to come down to him on whether he returns or not.

As of now chances are high Sullivan is back behind the behind the bench but………

Does Sullivan, who sources say has a desire to be a General Manager later in his career, have a wondering eye for an immediate better chance to compete is just one part of the process, — hello New Jersey where Sullivan has a good relationship with the General Manager and is said to think glowingly of the Devils long-term prospects to contender, — and another is how he feels with the likelihood of Penguins management bringing in an established veteran To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Rumblings: Those who know Kyle Dubas well in Toronto say anything he says is always calculated and thought out. Dubas putting the mutual parting scenario out there To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— Ryan Graves is going to make Marcus Pettersson a ton of money this summer from the Penguins right? The thinking is yes as Pittsburgh might be backed into a corner where if they are steadfast on trying to compete, then you have to pay Pettersson who’s sweet spot is expected to be To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Casey To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

NHL Buzz: Jake Guentzel has fit in right away with Carolina and showing how most contenders underestimated the impact he could have at the deadline as few stepped up to the table for him when they likely should have. When you think the game at an elite level like Guentzel does, you can pair him with any type of skilled linemates like what’s happening in Carolina and his game was bound to still resemble the player he was in Pittsburgh. The quick success/impact is going to help Guentzel immensely on his next deal……….John Tortorella benches his captain and the Flyers go out and win in Toronto for the first time in quite a while. It’s something how with today’s type of player Tortorella can still coach players like it’s the early 2000’s and get more out of his limited talent teams than almost anyone else can. With 78 points in 69 games, Flyers need to just play around .500 rest of the way and they’re likely in the playoffs……..

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 been some nights where the Capitals have looked like a bottom-5 team against elite competition but what a credit to that group as this out of nowhere movement where the Capitals look like a team that suddenly believes they can get in are doing it without any resemblance of an elite core.

Alex Ovechkin is finally starting to heat up as he’s 52 away from Wayne Gretzky, but Nicklas Backstrom is gone, Kuznetsov was shipped out, T.J. Oshie is a shell of himself, John Carlson is not the John Carlson of 2-3 years ago by any means. Washington, though, has done a very good job of building adequate depth and even with removing 20 goals out of their lineup with the Anthony Mantha trade, they’ve gone 5-2 since the trade, accumulating 10 out of a possible 14 points.

The Capitals also have something very important going for them with so many mediocre teams bunched up as this is a year where we’re bound to have someone getting in over another team because of Regulation Wins. Washington, Detroit and New York Islanders are separated by two points or less. Washington leads that group with 27 regulation wins, Detroit 24 and New York just 21 regulation wins.

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WBS Watch

If the Penguins continue to stay within striking distance of a wild card spot, no guarantees Vasily Ponomarev see’s much of any playing time at the NHL level before the season ends as Mike Sullivan isn’t keen on messing with the lineup, but there are strong indications the Penguins are operating with the mindset of Ponomarev having a roster spot/regular role locked in for next season. Ponomarev scored his first goal in a Baby Penguins uniform Monday night and had a team-high 5 shots on goal. Members of the organization have marveled at his work ethic in the tough areas of the ice and how hard he practices. Carolina has several others in their system with much higher upside, but as mentioned before here, the Hurricanes brass was not too keen on losing Ponomarev. They made a push to keep him, and it’s believed Pittsburgh preferred Ponomarev over To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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2020 2nd round pick Joel Blomqvist who some of the league sees as having No. 1 goalie upside, earned his 20th win of the season Monday Night. Blomqvist is 20-9-6 with a 2.14 GAA and .918 SV% on the season. The Penguins preference remains to give Blomqvist To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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With WBS playing in Cleveland, Pittsburgh wanted to give Jack St. Ivany some valuable practice time with the big group. Had Pittsburgh lost to Detroit and fell nine points out, the thinking To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Penguins – Devils

Here’s something the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils have in common. Both teams have just 3 wins in their last 11 games……….

Of the two teams, though, the Devils of late have looked like the more fragile team. It’s an organization To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

‘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 the pedal all game. Detroit was chasing the game from the opening minutes as Pittsburgh never trailed and held a multi-goal lead for the final forty minutes of play. Any push from Detroit, Pittsburgh pushed right back in continued to show a resemblance of creating offense below the dots with improved wall play and net-front presence from lines 1-4.

Pittsburgh outshot Detroit 38-28 in the win and had a 15-3 edge at one point. This wasn’t a classic Penguins high shot total where 3/4 of shots were from the perimeter and no one in the sight lines. We’re seeing the team actually get into the sight lines of opposing goaltenders, making defenders have to actually defend and forwards are showing a pulse of trying to work for dirty goals. It was one of the Penguins most complete wins of the season.

Despite just their third win in twelve games Pittsburgh’s playoff odds have moved up to around 11%………

“We gotta go a game at a time and get points,” Sidney Crosby said. “I think we’re all pushing, we’re trying to do what we can to put ourselves in that position and we’ve got to just worry about going out there and getting the next one.”

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Storylines/Takeaways from Penguins – Red Wings

Sidney Crosby prefers linemates who not only push the pace but play and think fast through the neutral zone. That is not Michael Bunting’s game by any means so it’s not shocking Crosby and the coaches for now have moved Bunting away from Crosby since the third period of the Sharks game. Drew O’Connor is showing flashes but long-term you want him on a third line and Pittsburgh knows they’re one winger short that can realistically play with Sidney Crosby that has Pittsburgh already formulating a list for an aggressive summer. Multiple league sources believe Pittsburgh’s plan a significant run at To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— The Michael Bunting Effect has been in full swing in how the 28 year old winger has added a different and necessary element to the lineup. He’s might not be an ideal top-line winger for Sidney Crosby per se, but his impact in the blue paint and along the wall has opened some eyes with the organization.

“He’s a semblance of Patric Hornqvist, just his ability to get to the blue paint, make the goalies lift difficulty, “Head Coach Mike Sullivan said with high praise Bunting. “He gets a lot of those goals that are blue paint goals, a foot from the net. It’s a really important aspect of creating offense. He certainly brings that to our team.” The ‘it’s a really important aspect of creating offense’ is an interesting quote from Sullivan as for several seasons he has seemed to not think the lack of net-front presence and being a perimeter team has been a reason for the Penguins ‘lack of finish numbers’.

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Lines 2-4 have strong #’s vs Red Wings

Which Penguins line created the highest amount of high danger chances in the win vs the Red Wings? It wasn’t top line of O’Connor – Crosby – Rust, created 3 high danger chances (2nd)………

Pittsburgh’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

A major positive for the Penguins was the impact of the second and third line.

The Bunting – Malkin – Rakell line-controlled possession at a 66% clip vs the Red Wings and again the Michael Bunting effect, the Malkin unit had a game-high 3 rebound To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Meanwhile, Smith – Eller – Puustinen Line had an impressive night. They were a team-best 75% in possession, on the ice for 12 shot attempts to four against, while Puustinen scored a beautiful 5 vs 5 goal late in the first period to put the Penguins up 3-1. — A stunner Reilly Smith showed a pulse vs the Red Wings. On the ice for 2 Goals @ Even Strength, Smith scored the opening goal off a lucky bounce in going to the net and is there something to build on in giving Smith more sheltered minutes in a third line role? He can’t play a top-6 role effectively anymore but maybe the Penguins can get something out of him with third line minutes/situations…… —To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Kenny Pickett Out: Russell Wilson, Justin Fields In………

The Pittsburgh Steelers have completed a major overhaul of their quarterback room acquiring quarterback Justin Fields from the Chicago Bears in-exchange for a conditional sixth round pick. The sixth round pick turns into a 4th rounder based on Fields playing in 51 percent of plays this season, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Do the Steelers have their quarterback for now in Russell Wilson and the future in Fields? The Steelers have made it clear to Fields, a favorite of Mike Tomlin coming out of the 2021 draft, he will be coming in as the backup and there will not be a competition. The move though solidifies the Steelers significantly upgrading their QB room and the presence of Fields will put pressure on Wilson to meet expectations throughout the year.

What a change of events from a month ago where all noise was To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Fields, 25, who is nine months younger than Kenny Picket despite being drafted a year earlier, 11th overall by the Bears in the 2021 draft, threw for 16 touchdowns and 2,562 yards and 9 interceptions in 2023 with the Bears. Fields who has an 11-29 record in three NFL seasons, rushed for 657 yards and 4 TD’s this past season. In 2022 Fields rushed for a career high 1,143 yards and 8 touchdowns.

[hide] Justin Fields Career: 11-29 Record | 40 touchdowns – 30 interceptions – 6,674 passing yards | 2,220 rushing yards (6.2 AVG). [/hide]

The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded 2022 first round pick QB Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles as it is now officially the Russell Wilson era in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers receive a 2024 To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Steelers are quickly leaking word Pickett did not To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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 Pittsburgh was minus-20 in shot attempts during 5 vs 5 play. Pittsburgh comes out Saturday defending the way they did against the Sharks, it’s going to be a long day vs the Rangers.

But a win is a win and the abundance of average or even below average teams still hovering around for the final wildcard spot has given the Penguins to at least show some pride and get up for this next little stretch of games.

The Penguins enter Friday with a pretty woeful .516 points percentage, their math is still really bad, but somehow, they still sit just five points out of a wildcard spot and face two teams ahead of them over the next three games. Someone might win the final wildcard spot with 88-89 points. As bad as the Penguins have been over the last couple weeks, there’s also been a major shift where any hope of making the playoffs was going to be for third place in the Metropolitan Division, to now the final wild card spot with the Detroit Red Wings imploding and losing seven straight………..

Points Pace: NYI 91 pts | WSH 90 Pts | DET 89 pts | PIT 85 Pts | BUF 84 pts | NJD 84 Pts |

Pittsburgh is home vs the Rangers (3/16) and home vs Detroit (3/17) on back-to-back days for St. Patricks Day Weekend, followed by a road game against the New Jersey Devils Tuesday Night before a three-game gauntlet against @ Dallas, @ Colorado, vs Carolina.

The next three games will show if the team has really packed it in or not. They have life because of teams above them to at least get up for a weekend that still matters. If they come out just going through the motion it will again say a lot.

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Two Best Players on the Ice Thursday Night

Drew O’Connor and Yes Mikael Granlund.

O’Connor was a beast in the win. His puck hunting ability and presence on the forecheck was among his most impactful games of the year. Shift after shift he was best players on the ice, which saw him in the third period elevated to Sidney Crosby’s line in place of Michael Bunting.

Meanwhile, Granlund was very effective in the win from a possession standpoint and was a major presence in the offensive zone where he created 1-on-1 offense and gave the Penguins top-line fits at different times in the game which saw a switch being made. The Granlund line-controlled play at a 65% clip.

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#20’s

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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 over the next two weeks or at least get where the Capitals are right now in having something to play for.

Reality is there wasn’t going to be an easier season for this aging core to get back into the playoffs than this season with how many mediocre teams are bunched up. That’s why where the Penguins have plummeted is a little on the embarrassing side.

With the goaltending they’ve gotten from Tristan Jarry this season, Pittsburgh’s greatest play weeks or months ago was always going to be a coaching change to get that coaching bump every team has gotten this season except Ottawa. Took a little bit but the Islanders are the latest team to get the coaching bump and are now sitting in the last wildcard spot and four points behind the Flyers for third in the division.

There’s no bigger elephant in the room than Mike Sullivan’s future. The organization has been steadfast Sullivan was going to be granted the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Sidney Crosby would have a lot of push back on playing for another coach.

Still, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Adjustments is what made Mike Sullivan do The Greatest Coaching Job in Penguins history during the 2016 Run and some close to the situation have argued Pittsburgh winning in 2017 was even more so because of sheer ‘will’ and coaching with neutral zone alignment changes + Matchup Luck than the Penguins winning strictly with talent. Sullivan was so great in the early years of adjusting to his personnel. That’s what’s made the last couple years so stunning where he seems to have fallen into stubborn trap veteran coaches after a while almost always do. If there’s a time to experiment, it’s certainly now and there’s little changing with this team systematically and how many more players are going to come here and have some of their worst offensive seasons?

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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PLAYERS BUZZ

As many are going through the motions, Bryan Rust sure hasn’t quit on the season yet even if the veteran forward was critical of himself on the first goal against. 7 shots on goal vs the Senators and has 13 shots on goal since returning to the lineup.

— A smaller crowd of scouts feel a coaching system/change could benefit Ryan Graves next season? Hard To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Talent evaluator on Kris Letang who feels ‘father time’ is creeping up mentally on Letang which is common for older players when it comes to awareness/reacting to the play: ‘To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— More Bad Core News of Wearing Down? No one wants to have the conversation with Evgeni Malkin but to get the most out of him moving forward he needs to move to the wing and become a playmaking type of winger. The 5 vs 5 tape continues to be bad…… Is Sidney Crosby at age 36 starting to look gassed with a month to go in the season after carrying the load all season? One individual close to the situation says ‘No’ and that on the surface it’s more no Jake Guentzel for the last month in that the Crosby line has to work much harder for goals so things look tougher for him, but no denying explosiveness in his game has taken a slight step back of late, while word is Erik Karlsson has been playing through an To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— The Penguins are only allotted a certain amount of roster recalls the rest of the way. Barring injuries, do not expect the Penguins to start sitting 3 to 4 veterans down the stretch even if they’re totally out of it. The organization plans to remain respectful to certain veterans who are still pulling their weight and also value a playoff run for Wilkes Barre. Vasily To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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 never going to put one behind the Oilers and it wasn’t because the goaltender was standing on his head or anything. This group on the ice is having a really hard time of dealing with the reality of how far they this season has gone off the rails and at least for the core group it looks to be starting to sink in that they may never be a legitimate contender together again……..

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Source: Crosby Camp Aware of Aggressive Summer Plan/Targeted List of Players

Even prior to the trade of Jake Guentzel, a course of action had already been mapped out to Sidney Crosby and his inner circle, multiple sources say, on how Pittsburgh believes they can turn this thing around in 2024/2025.

Whether Crosby & Co are buying it remains to be seen for a team going backwards but all parties involved are aware of what Pittsburgh is going to be attempting this summer.

Influx of Young players? Pittsburgh has outlined to Crosby’s camp how they believe 2023 first-round pick Brayden Yager is well ahead of schedule and a strong contender to make the team next season and provide an immediate impact. Meanwhile, the feeling in Crosby’s camp is if Pittsburgh lands a top-10 pick in the 2024 draft, they will aggressively To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Trade/FA Route

Internally Penguin management has outlined a list of targeted players via trade, among them being To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Crosby who as of today (i will stress) has planned to sign a two-or three-year extension with the Penguins, is expected to have feedback throughout the process, sources say. There’s still a small sentiment around the league though who are starting to wonder if he at least puts the pressure on the Penguins and doesn’t To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Tidbits: On Jake Guentzel, want to blame Kyle Dubas, blame him for not bending to sign Jake Guentzel last summer if he truly believes in living in this world of somehow trying to contend while appeasing a core closer to 40 than 30. But, as time goes on, there’s a better chance than not that Pittsburgh got an acceptable return for Guentzel and I think fans, pundits will start to see it more in that light next season…………Michael Bunting is fitting right in with a lack of finish through two games on high danger chances, but he has the potential to become a fan favorite quickly. Sidney Crosby is not going to suddenly turn Bunting into a 40-goal scorer but Bunting flashes key elements this forward group lacks and management has to keep going this direction when targeting replacements for a forward group that lives on the perimeter…….

— Bryan Rust returning to the lineup Sunday is one of those players where in person you get a different look of just how good of a hockey player he is in all facets. What a hockey player Rust is but this summer is going to be decision time for both sides. There is certainly some around the league who absolutely love Rust but never understood the thinking from the Penguins to not prioritize resigning the younger Guentzel and cashing in on futures for Rust who has significant interest around the league from top contenders. Rust ‘Full No Move Clause’ protection expires after next season, and while Dubas has planned to be respectful to everyone who has a no move, at least from Rust standpoint you lose control to go where you want after next season. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— I’m a tough critic on Evgeni Malkin. But, anyone watching Kris Letang lately? Turns 37 in April and we’re starting to see some signs on the ice he’s not going to age like fine wine. Learn to shelter Malkin in more of a third line minutes role, I’d much rather live with two more years of Malkin on the books than four more years for Letang…….. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

From locally to some National publications the Penguins are getting crushed for what they got back for Jake Guentzel. Penguins GM Kyle Dubas on Friday was aware of all the noise and the frustration from even his own roster for deciding to punt on the season in moving Guentzel and not improving the roster over the last four to six weeks.

“I don’t expect people to agree with it,” said Dubas of moving Guentzel. “He’s a very popular player in the room in the community. “I think in this position you have to make these decisions knowing that they’re not going to be popular to anybody and that’s part of the job. It can be lonely, and lot of people can be upset at you a lot as you go along. But you still have to make the decision that you think are best for the group, regardless how they’re perceived and do what’s right for the Penguins.”

Despite what was being spun during a few Dubas media sessions in past months, the Penguins internally made a decision around Christmas they were 100% going to move Guentzel to recoup assets whether they were going to be in the playoff race or not. The Guentzel camp was aware of this decision dating back to even early January. All parties involved knew this day was coming.

Dubas is getting blasted from a number of angles for going quantity over quality. He was ready to attack this talk in saying “If you look at the history there’s not a lot of teams that are willing to expend particularly what they view as their top prospects,” Dubas said. “Making trades of that nature, if you’re going to acquire some of these what they would rate as their own No. 1 or No. 2 prospects, those generally come with players with longer term on their deals, not rentals.”

What made the Hurricanes offer more enticing to the Penguins than others where they felt it checked all the boxes for the present and future. For the immediate roster, Pittsburgh feels they came out of this with two players who will immediately help the roster in Michael Bunting to offset the pain a little of losing Jake Guentzel and Vasily Ponomarev who will start in Wilkes Barre but will be up with the team in a couple weeks and projects to be a regular on the roster next season. Pittsburgh likes Ponomarev ability/upside as a useful bottom-6 contributor for now/future and the Hurricanes were said to not have been thrilled to lose Ponomarev.

On Bunting there’s a feeling in the organization his addition is a start to the organization looking to identify a different style of top-9 forwards. Time will tell on that one but some excitement he’s going to bring a different edge to the table and net-front presence on the power play.

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Penguins Strongly Feel Koivunen checked key box of landing high-level prospect

The X-Factor in the Guentzel return is 20 year old forward Ville Koivunen who in the Penguins eyes is what significantly trumped the Hurricanes offer over others.

“We stacked it up against all the offers that were there and decided it was by far the best,” said Dubas of the Hurricanes offer.

For analysts, draft pundits saying the team didn’t land a high-level prospect in the Guentzel deal, the Penguins will strongly disagree with that sentiment. They see the high scoring forward in a different light and as mentioned here Friday morning, Penguin scouts are ecstatic at the team adding Koivunen and the organization feels Koivunen is very close to being NHL-ready.

“I understand (that sentiment) if perhaps he’s not as common over here, he doesn’t play in North America,” Dubas said of Koivunen.

“Koivunen was one of the players that we had targeted just in our evaluations and our internal way that we go through our scouting process and our process of evaluating guys. What also excites the Penguins is they feel Koivunen is very close to being NHL-ready and could become a third player from this trade to make the roster next season. “He’s had an excellent year,” said Dubas. He was a guy that when we got to the 2021 draft when I was in Toronto, we had highly touted in our process year going through this. Was one of their players we had targeted very highly, and he’s had a great year with Karpat. He’s just gotten better and better as the years gone on. He makes such a high impact, highly competitive and highly skilled, which seems to be in the mix that fits here best.”

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MORE BUZZ

Post-Deadline Chatter: Hearing a team or two called in the lead-up to Friday but Penguins never received an offer on Lars Eller who for now the team believes can still help them next season. Market never evolved for him……..There’s disappointment Penguins did not move To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! From a cap flexibility standpoint, one team source says adding Michael Bunting will look a lot better when Smith is moved this summer. Prior to Friday things got close with Los Angeles but Pittsburgh made decision not to retain any money [hide] on Smith which saw talks break down. Sounds like Pittsburgh/LA might have also talked something bigger. Pittsburgh made internal decision to take things to the summer in a belief they can move Smith without retaining in a few months……Teams are already wondering if defenseman Marcus [hide] Pettersson will be Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel on the trade market next season……The Philadelphia Flyers seeking a veteran presence at the deadline looked into Jeff To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

PIT Receives: forwards Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius and 2024 2nd round Pick (Conditional) and 2024 Fifth Round Pick (Conditional)

CAR Receives: Forward Jake Guentzel, Defenseman Ty Smith

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Trade Grades: Hurricanes – A | Penguins C-

Hurricanes Acquire Jake Guentzel with little risk: The Carolina Hurricanes have been criticized in past seasons of not being willing to take a risk in moving significant assets for a top rental player. They went out Thursday night in acquiring the top forward on the market in Jake Guentzel. But in doing so, they still acquired Guentzel by sticking with their beliefs of not dealing significant assets for a rental.

“Jake is an elite goal scorer and playmaker who has produced at a high level for his entire NHL career,” Hurricanes General Manager Don Waddell said in a released statement.

Whether Guentzel takes Carolina to the next level or not, they’re still going to be a slight underdog in a second-round matchup with the Rangers and would be an underdog against Florida down the road, Carolina did tremendously well here. Top prospect Alexander Nikishin was never going to be on the table nor was Bradly Nadeau, but for the Hurricanes to come out of this without having to give up Scott Morrow or rising prospect Jackson Blake was some nifty work by Waddell and his staff. Even Jack Drury not being coveted by Pittsburgh caught a few by surprise. There was always skepticism Hurricanes would put Morrow in play and they didn’t, but Jackson Blake is the name one rival clubs certainly expected to be the main prospect piece coming Pittsburgh’s way.

Then there’s the draft pick considerations. In a poor draft after picks 18-20, Pittsburgh doesn’t even get a guarantee first rounder. The 2024 conditional second-rounder (PHI) only becomes a first-rounder if Carolina advances to the Stanley Cup Final, which is going to be a longshot. This is not a year to be jumping up for joy to put a ton of stock into late first or second rounder. It’s another area Carolina did extremely well that some believe should have cost them a higher tier prospect.

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What We Learned from the Penguins Return of Jake Guentzel

Jake Guentzel became proof again that top rentals just don’t go for what so many think they will and all this talk of the Penguins eyeing ‘quality over quantity’ did not play out. Kyle Dubas has a reputation around the league of thinking he’s smarter than others when evaluating talent. Time will tell if he and his staff were right on this one. The early spin from the Penguins organization is this:

I: The Penguins believe this return checked a number of boxes for the present and future with the return of an established NHLer (Bunting), an NHL/AHL bottom-6 tweener for the present (in Ponomarev), Higher Ceiling Prospect (in their eyes in Koivunen), Middle-Tier Ceiling Prospect (Lucius) who some around the league like better than Koivunen, though, scouts question he will ever be able to skate well enough to be a true NHLer. As for the futures package, team scouts are ecstatic about adding 20 year old forward Villie Koivunen to the system. He seems to be top To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

II: Pittsburgh is going to get criticized up and down for this, but rival teams all say the Penguins in this process put a premium on getting an established forward with term back in the Guentzel deal. They can spin it any way they want but trying to play this fantasy game they can still compete, Pittsburgh prioritized getting Bunting To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Ville Koivunen | 2021 2nd round pick |

[hide] From the Penguins Released Statement: Koivunen, 20, has skated in 57 games this season with Karpat of Liiga, Finland’s top professional league, and tallied 21 goals, 34 assists and 55 points. The forward leads Karpat in assists and points, while his point total is also the fifth highest across all of Liiga. Koivunen plays with Penguins prospect Emil Pieniemi on Karpat. The 6-foot, 172-pound Koivunen has played three seasons with Karpat, totaling 44 goals, 68 assists and 112 points in 162 career Liiga games. He also played in 12 AHL games following the conclusion of his Liiga season in 2022-23, tallying one goal with the Chicago Wolves.[/hide]

Vasily Ponomarev | 2020 2nd Round Pick

[hide] From the Penguins Released Statement: Ponomarev, 21, has appeared in two games for the Carolina Hurricanes this season, notching two points (1G-1A). He made his NHL debut on Jan. 5, scoring his first NHL goal and finishing the night with two points. He’s also played in 41 games at the AHL level this year split between the Tuscon Roadrunners and the Chicago Wolves, picking up 29 points (8G-21A) in 41 games. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound forward has played in a total of 116 career AHL games over parts of three seasons, recording 35 goals, 50 assists and 85 points. His best season came with Chicago in 2022-23 where he established AHL career highs in games played (64), goals (24), assists (22), and points (46). Ponomarev won the AHL’s Calder Cup with Chicago in 2022, recording six points (1G-5A) in 18 playoff games.[/hide]

Cruz Lucius | 2022 4th Round Pick

[hide] From Penguins Released Statement: Lucius, 19, has spent the 2023-24 campaign playing collegiate hockey at the University of Wisconsin. He’s appeared in 32 games, recording 12 goals, 19 assists, 31 points and is plus-2. His 31 points rank first on Wisconsin and his 12 goals are a career high and are second on the team. The 6-foot, 178-pound Lucius has played in 66 career NCAA games from 2022-24, all with Wisconsin, notching 23 goals, 42 assists and 65 points in 66 games. Cruz is teammates with current Penguins prospect Daniel Laatsch.[/hide]

— The Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes pushed forward in talks Thursday evening and have reached an agreement on a deal that will send Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes. Players involved are in the process of being notified over the next hour by their respective teams and a trade call is expected later tonight. A draft pick condition is among little things being finalized before the trade call tonight. ……

Among the names moving in the deal:

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To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

3/7 1:35 PM | Penguins took step back Thursday morning in process.

The Pittsburgh Penguins while actively engaged in trade talks with the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night, took a step back and expanded the process to others again Thursday morning and are going through what’s been described as ‘improved offers’ sources say. Vegas To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! who made a late entry on Wednesday made an offer for Guentzel that was believed to include forward To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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3/7 9:04 AM | Will Penguins close a Guentzel Deal This Morning?

No matter how Kyle Dubas ends up spinning it when he speaks Friday, the Penguins started conducting business Tuesday morning with a decision made the night prior to have a Guentzel deal done by the close of business on Wednesday. What’s played out this week is multiple teams like Vegas, Florida, Edmonton for example that were circling around Guentzel for a few weeks, made decisions in the past 36 hours to go cheaper routes at forward, while still keeping tabs on Guentzel in case the price drops closer to the deadline, namely Vegas and Florida still have their pulse on the situation if an opportunity comes up to get back into the mix.

The belief around the league was this: Vancouver really tried to make this happen on from late Tuesday night into Wednesday with a number of complicated/creative scenarios, but Jim Rutherford and Vancouver team officials started sending out word Wednesday night ‘Pittsburgh is focused elsewhere’.

Rival executives believe Pittsburgh went into Wednesday evening focused on trying to finalize a deal with the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Vancouver will surely welcome a call from Pittsburgh this morning to re-engage but the Canucks could move at any point for another winger today. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Update 3/6 7:08 PM:

Who’s In & Who’s Out on the Jake Guentzel Front?

Who’s Out: | The Vegas Golden Knights a top team Pittsburgh targeted in talks and there even a belief around the league prior to about 5:00 pm. Tuesday the two sides were closing in on a deal, have continued to make moves elsewhere. Vegas was big on getting a Jake Guentzel extension to make this happen. Instead, they turned to Anthony Mantha and have now traded for Noah Hanifin. The wrinkle with Vegas is names Pittsburgh targeted in talks were not moved in the Mantha, Hanifin deals. No one seems to want to totally close the door on Vegas just yet. Meanwhile, Edmonton is definitely out. Pittsburgh/Florida never got too serious in talks but Florida looked very hard at Guentzel as a possibility at one point.

Who’s In: Vancouver is still around this and the feeling around the league is Carolina has not taken themselves out of the mix yet. Some talk Carolina conceptually discussed a deal centered around forwards Jack Drury, Jackson To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Late Entry Crowd who tried to get into mix today: With others dropping out and the market for Guentzel not as strong as expected, two teams that tried to make late entries are the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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3/6 7:25 AM: The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to steam ahead on completing a Jake Guentzel trade and expectations from both camps is Guentzel will not be a member of the Penguins organization by Thursday……..

Here are some key developments to emerge over the last 24 hours:

*A decision was made late Monday night between both sides that permission would not be granted to teams to discuss on extension, which paved the way for Pittsburgh to start advancing talks with others as Guentzel being moved strictly as a rental. Sources say this was more a decision from Guentzel’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

*More and more chatter there is a bit of sticker shock in the Penguins organization at the lack of serious interest in a To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Teams inquired during the process but when it got serious this week to step up to the table Pittsburgh doesn’t have many dance partners. Vegas a particular team of interest to the Penguins that the club advanced talks with on Tuesday, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

*The noise was heavy Tuesday and into the night of the Vancouver Canucks working to facilitate a three-team trade to land To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

*A mystery To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! but Vancouver officials in particular believed late Tuesday night the Oilers were To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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3/5 5:08 PM: The Pittsburgh Penguins are closing in on a Jake Guentzel trade and Pittsburgh today accelerated [hide] talks with two specific finalists To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

On Vegas & Guentzel: The clear shortlist of teams vying for Jake Guentzel expected to learn today whether Pittsburgh will grant Guentzel To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

MORE BUZZ

As mentioned here last week, sense around the league is Jake Guentzel would waive his no trade clause to Edmonton but Pittsburgh has been focused elsewhere as Edmonton is regarded as an extreme longshot despite a willingness to offer two-first round picks for Guentzel + a conditional To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas is right to play the card of let’s give it another go next season like he professed recently in the lead-up to the March 8th trade deadline. Saturday night’s third period implosion has to finally lead to the direction the rest of the way for the 23/24 season to get some veterans out of here by Friday to open up spots and play some younger guys the rest of the season as an evaluation tool for building next seasons roster.

The Penguins in complete control through the first fifty minutes of play just fell flat on their face in a game that had to have and played the percentages of starting their No. 1 goaltender against the weaker opponent in the first night of a back-to-back.

“We just beat ourselves in a number of different ways,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We had complete control of the game, played a really good game up until that point, and we just made some egregious mistakes. It’s hard to recover from.”

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Guentzel Latest, Three-Teams were Tied to Rust

Some clubs who for a while have believed there was an outside chance Pittsburgh would keep Jake Guentzel past the trade deadline are now operating with the mindset Guentzel is close to 100% being traded by Friday. Teams are getting antsy and two particular clubs, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Pittsburgh has not planned to allow extension talks until talks with a specific team or 1-2 finalists had advanced enough to cross the finishing line. The clock is ticking…….

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Vancouver, Carolina, two teams that have also been tied to Jake Guentzel, are said to have been more willing to pay a premium for To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! A third team that poked around on Rust is the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Speaking of Detroit, they are said to have some level of interest in To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

NOTEBOOK BUZZ

— Rumblings, Musings, Opinions —

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High Attempts/No Finish: Pittsburgh’s 2-0 loss to the Seattle Kraken Thursday Night was another classic example of Pittsburgh’s lack of finish ability coming down to not being a team that prioritizes sustaining offense of being a presence in the net-front/heavy traffic areas. Personnel/System issues, this is a multi-year problem that isn’t going away especially when you’re primed to lose your best pure goal scorer via trade or free agency. Pittsburgh can’t keep living in this world of ‘we carried play and didn’t get lucky bounces tonight’. If the system isn’t going to change, someone in the management team has to start prioritizing different style of forwards who has some nastiness on the edges and gets to the tough areas…….

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Malkin Cooked?: Evgeni Malkin is done as a legitimate second line scoring center 5 vs 5. Say what you want about Ron Hextall but he had the right idea leading into 2022 summer that Pittsburgh needed to bring in a Vince Trocheck type centerman to play behind Crosby who the Penguins planned to make a strong play for before higher up’s pushed to resign Malkin. Malkin with 2 goals in his last 23 games, if the Penguins are serious about trying to re-tool next season and be an improvement over this season, they have to figure out best way to utilize Malkin and use him more as a third line type forward. He needs sheltered and figure it out how he can help you on the power play again. Management has to start thinking of ways to build a new second line next season from personnel/style of play. 5 vs 5 Malkin’s numbers are right around last season in that 0.55 – 0.57 per game range. It was just last season he cooked on the power play with 36 power play points that inflated his numbers.

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Rumblings: Is Pittsburgh back to the drawing board of searching for a youngish top-pairing LH D? Penguins GM Kyle Dubas is said to have kicked tires on Flames LH defenseman Noah Hanifin prior to the 2023 draft but things never got serious as Pittsburgh wanted to hold onto assets for an Erik Karlsson trade and believed they could sign Ryan Graves in free agency, a route they obviously ended up going. Graves is now seeing third pairing minutes and had just over 12:00 of ice time last night at ES and has five years to go on his contract. Pittsburgh To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Reilly Smith is disinterested in Pittsburgh, has not meshed well with teammates and looks nothing like the player he was in Vegas where he at least had a pulse on the ice. Yet Smith’s market has been described as a red-hot with the deadline a week ago. Pittsburgh has multiple [hide] offers on the table for Smith. It’s time of the year for misinformation but Smith’s market has been described as being in the second rounder + another asset range, though, Pittsburgh had gone into talks exploring roster player for roster player type deals around the disappointing Smith. It will be a stunner around the league if he is not moved by Friday…….[/hide]

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Elliotte Friedman dropped a bombshell on Thursday the Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes trade talks surrounding Elias Pettersson had reached advanced enough stages where it put the Pettersson camp in a corner ‘where come to the negotiating table or be traded in classic Jim Rutherford fashion. Rutherford does not mess around and won’t get bullied. The Penguins were likely going to be tied to this in one way. Had the deal gone deal, there is a lot of noise Pittsburgh and To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Anytime Penguin fans see Jared McCann it brings up nightmares for many. All of the power brokers in the organization were at fault on that debacle. Mike Sullivan, though, was widely believed to be the final decision maker on protecting Teddy Blueger as the seventh forward. The old regime relied heavily on Sullivan during that process since they were newer to the team. What’s fascinating with McCann is how so many others overlooked acquiring him that summer when he was available basically for free. Dubas acquired McCann in Toronto just to protect Alex Kerfoot.

Goals Scored Since 2021/2022 Season | Jared McCann 92 Goals – Alex Kerfoot 33 Goals………

Buzz: The Reporting on Omar Khan discussing the quarterback situation Thursday at the Combine has been something. There were comments from Khan where you could feel they are 100% in on Kenny Pickett, Matt Canada was more of the problem, Mason Rudolph will be resigned after he explores free agency for a hot minute and there’s not going to be a real competition to start the season…….. There were other comments from Khan where you feel trading for Justin Fields or signing Russell Wilson for example is still largely at play………..Don’t be stunned at a Diontae Johnson signing this summer. The Steelers live by the moto they can always find wide receivers, but Arthur Smith is said to love Johnson and the Steelers are internally worried George Pickens could go off his rocker at any time……. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

TRADE DEADLINE BUZZ

One Surprise Entry into Guentzel Market: Penguin management is very methodical in way they operate under Kyle Dubas. Even prior to deciding just recently to seriously listen on Jake Guentzel, the team has had a list together for over a month now of who they believed would be the top contenders to trade for Guentzel and what Pittsburgh would target in a trade from a list of up to eight teams, sources say. With the deadline inching closer, contenders/pretenders have started to emerge. Word is nothing has caught the Penguins by surprise on the market except for one team that’s been a late entry since the weekend:

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

More Rumblings: Vancouver, Edmonton are on Guentzel No Trade List But……….To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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MORE BUZZ

— When it comes to Non-Superstar players on the market, the media is often way off what those specific players are going to go for or what they’re market is. Chris Tanev going to Dallas for a minimal return is another classic example of that. The return was nowhere near the first-round pick & more talk that followed Tanev for months. Will Jake Guentzel be another example of that in due time? Based off some scenarios that have come their way the Penguins will get a solid return for Guentzel if they move him, but it’s likely to be more under whelming than some expect……

— Did the Penguins make a mistake putting Guentzel on LTIR that will keep him out of the lineup past the deadline? There is word his injury is nowhere close to Penguins initial belief To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Biggest praise from scouts on Valtteri Puustinen? Puustinen’s sly puck hunting ability in the offensive zone. He shows elements of thinking before the play develops and for a smaller player has himself in great spots along the wall for puck battles. It took injuries to finally force coaches’ hand that they have to play Puustinen and the 24-year-old’s emergence is a big development in formulating the roster for next season along with DOC’s emergence.

—

1000: Sidney Crosby on Tuesday Night became just the ninth player in NHL history with at least 1,000 Even-Strength Points

The List:

NOTEBOOK BUZZ

— Rumblings, Musings, Opinions —

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Jarry Trade Winds: Tristan Jarry’s name coming up in trade winds over the last couple days wasn’t the Penguins doing from the sense Pittsburgh put his name out there to court offers. What’s at play here is an Eastern Conference team approached the Penguins early last week about Jarry that has at least given the Penguins something to think about prior to the deadline and into the summer. No offer was made for Jarry but there are whispers a To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! was conceptually discussed. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Jarry has significant support in the organization from the likes of Mike Sullivan and with Pittsburgh trying to play the card of competing again next season, moving Jarry is going to be a tough sale to Core Four and the head coach, who it cannot be understated how much power Sullivan yields in the organization. Outside of the Conor McDavid’s of the hockey world, though, everyone has a price……….

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—Feedback Pittsburgh is getting from rival clubs is teams view goaltending prospect To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

~Fleury + Ned in 24/25, Blomqvist to be handed the net in 2025?~ There is certainly mounting chatter To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Penguins GM Kyle Dubas last week on multiple occasions labeling Erik Karlsson as the core with 87/71/58 was not by accident. There is frustration in the organization the team has done a poor job marketing Karlsson to the fan base and there’s some annoyance internally of how Karlsson’s been covered by the local media. One team official told me from the start a few figures in the local media have made it a point to always pit To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Will say it again the Penguins evaluation tools tell a very different story on Karlsson than how the media, fan base are viewing him. That’s not to say Karlsson hasn’t been frustrating at times this season………..[/hide]

Jake Guentzel being traded or signing with Arizona just because his dad is a Pro Scout with the organization has gotten some laughs To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!………The Washington Capitals have come back from the dead in the battle for third place in the Metropolitan Division, entering Tuesday with a .553 points percentage and just four points behind the Flyers……..Anthony Mantha’s 21.2% shooting percentage has him on a heater this season and someone will likely overpay at the deadline. Still, you look at type of big-bodied forward who can actually play a bit, Mantha, 29, a pending UFA, tops the list of the type of forwards the Penguins need to start targeting when rebuilding their roster this summer. They can’t keep living in this world where they still view themselves as even an average rush offense anymore and lean towards rush offense players…….. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Latest on Jake Guentzel: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his Saturday Night headlines listed five notable teams in on Jake Guentzel, naming Vegas, Edmonton, Vancouver, Carolina and Florida. There are believed to be others in the mix penning the ability to discuss an extension with Seattle being one of those teams on the outside, league sources say. The five teams, though, mentioned above have been the usual suspects for a few weeks now in the mix for Guentzel as either a rental or a trade/extension:

Extension Buzz: There are strong indications Vegas and Florida are two primary teams Guentzel would at least be receptive to discussing an extension with prior to a trade, which could give the Panthers and Knights an upper-hand on others. Pittsburgh is said to be fond of a few To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Edmonton In & Out?: The Oilers are viewed in the Guentzel sweepstakes as a team that will have to out-bid the rest of the field by a wide margin due to Guentzel being acquired looked at as strictly a rental compared to other possible destinations and there’s been chatter for a few days now the Oilers have doubts they can pull it off.

Canucks Remain a Wildcard: Jim Rutherford in even after acquiring Elias Lindholm was going to keep his ear on the Guentzel situation and he has. The Canucks have been teetering a bit, Elias Pettersson still won’t commit long-term which has the Canucks looming as a threat. League-Buzz on the Canucks is if Rutherford has a feeling, he can To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! He would not be the center piece by any means but there’s certainly some To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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More Buzz

Flyers (30-21-7, 67 pts) @ Penguins (25-21-8, 58 pts)

Pivotal Points Swing: This afternoon feels like another one where the Penguins officially become cooked with a regulation loss and fall 11 points behind the Flyers or with a win have some life/hope again going into the Western swing. Philadelphia comes to down in the second day of a back-to-back after a grueling matchup against the Rangers Saturday afternoon. Flyers-Rangers had everything of a playoff feel between the two from an intensity standpoint and was a game the Flyers probably should have won. That was a great hockey game and Philadelphia may also be without Travis Konecny once again today vs the Penguins. Pittsburgh has to have this one.

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Bemstrom to be highlighted in Top-9 Role: Emil Bemstrom will make his Penguins debut this afternoon and will skate on the third line with Lars Eller and Reilly Smith. Pittsburgh will also deploy Bemstrom on the second power play unit:

“He has a really good shot, that’s one of his biggest strength’s,” Mike Sullivan said of Bemstrom. “We are trying to encourage some of our power play groups to shoot the puck a little bit more and that’s an opportunity for him to help us.”

Key Takeaways from the Penguins 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens Thursday Night

–Jarry Won the Night in first 10 minutes–

Kris Letang might have been the storyline with two goals on Kris Letang bobblehead night but Tristan Jarry won this game in the first 10 minutes. If Jarry was a tad off his game, this one could have gone south quite early on for the Penguins with how out of sync Pittsburgh was defensively. Montreal was buzzing out of the gates with 19 scoring chances and 10 high-danger chances, all 5 vs 5 in the first 20 minutes of play. Jarry went on to make 30 saves in the win, marking the fifth time out of his last six games he has allowed two goals or less. Spearheaded by the head coach, Pittsburgh’s bet on Jarry last summer has paid big dividends. Overall, in the game Pittsburgh was minus-19 in shot attempts (73-54) and minus-10 in scoring chances (34-24).

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Puustinen, O’Connor Shine; Phillips struggles

Second straight game Pittsburgh got that some scoring punch from that second/third tier level forward group. Drew O’Connor might be streaky but he’s young/cheap and the length he plays with on the forecheck and the shooting ability he has off the rush has made an interesting player moving forward for this year and into next season when constructing the roster. Meanwhile, Valtteri Puustinen continues to have moments where maybe it’s time for the coaching staff to stop viewing him as a game-by-game basis type player where you let him go on a run and if he makes a couple mistakes one shift, you put him right back out there.

With the addition of Emil Bemstrom and Mike Sullivan believed to have no interest in moving away from his 4th line makeup of Harkins-Acciari-Carter, it will be interesting to see how much patience the Penguins have with Matthew Phillips in the next stretch of games. Phillips was at 15% in possession vs the Canadiens and the numbers were brutal with Evgeni Malkin. The O’Connor – Malkin – Phillips line was on the ice together for just 1 shot attempt and a whopping 15 against. Very small sample but in 3:39 of ice time, the O’Connor-Malkin-Puustinen line was 11-1 in attempts.

There is word, though the coaching staff particularly Mike Sullivan was high on the acquisition of Phillips and Sullivan saw some Conor To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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MORE BUZZ

— Erik Karlsson had a marvelous offensive game and we’re starting to see him take more chances below the dots with his decision making that made him a points monster last season with San Jose. As some in the organization feel the coaching staff had reigned Karlsson in too much through the first half of the season, there’s been a push from the front [hide] office for Karlsson to be more aggressive and that’s message was given to him after the All-Star break by Kyle Dubas, a source close to the situation says.

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— The fancy stat boys are hating the Emil Bemstrom acquisition in blasting the Penguins for acquiring yet another 4th line forward who doesn’t produce enough. Alex Nylander was not going to be given any more chances by this coaching staff so turning Nylander into a different style player is fine. It’s easy to see why both teams made this move.

It’s not a majority view by any means but early feedback from a To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— KEY TAKEAWAYS/OBSERVATIONS FROM KYLE DUBAS PRE-DEADLINE MEDIA SESSION –

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Dubas Does Well in Outlining a Plan Moving Forward

What Kyle Dubas needed to do Wednesday was start selling a message to the fan base and whether it’s the right move or not, he did well in laying out his vision. In believing the likes of Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang will remain higher level players for the next couple seasons, the Penguins will try to toe this line of being competitive while bringing in younger talent on the fly to avoid any real short or long-term pain. The view outside of Pittsburgh is this will not work but Dubas was extremely thorough as to why he believes this is the route to go in trying to remain competitive, while also having future hall-of-famers be that olive branch to the next wave where Pittsburgh hopes combine both for a couple more playoff runs in the Sidney Crosby era.

“When you have players like that, they prevent you from (falling to the bottom of the league) because they are too good,” Dubas said of the Penguins core. “At the same time, what they can pass on to the players who come into the organization, in terms of the standards that we have here, the impact that being around Sid, Geno, Letang and Karlsson can have on a young player, it’s impossible to measure. That’s what we set out to do. So whether that’s our own guys in Yager, Pickering, Poulin, Blomqvist or more tangibly, draft picks, but also any other younger players we can bring in via trade, I think that can serve to expedite things and make sure there isn’t a massive breach. Everything that we do will be with the intention of delivering a championship contender for the team without them having to go through years of pain to get there. That’s my commitment.”

Leading into the deadline the Penguins are going to play this game of not necessarily buying for this season but making moves with their eye on giving it another go next season.

“I still believe our group is capable,” Dubas said. “[But] my view of it is that I can’t see us moving future draft capital at this point to try to bolster the team.” At the same time, [hide] are there moves that will allow us to add good younger players to the organization that can help to expedite things here and help us and support the group that’s already here? We’re trying to look through all of that. But I can’t see us expending a ton of our future draft capital this draft year. We don’t have a ton, but in the future years, we’re well stocked. I don’t think that will go out the door. [/hide]

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Big Game Hunting this Summer?

There is a sense around the team Pittsburgh is primed to be Big Game Hunters this summer. Multiple sources say, though, with little success to this point, Dubas has been laying the groundwork. The hope at the deadline is to accumulate assets to put back into the team this summer.

 “Are there moves that would allow us to add good younger players to the organization that can help expedite things and support the group that’s already here? We’re trying to look through all of that,” Dubas said. “If there are scenarios where we move some of our younger prospects for players that are a little bit older and closer to ready, we would look at all of those things. I don’t think there’s anything at all that’s off the table here.” 

One player the Penguins have shown significant interest in is Buffalo’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Cleaning up his own Mess

There are a variety of reasons to be critical of the roster moves Dubas has made in year one as President of Hockey Operations/General Manager. Not to mention a lack of urgency when this team needed a jolt several weeks ago. There’s a long list from the Ryan Graves/Reilly Smith blunders to the philosophy of building a defensive minded bottom-6 that put significant stress on the roster for a 37 year old Evgeni Malkin to pull his weight as a legit scoring 5 vs 5 second-line center, which was always going to be unlikely, to the obvious that Pittsburgh built this roster where they were going to have to have a top-5 or at worst top-10 power play unit based on their measures to be a 96-100 point team.

“We got back to the beginning of the year and our discussions that we have in here about the way we wanted to construct the group, it was to have a group in bottom-6 that could take the defensive pressure away [from top lines Crosby/Malkin] and let them go out and flourish,” said Dubas. “When you don’t produce on the power play, it puts an added pressure on the even strength production on those groups which is not really how we sit out at the beginning of the year. That falls on me.”

This philosophy of don’t let your bottom-6 hurt you Dubas put in place is something he adopted late in his tenure as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In Toronto, though, you had a much younger core that could carry its own weight. No one can fault Dubas for believing the power play was going to be an impact unit to off-set a lack of skill in the bottom-6, but from the outside he bought into the belief Evgeni Malkin is still a formidable second-line scoring center and that’s where this plan also went south. Pittsburgh is a one-line team.

Dubas talked at length Wednesday about the Penguins needing to get younger, yet, he really doubled down over the summer with term contracts via free agency or trade with 30 and older players from the likes of Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto to Riley Smith as examples.

“New energy, that’s what we really need,” Dubas said of the current roster.

Pittsburgh is in talks with as many as three teams about the prospect of moving veteran To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

[hide] “We’ve received a lot of calls on a lot of our players, especially as our team has been in that spot that it’s at,” Dubas said of his group. “Out of respect to the group here and what they’ve accomplished, I’m trying to be as patient at possible and give the group the time. I’ve outlined to them to show that we can really make a push and make a run at it. Is the group capable of it? Yes. We’re sure that we are, but we’re running out of time to show that we can do it consistently. As we’ve had, coming out of the All-Star break, we lose two of three. Last week is the same, we lose two of three. These are really good players here. So, teams are calling more and more asking, ‘Are they going to be available?’ That’s my job to listen to it. But there’s been no discussion about ‘These guys are, these guys aren’t available.’ A lot of teams are just calling and asking about a litany of our players.” [/hide]

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Coaching Buzz: Reirden Expected Out this Summer

Dubas as expected came to the defense of Mike Sullivan. Barring Mike Sullivan wanting to move on at some point, the organization starting with the ownership group are all-in on Sullivan who has three more years left on his contract and is scheduled to make around To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Sullivan also has Sidney Crosby strongly in his corner as it’s no secret in the organization Crosby has little interest in playing for anyone but To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

“He [Mike Sullivan] takes this very seriously and takes the ups and downs very seriously,” Dubas said of Sullivan. “That’s the respect I’ve developed for him throughout the year. You know that from afar and when you get in with somebody it only helps you. So to me, with the coaching staff, I envision Mike Sullivan, based on what I’ve learned from him in our discussions this year, his ability to take the development of each individual player seriously, I think he’s the type of coach that can help you win. He’s the type of coach that shows he can win but also that he can develop people. I don’t think that there needs to be any discussion about Mike.”

Where there is going to be change this summer is with To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Rumblings, Musings, Opinions —

Troubling Math: The Penguins with 29 games to go remain seventh in the division and have a .529 points percentage entering Wednesday. Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the New York Islanders was another classic game why it was hard weeks ago to buy into the games in hand being a reason to still believe the team warranted buying stock into at the deadline. For such a veteran team the lack of situational awareness has been something to watch.

Mike Sullivan after being very critical of his club Sunday night, called the Penguins third period rally vs the New York Islanders an ‘inspiring effort:

“A couple of goals were fluky, and I just thought our guys kept competing. So, from that standpoint, I thought there was a lot of like about our team game tonight. I thought out guys had an inspired effort,”

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Penguins to sell message on the future today?: A newsworthy day is upon us with Kyle Dubas scheduled to speak at 2:00 p.m. for pre-deadline media session. Talk in the organization over the last couple days has centered around ownership’s inner circle To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Rumblings: One league-view of the Penguins and Dubas is they have one thing in their corner in building a plan; There’s extreme confidence Sidney Crosby who is eligible for an extension this summer does not have a wondering eye of going the Tom Brady route and chasing a title elsewhere. In fact the view of Crosby in league circles is the ownership change actually enhanced him finishing his career in Pittsburgh. The Sidney Crosby camp is said to see amazing post-career opportunities through the FSG ownership network that interests Crosby. Chairman Tom Werner To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

–Buzz around the league is there’s certainly more teams in the Pay Jake Guentzel the seven to eight year term camp and [hide] you could easily trade him in three to four years with the rising cap than teams believing his camp is overvaluing what his market is going to be in the summer. Clubs feel To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

–Kyle Dubas loves to take chances on skill, so few were stunned to see the Penguins claim smallish winger Matthew Phillips last week. 1 Goal in 32 career NHL games, though, is a bad sign and it says more of the player when a team like the Capitals that’s planning to embrace young players over the final two months was willing to move on from Phillips ………As Mike Sullivan is getting crushed for his overtime personnel, Indications are Sidney Crosby was gassed to end regulation vs the Islanders and is why he did not start overtime……….

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The Pittsburgh Steelers did not interview many candidates but the opinions they got back from candidates on their quarterback situation is said to have been a wake-up call to owner Art Rooney II that’s has swayed Rooney’s view to at least be open to upgrading the QB position…………Don’t buy the Messaging the Steelers put out last week via the Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac that the team is not interested in adding a starting caliber quarterback to compete with Kenny Pickett……….There’s certainly smoke Russell Wilson not Ryan Tannehill is Arthur Smith’s top choice To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! About the Pittsburgh Pirates under Bob Nutting. You can’t fault Nutting as being anything but a great businessman. The Athletic has a great piece on why the Pirates are who they are under Nutting in being some comfortable with losing………

Jagr Weekend was a First-Class Operation: Top to bottom the Pittsburgh Penguins organization put on an amazing display with the retirement of Jaromir Jagr’s #68. President of Business operations Kevin Acklin deserves his popcorn. Acklin was the frontman in making this happening. It’s easy to put together a plan, but to enact it and deliver it so well like the Penguins organization did is something else altogether.

The Penguins have now set a precedent on how you go all out for a franchise icon. It wasn’t just the festivities Sunday afternoon with the hanging of #68 to the rafters. This was basically a 72-hour celebration that started on Friday and Pittsburgh knocked every step along the way out of the park. There were so many wow moments throughout the weekend and the Jagr highlights leading up to his speech just hit home what a powerful force he was on the ice. It was a good reminder of how unique and great of a player he was in that era. They didn’t deliver Six Championships together, but it was fitting the highlight reel showed the clip of Jagr/Lemieux torching the New York Rangers in the 1996 playoffs with John Davidson saying the Penguins had two Michael Jordan’s in Jagr/Lemieux.

A Season Ending Loss?

Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh Penguins on the ice didn’t do their part. You just can’t lose that game in the fashion the Penguins did in giving up two goals in a 3:01 span late in the third period that included a go-ahead shorthanded goal against by Adrian Kempe. The Kings comeback was not stunning because this is who the current Penguins are; competitive on a nightly basis but every game is a struggle to get a clean two points. The Kempe goal just felt like a season ending loss to start a critical homestand. There was such an energy in the building — Sidney Crosby gets the opening goal as the power play was buzzing early with great movement/shot placement; Tristan Jarry was a brick wall; Despite all the grade-A chances Pittsburgh might have been giving up throughout, it just felt the hockey gods were not going to let them lose. — Instead, reality sunk again that the Penguins have Sidney Crosby and about 15 passengers right now on the roster.

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MORE BUZZ

Phillips Waiver Claim sign Pittsburgh won’t be adding? Time will tell if this holds true but one league executive’s immediate reaction (On Friday prior to the Kings loss) to the Penguins claiming Matthew Phillips in taking the Penguins up 49 contracts is the team will have no plans To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Whispers Mike Sullivan has soured on Puljujarvi already: On Saturday there were a lot of whispers coming out of the organization that Mike Sullivan left their coaching meetings Saturday morning with the tentative plan to scratch To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Lineup Buzz: More prominent wrinkles to the lines/pairings on Monday was P.O. Joseph getting first pairing reps with Kris Letang, while Marcus Pettersson moves back with Erik Karlsson. Based off performance To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Going Down Memory Lane

The Greatest Pittsburgh Penguin in Franchise History is obviously Mario Lemieux and little chance anyone is ever coming through that door that will come close to Lemieux.

Sidney Crosby has moved into the second greatest Penguin territory and is arguably the Penguins most accomplished player in team history from an individual/team accolade perspective.

Sorry Evgeni Malkin, Jaromir Jagr is hands down the third greatest Penguin of all-time and it’s not even close. This notion that Malkin is above Jagr is disrespectful to Jagr. Behind Lemieux, Jagr was the second-most dominant player to ever put on a Penguins jersey. By year three in 1992-1993, Jagr started to clearly emerge as a 10-forward in the game and from 1995 – 2001 Jagr was the game’s most dominant presence and how Jagr torched the league in the trap/left wing lock era gets overlooked. This guy somehow led the league in scoring in back-to-back seasons with Kevin Constantine as his coach. Jagr should be awarded an ownership stake for that.

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Greatness that was unmatched: In Jagr’s final seven seasons with Pittsburgh from 1994-1995 through 2000-2001, Jagr lead the league in points in five of those seven seasons; 1995 lockout season Jagr was tied for first in the league with Eric Lindros, followed by four straight Art Ross Winning Seasons 97/98, 98/99, 99/00, 00/01 to cap off his Penguins career.

In 1995-1996 Jagr posted a top-2 finish with a career-high 149 points, but some guy named Mario Lemieux took home the scoring title that year with a 161-point campaign after taking off the 1995 season. Jagr’s seven-year run (1995-2001) saw him dominate the league like few others have or ever will and the consistency on a year-to-year basis to put up the production he did was something else and why he’s hands down the third greatest Penguin of all-time. The 1996-1997 season was the only year over that span where Jagr didn’t place a top-2 finish in points. There’s a reason though. Jagr missed 19 games that season and was second in the league points per game at 1.50 Pts/game. Mario Lemieux was tops at 1.60 Pts/game.

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Favorite Jagr Season: 1995-1996

Beautiful hockey is how to describe the 1995-1996 Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh was second in the Eastern Conference in points and lead the league in goals, even strength goals, power play goals and as a team posted a league-high 14% shooting percentage. 1st in the league in points was Mario Lemieux with 69 goals and 161 points in just 70 games. 2nd in the league in points was Jaromir Jagr who had a career high 62 goals and 149 points. The NHL will never see a 1-2 offensive punch like Lemieux/Jagr from that season. Jagr led the league with 41 even strength goals and 54 even strength assists, while Lemieux produced at almost a 190-point pace. Lemieux, Jagr and Ron Francis (119 points) combined for 429 points on the season. The NHL was robbed of a Gretzky – Lemieux Stanley Cup Final in 1993 but the 1995-1996 season Penguin fans were robbed of the last great chance of the Lemieux/Jagr combo reaching the Stanley Cup Final where both players at the same time were still at or near their peak offensively.

And it gets overlooked how much great young talent that 1995-1996 Penguins team had. Hall-of-Famer Sergei Zubov was 25 years Old, Markus Naslund 22 years old, Petr Nedved 24 years old, Bryan Smolinski 24 years old, Glenn Murray 23 years old. As Lemieux retired following the 1996-1997 season, by the start of the 1997-1998 season not one of Zubov, Naslund, Nedved, Smolinski or Murray were still on the Penguins roster which makes what Jagr did in 1997-1998 with the roster under him and a trap crazy coach all the more unbelievable in how he still torched the league whether he had great talent around him or little talent around him like 1997-1998 roster.

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The Entertaining Summer of 2011 Jagr Watch

Jaromir Jagr provided great memories and possibly stress for reporters by in 2011, known as Jagr watch. There were two different instances where a Jagr return was in play. After Marian Hossa spurned the Penguins in the summer of 2008, a reach out to Jagr was made by not then General Manager Ray Shero but a former teammate of Jagr’s to a put a feeler out. It never got serious as Jagr was still chasing money at that stage of his career and was locked in on playing in Europe. 2011 was much different, it brought a wild couple weeks with numerous wild conversations with the agent, ect, as Jagr would end up signing a 1 year, $3.3 million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. Maybe Jagr was always going to take the biggest offer no matter where it came from, but friends and former teammates of Jagr’s have all said, Jagr was type of guy then who had to be wooed and he just never felt the love from Pittsburgh.

Ray Shero never really wanted to sign Jagr and felt it was being pushed on him by David Morehouse; Dan Bylsma told Jagr in a phone conversation he would be the third line right winger behind Pascal Dupuis/Tyler Kennedy and envisioned him running the second power play unit, telling Jagr there was a chance he wouldn’t see many power play minutes. Things got so personal Shero sent out a press release prior to Jagr signing with the Flyers that the Penguins made a 1 year, $2 million offer to Jagr. Those were just some wild times and Jagr would get the last laugh as he had a pretty productive season with the Flyers and Philadelphia would upset the Penguins in Round 1. What a series that was for all the wrong reasons from Pittsburgh’s perspective as the curse of not signing Jagr saw him beat the Penguins again in the 2013 playoffs in a Bruins upset sweep of Pittsburgh.

Has Jake Guentzel played his last game in a Penguins uniform? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

One of the clubs that has Guentzel at the top of their trade board is the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Math Problem: Pittsburgh coming out of the weekend with back-to-back losses has look of being a devastating weekend for Pittsburgh’s climb to a playoff spot. Suddenly the Philadelphia Flyers who looked dead leading into the All-Star break, have won four straight and are now 11 points ahead of the Penguins for third in the division. Pittsburgh enters Tuesday with a .541 points percentage on the season and seven points out of a wildcard spot. As the trade deadline gets closer and closer, Pittsburgh continues to have a math problem and as mentioned here during the All-Star break General Manager Kyle Dubas can’t base any trade deadline decisions on games in hand. Yes, the Penguins are competitive almost any night, but every game is just a battle for them to get a clean two points. Since November 15th, the Penguins have won 15 of 35 games, grabbing 37 out of a possible 70 points over that span.

Fallout from Dud Weekend: Pittsburgh is banged up leading into Wednesday’s Nationally Televised game vs the Florida Panthers. Noel Acciari remains sidelined with a concussion and has been placed on injured reserve so the Penguins can make a callup. Jansen Harkins was also placed on injured reserve this week.

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MORE BUZZ

Daily Guentzel Trade Buzz: The league view of Jake Guentzel continues to be the same as 7-10 days ago. Whether Pittsburgh is in the playoff race or not, the team plans To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Draft Buzz: The 2024 NHL draft is regarded in league circles as strong class until picks 18-20 and then there’s a big drop off in talent from 20-50 that is making late first rounders less valuable in trade talks.

Top-10 Protected: Pittsburgh’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Power Play Buzz: Pittsburgh continues to run separate power play units ahead of Wednesday’s game with the Letang and Karlsson units. Will the coaching staff show a willingness to provide in-game adjustments with the two units? Erik Karlsson was feeling it offensively vs the Jets, yet, Kris Letang never came off the ice during the late third period power play opportunity in the loss to the Jets. A boggled situation not getting Karlsson on the ice there.

Multiple teams interested in Carter, Eller?: Aside from Jake Guentzel, two names getting some buzz To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins put together a stellar performance out of the break Tuesday night with a 3-0 shutout win over the Winnipeg Jets at PPG Paints Arena. While the mood in the Jets room was more of ‘they just couldn’t finish’ as Winnipeg out-chanced Pittsburgh 5 vs 5 in every key category, the eye test told a different story as it was a game the Penguins felt in control of from the very first minutes after puck drop An argument can made the Jets have overachieved thus far and are not a true upper tier team like the standings might currently say — what the Penguins showed again is a growing theme of how better competition has seen them put a blueprint on tape with a more structurally and systematic level of play –………..

Pens – Jets Fallout

— The split power plays were a huge success in the Penguins getting two points vs the Jets. The situation deserves a little run here to see how it goes. Can the coaching staff find a happy medium in properly allocating time and not be married to either unit? Hard to take a Sidney Crosby off the ice after just 45-50 seconds and distributing close to equal time for both units is easier said than done when you’re not awarded five-minute majors on a game-by-game basis…….

— Reilly Smith returned to the lineup, and everything continues to look to be in slow motion for the veteran forward. The second line of Smith – Malkin – O’Connor was below 37% in possession and out-chanced 11 to 4 during 5 vs 5 play against the Jets………

— Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan is said to have gone to bat for Jeff Carter this summer with the new management team that Carter could still provide a valuable role to this team on and off the ice. It was sure looking dicey when it’s believed management asked for Carter To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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League Buzz: Penguins Likely to Trade Guentzel & Remain Buyers?

Even Kyle Dubas’ closest confidants don’t have a good read of how things will play out over the next month. What’s unlikely is the Penguins falling out of playoff contention to make things easy on Dubas & Co. With pressure from the head coach whose power in the organization might be second to just Sidney Crosby, to add at the deadline and who thinks it’s insane to be even considering a Jake Guentzel trade, multiple league sources have described the Penguins front office of being in an extremely difficult place where the group is facing internal pressure from a number of corners……….

— Jake Guentzel hit 500 games Tuesday night and having 219 goals through 500 games just sums up how great of a player he has been in Pittsburgh. As talk of the Penguins recently offering Jake Guentzel 6 years and around $8.5 million a year getting strongly debunked from both sides, it did not happen, a fascinating thing to watch is whether the respectful cat and mouse game between the Penguins and the Jake Guentzel camp goes all through the deadline. The Penguins in league circles have put out the message of while To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

[hide] One belief around the league continues to be the Penguins being in position to receiving offers that are going to be too good to pass up but barring a complete collapse in standings over the next month, any trade of Guentzel will have the Penguins having a plan in place to replace his production. A name to watch will be Seattle’s Jordan Eberle as Pittsburgh is getting a lot of play around the league of being a motivated buyer for a top-9 level forward whether it’s tied to a trade of Jake Guentzel or not. — Among the buzz around Guentzel: Colorado is in on everything big, so can never rule them out; Both Florida teams are getting some linkage on Guentzel [/hide] as the worst kept secret around the league is Guentzel being highly intrigued of playing in Florida, but a lot of buzz To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Rumblings, Musings, Opinions —

Soft Rebuild in Play? Pittsburgh after a 3-2 overtime win Saturday night vs the Montreal Canadiens, will go into the All-Star break 9th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage and just four points out of third place and multiple games in hand. Still, the final two games of the break showed again with this club how every night just seems to be a 50-50 game and struggle to get two points. Management has to weigh that into their evaluation process. With third place in the Metropolitan Division so up for grabs, though, arguments for both sides can be made. One thinking around the team is Kyle Dubas owes it to this group to at the minimum either to stay the course or be a soft buyer. The other side is let’s be honest the right move is getting a jumpstart on a soft rebuild……….

Differing views surround Dubas: What’s fascinating with those two lenses, there’s two very differing views of what Dubas will do from those around the team to what the league-wide belief is right now on the Penguins. In Pittsburgh there is a belief ownership prefers to ride this season out and push everything to the summer.

There are even some To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! intimidated by the core on what they’ve meant to the franchise and To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!……..Around the league, though, the belief is the totally opposite and that Dubas is already slowly laying the groundwork to be bold leading into the deadline, for instance a belief Dubas will not keep Jake Guentzel as his own rental and will start a re-tool of the roster for next season, beyond. And this a pretty strong consensus outside of Pittsburgh among those who indicate Dubas does not believe in this team and a group not worth mortgaging capital to try to guarantee a playoff spot……. We’re a month and change from finding out which side is right………

Mike from Utah?: Let’s end this notion Kyle Dubas needs to weigh the opinions of the Big Three before constituting a deadline plan. Sidney Crosby absolutely, a superstar of his magnitude deserves to be in the loop of why ‘you’re planning this, ect’, but Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang absolutely not. They do not deserve any consideration of what they think and that’s the truth. Malkin is a complementary player at this stage and just along for the ride. The Penguins are not paying Dubas almost $7 million a year to be a puppet for a Malkin and Letang retirement tour. He just can’t fall into any traps……..Let’s say Mike Sullivan was from Utah instead of Massachusetts — would ownership be so infatuated with Sullivan? — Saying this, I’m a believer Sullivan is easily a top-5 coach in the NHL and would be great in a number of other situations, but even the biggest Sullivan supporters in the organization have to wonder about the obvious if a coaching change would bring out the best in Erik Karlsson with systematic changes to allow him free reins down low similar to San Jose and oh yeah fix the power play……..

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Rumblings: If Kyle Dubas was even permitted to make a coaching change for one last hope of getting the most out of this group, the name constantly mentioned around the league is To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Had the Steelers interviewed eight to ten candidates instead of three, would the Arthur Smith hire be more popular? Only in Pittsburgh after having a JV high school offensive coordinator in Matt Canada at the helm for two and half seasons would the hiring of Smith be bashed like it is right now…………At first glance the Smith hire is more about the Steelers believing they are close to taking the next step than the hire being solely that they think the OC can fix Kenny Pickett. In how Smith likes to attack offensively, it certainly leaves a pursuit of Justin Fields still on the table, something that surely will be a discussion in the organization…….

Has the pressure ratcheted up on Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas or what? The Penguins collapse in play against Vegas Saturday night that followed to the Arizona game Monday night has the Penguins suddenly playing at an 89 point-pace. Dubas has said for weeks that the All-Star break will be his barometer. Pittsburgh has lost four of five games and six of their last nine games with two more games to go before the break. The Penguins internally have felt this is the third best team in a mediocre division of bunched up teams, but management is playing with fire that this group is suddenly just going to figure out. This is a wildly inconsistent group that’s getting greatness from Sidney Crosby on a nightly basis and above expectations’ goaltending and are still 12th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage with 38 games to go. And how much weight can management put into any games in hand right now when the schedule markers have awarded one of the NHL’s oldest teams with 16 games (March 2 – March 30) in a 29-day span in March as the team finishes the season overall with their final 25 games of the season happening over just a 47 day span. Not ideal for this club…..

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What’s Next | Trade Talk picking Up

Rival executives have believed Dubas has the authority and power to blow this thing up, but does he really have the means to act on it? That’s up for debate as some believe at this point it would be a tough sale to his bosses. Season ticket renewals happen next month and there’s already word ownership To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

At the end of the day the Penguins are truly a good four weeks from having serious discussions about blowing this thing up. So, what’s the best route of action right now as in the next 7-10 day span? Dubas just can’t sit on his hands anymore. What made Dubas so attractive in the short-term was his Jim Rutherford type ability to make creative trades when he manned the chair in Toronto.

To be blunt Dubas has to fix his two primary misses in constructing this roster and before the Penguins return from the All-Star break:

Dubas’ two big misses is the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Frustration Building between Penguins, Karlsson?

Management To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! There’s also whispers Karlsson has been frustrated of systematic ideas he has brought to the table to coaches that have not been entertained or enacted by the staff.

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

NOTEBOOK BUZZ

Notebook Buzz: Mike Tomlin has all plans of honoring his contract and returning in 2024. What remains to be seen is it Mike Tomlin goes the Bill Cowher route or not. Tomlin is not scared to play out the year with one year left and the Steelers know it. Steelers owner Art Rooney II is widely expected to make every attempt to extend Tomlin this off-season and if Tomlin agrees to an extension, it would be a stunner inside team headquarters if he accepts a short-term extension. Anticipation is if Tomlin extends, it will be 3+ years. Tomlin extending or not is expected to be more on him than ownership not stepping up the table.

— Will Tomlin go all-in on Kenny Pickett today? Tomlin meets with the media today at noon and nothing will be more fascinating than how he handles the quarterback questions and most notably Kenny Pickett. Does Tomlin go all-in on Kenny Pickett or does he leave the door open for all options being on the table and further evaluation of the QB1 spot this off-season? The Steelers have a headache on their hands with players inside that room like Diontae Johnson already calling for Mason Rudolph to be the starting quarterback in 2024. Meanwhile, Josh Allen had to be another wake up call for the organization that if you don’t have a guy at QB, you’re going to be stuck in 9-8, 10-7 purgatory for years to come like the Steelers have been. And the AFC is just a gauntlet with great QB’s now and into the future. Pair Jim Harbaugh with Justin Herbert and the Chargers will be another team destined to do big things in the AFC……

–Justin Fields to Pittsburgh? Kenny Pickett to Denver? | For the Steelers to move on from Kenny Pickett, Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan are going to have to do a serious sales job on their boss. Selling Art Rooney on taking a quarterback at No. 20 isn’t going to do it, nor is bringing in a Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousin at their age. Chicago’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Penguins Buzz: Jake Guentzel loves playing in Pittsburgh but one issue at hand for both sides is there’s just no predicting where this franchise will be in a couple of years. And that’s the viewpoint from Kyle Dubas also. Still, some executives around the league who hold Guentzel in very high regard are a bit miffed that Pittsburgh doesn’t feel Guentzel’s a worthwhile gamble to pay the premium to retain him now and deal with the consequences later. Another league source called it interesting Pittsburgh doesn’t see Guentzel as a player they can build around. ‘That’s all his camp [hide] wants to hear,’ a league source said of Guetnzel’s reps not feeling the love from the new regime. As respectful as negotiations have been and will be between the two sides, there is still some surprise inside the Guentzel camp that Pittsburgh is willing to roll the dice of possibly losing a player as productive as Guentzel. You put an 8×9 offer on the table, Guetnzel’s likely taking it even if his market might be slightly higher in free agency and concerns that he could be playing for a bottom-10 team in a few seasons. “We’ll continue to go through the season here. I’ll continue to evaluate where we’re at,” President/General Manager Kyle Dubas said Wednesday on his weekly radio show with Josh Getzoff of the Penguins. “Either after the All-Star break or after the season we’ll do what’s best for everybody, best for the Penguins, best for Jake, and we’ll determine that together. That’s really it………” Dubas added, saying he hasn’t sought any offers for Guentzel. [/hide]

— Things might be lining up where the Penguins become the clearcut third best team in the division, a spot the Penguins internally see themselves projecting. The New Jersey Devils may never figure it out this season which has helped open that door. Even if that’s the case and Pittsburgh strongly weighs keeping Guentzel as their own rental, quietly Dubas isn’t doing his job if he isn’t testing the waters next month on what a return for Guentzel could be. Right now, it’s 100% believable Dubas hasn’t sought offers because why would he at this early conjecture, but a month from now that would be a hard sale………. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

*Rumblings, Musings, Opinions*

Notebook Buzz: Mason Rudolph could go on a Nick Foles run and lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a deep playoff run and even a miraculous scenario of winning the Super Bowl like Foles did in Philadelphia and the sense around the Pittsburgh Steelers organization is it still will not matter: From Mike Tomlin to many others with significant power at Steelers headquarters they look at Rudolph as just one of those fluke hot hand situations that backups around the league provide from time to time. The view of Rudolph from those who call the shots is not changing in that he’s looked at as a true backup long-term…………

But do the main power brokers in the organization truly believe in Kenny Pickett as the long-term answer? Apparently, it doesn’t matter. Owner Art Rooney II is said to be so dead set on Kenny Pickett being the consensus starting quarterback in 2024, if Rudolph keeps winning it will increase the likelihood of the Steelers letting Rudolph walk in free agency and it won’t be because of money (the Steelers are not afraid to spend $8-$10 million on a backup as evidenced with the Mitch Trubisky situation). Let’s say the Steelers win two rounds and go out in the AFC Title Game. With basically an order expected to be coming down on Tomlin and Omar Khan from their boss that Pickett is the starter in 2024 no matter what, bringing back Rudolph and not giving him a legitimate chance to compete for the starting job will be a major headache the Steelers will likely feel isn’t worth it…………

— T.J. Watt is a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer if he walked away from football today and the NFL’s sack leader in this view is tracking to become the greatest linebacker in Steelers history. It’s still something, though, as great as Watt is, the Steelers have yet to win a playoff game during his career and if Pittsburgh upsets Buffalo, it will be without Watt on the field………. Could we be looking at Cam Heyward’s final game ever as a Pittsburgh Steeler? Turning 35 years old next season, saving $16 million in cap space and $16 million in actual cash will surely be enticing to the Steelers when it comes to a decision on Heyward……..

— Mike Tomlin keeps thing close to the vest but at the end of the day those in that building believe Tomlin playing the Sean McVay game of sending signals he may take some time away and has to think about his future is nothing more than some annoyance with his To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Wild Card Weekend Buzz: The shocker of the weekend so far was the Houston Texans steamrolling the Cleveland Browns. C.J. Stroud is special, this was pretty much a pick’em game, but how the Texans did what they wanted on offense at every opportunity was stunning against that Browns defense……..The demise of the Kansas City Chiefs was an exaggeration. They’re going to be a tough out to put away Sunday’s Picks: Cowboys over Packers; Rams upset Lions……..

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As the Canucks were in town this week, the amount of trade talks between the two clubs last February and into early March was something else. Pittsburgh kicked tires on Brock Boeser at various points but eventually had cold feet on Boeser…….. there was the hail Mary play for JT Miller on deadline day that involved four teams, Pittsburgh – Vancouver – Anaheim – Mystery Team -. Are the Penguins a better team today with Miller than Erik Karlsson? But nothing was more fascinating than how close the Penguins old regime feels they came to acquiring To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— The Penguins went into Christmas break a bit concerned about what Evgeni Malkin they were going to get in the second half of the season as the tape leading into the break showed a player possibly breaking down. Malkin to his credit has had some bounce back games over the last 10-12 days and at this stage of Malkin’s career there’s just going to be ebbs and flows of strong weeks and poor weeks. What’s been a good sign in year two of a four-year contract is he still has those moments in games where he can tilt the ice but let’s not kid ourselves, this is not a player that can truly carry a line anymore. The Penguins, though, getting two solid years out the Malkin contract was no sure thing…………………. The power of Sidney Crosby. Just look at Bryan Rust in the third period of the Carolina game after he got some reps with Crosby. Everybody’s game is just jumping another level next to 87……….

— Facts: The Penguins coaching staff would be ecstatic at the prospect of re-acquiring To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Guentzel Heading West? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

[hide] As the Canucks were in town Thursday night, a Vancouver 4-3 overtime win, the chatter around the Penguins and Canucks is Rutherford has made it clear to anyone who will listen that he’s on the hunt for a top-6 forward, ideally a true impact player. One source joked this week ‘no one is going to out-bid Rutherford for Jake Guentzel’ if Pittsburgh truly gets to the point where they seriously mull a present/future type offers for Guentzel. That said, there’s another Western club to monitor in the coming months. [/hide]

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Jake Guentzel Latest: Anything can always change with one phone call, especially when you two parties who have immense respect for each other like Kyle Dubas and Ben Hankinson, the agent for Jake Guentzel have for each other. That said and I will state as of today — a strong sense on the Jake Guentzel situation is an extension To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Extend Ned? An easy way to stay competitive in a potential re-tool is a good-to-great goaltending combination. The Penguins have received Top-5 goaltending from the Tristan Jarry/Alex Nedeljkovic combination. After making $3.5 million in salary last season, Nedeljkovic’s market dictated a $2 million pay cut to sign with the Penguins @ $1.5 Million per on a one year deal. Nedeljkovic has believers in the front office that this is sustainable, and word is Nedeljkovic’s agent To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Reilly Smith Dilemma: To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Whether [hide] an impact move at forward or on defense is and will be a topic surrounding the Penguins moving forward this season. The Penguins started the season at the minimum one or two Top-9 quality forwards short and there are smart people in that front office…….. They knew that to be a fact when this roster was built. Actively scouring the trade market, the Pittsburgh brass, though, has been much more aggressively in the d-man market than the forward market to this point. Doesn’t mean they won’t eventually go the forward route as it’s easier to attack that area than finding prominent d-men, but Kyle Dubas & Co have played the field of seeing if the lack of forward depth irons itself out throughout the season with internal options. And maybe it will with the emergence of Drew O’Connor, Jeff Carter providing a viable role, Lars Eller being a pleasant surprise, ect. Will we see…………. [/hide]

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Eye test slowly starting to match computer models? Are the stars potentially aligning for the Penguins to more than a soft buyer at the trade deadline? This Penguins management team is a group that at the end the day will make decisions more off what a computer tells them to do than being swayed by the eye test. Despite the Penguins hovering around a .480 winning percentage a month ago, the Penguins internal models at the time were still projecting this to be around a .600 winning percentage team by the All-Star break and will they prove, correct? Boasting one of the best records in the NHL since mid-December, the Penguins are slowly creeping in that direction with a .564 winning percentage through 39 games…………

More than a soft buyer? The buzz in NHL circles among executives and agents for months now is anything would be on the table from a buyer to even a bold seller to accelerate a retool for the Penguins organization come early/mid February. The most likely outcome has always been a soft buyer, while some have believed at the end of the day Dubas who is creative as it gets with complicated trades could still get suckered into the core allure [hide] and be an aggressive buyer. Dubas in a presser in December to quiet any coaching change talk, is certainly now operating with the expectation the team is tracking to give him an easy decision come deadline time as the eye test is also starting to match the internal models……….[/hide]

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

This week has been the story of ‘lifeless’ performances for Pittsburgh sports teams. The Penguins Wednesday night vs the Lightning, followed again by the Steelers Thursday night at home against the Patriots.

Are these also two franchises in a period where both are stuck in that bad spot of being in the ‘middle of going nowhere?’ Time will tell on the Penguins, but more and more evidence emerges that’s more likely than not of where they’re also at………..

Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas in a way put his team on watch during his weekly radio appearance saying prior to Wednesday’s matchup vs the Lightning that Pittsburgh’s next two games were going to massive measuring sticks for him to see where his club really is. Dubas’ team responded with quite the lifeless performance vs the Lightning and the addition of Erik Karlsson brought a thought that when the Penguins lose they would be at least entertaining this season, instead it’s been a tough product to watch at times.

Pittsburgh without question started this season with about two Top-9 quality forwards short and as injuries to Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell have piled up and the likes of Evgeni Malkin, Reilly Smith fading over the last three weeks, the pressure has mounted on Kyle Dubas that a shakeup is needed in a number of areas whether it’s personnel to the coaching staff.

But what if the next little while continues to give Dubas more and more evidence this group is not worth helping out? As much as Dubas went all-in with the Erik Karlsson trade to try to get another run out of the core, could he do a 360 sooner than anyone imagined? A strong thinking around the league is Dubas who netted a 7-year contract in the $45 million range, is just as likely to decide two months from now to blow To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

It would be something if Dubas this soon into the job does what the past ownership actually hired Ron Hextall in February 2021 to do………Nonetheless, rival executives regard To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Sign or Trade Guentzel Mandate? Guentzel is obvious for a number of reasons. Guentzel has every right to shoot for $8.5-$9 million per season on an eight-year deal. Pittsburgh, though, has every right to be leery if they’re headed towards a re-tool/rebuild. That’s kind of where Dubas & Co are. There’s been multiple discussions between the two sides with one belief around the league Pittsburgh showed willingness To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

When evaluating his hockey club Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas is a believer in how your team stacks up against your division. Evaluating the Penguins across the entire NHL, the Penguins new management team is smart enough to realize this is not a winning formula with what they have in place in all facets. 24 Games in and playing at an 85-point pace is an alarming rate for a team internally that believed it had a roster to push for a 99-100 point season.

From day 1 it was clear with this roster, that type of improvement was going to be predicated on great top-6 play (they’re getting it from first line), above average goaltending (Pittsburgh is getting top-5 goaltending according to some measures) and a Top-5 power play success, Top-10 at worst. We know where things stand on the latter. There’s not enough time to dissect the power play issues. The players and coaches have to eat this. Before even getting into personnel/structure issues, Issue #1 is a group this talented can’t even break into the offensive zone properly and possess the puck, looking like a group of confused players. It’s just in-excusable.

What the Penguins have going for them is when you buy-into the belief of stacking your club up against the division is aside from the Rangers running away from things and looking like a wagon, things are really jumbled up but whether that continues as the season progresses remains to be seen and will be determined by whether Carolina and New Jersey eventually get things together and start to take off……..

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MORE BUZZ

— As the season has progressed, would anyone blame Dubas or his cohorts if they’ve wondered recently if a new voice would be a problem solver and a bring jolt to this group? Couldn’t blame theme. Hockey is one of those sports where a coaching change often changes trajectories, especially in the short-term. Just look at Minnesota as another example. Minnesota’s season has a little bit of life suddenly. Problem is it’s such a slippery slope for Dubas & Co if they even wanted to put this on the table.

Since Dubas was hired Mike Sullivan has been lumped in To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Around the ten-game mark, whether enforced by management or not is up for debate, Pittsburgh made some structure changes in the neutral zone that gave a blueprint on how this team needs to play. Problem is it seems short-lived, just go review Monday’s tape. The Penguins are bottom-5 in the NHL in odd-man rushes per game, giving up almost six a game as that glaring issue in Pittsburgh’s system just isn’t going away.

Poor Individual performances fall on the shoulders of the staff. Ryan Graves was a big signing by Kyle Dubas. He went six years with Graves believing To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Mike Tomlin made it clear during the opening moments of his weekly press conference that he made the call to fire Matt Canada, calling it his decision.

“It was mine and mine alone,” Tomlin said of firing Canada…….

“Did not come to this decision lightly. It is my role to absorb and protect those that i work with. Just rest assured this decision was not taken lightly. Was not easy but I thought it was necessary. This is a results-oriented business. In short, Improvements were not rapid enough or consistent enough to proceed.”

Tomlin spoke at length at being in this job so long, it’s his job absorb everything, and he just knew it was time to move on.

With the firing of Matt Canada, the pressure intensifies on Kenny Pickett who in now 20+ games is nowhere near showing the ability of even being a competent starting NFL quarterback. Pickett’s struggles to read the field, spinning into sacks and failure to attack the middle of the field is among the major downfalls of Pickett as QB1 who the Steelers remain all in. The tape doesn’t lie and Pickett’s disastrous play at QB isn’t all on the offensive coordinator. Yet the head coach at least publicly keeps talking like the QB isn’t the problem, citing again today about Pickett’s ‘work ethic’ off the field……

Tomlin said moving forward there will be no grading on a curve. All he wants to see is more points.

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*Staff Overseeing Playcalling Duties/Game Plan

Mike Tomlin said RB coach Eddie Faulkner is the de facto offensive coordinator but will not call plays. Faulkner will be in charge of organizing the game plan, while Mike Sullivan will call the plays during the game, which Tomlin called a natural setting for Sullivan due to his experience.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have dropped two straight and had a putrid performance Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues in a 4-2 loss where the Blues out-executed the Penguins in all phases, leading Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan to blast his hockey club that they didn’t work hard enough. With a so-so soft schedule through the first five games of the season, Pittsburgh is suddenly off to a disappointing 2-3 start and the team is treading water where all the optimism coming into the season could come crashing down if the Penguins come out sleep walking against the Dallas Stars tonight and the Colorado Avalanche Thursday night, two legitimate top Stanley Cup contenders. This is a huge four-game home stand for the Penguins, especially the next two games that will give the organization a good barometer of what they have here………….

— Multiple sources say Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas has been in awe of Mike Sullivan in how he runs this team. Sullivan has tremendous power in the organization and it’s no secret around the league that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby who is extension eligible next summer, has no interest in [hide] playing for another coach which has even strengthened Sullivan’s power in Pittsburgh. A 2-7 or 2-8 start isn’t going to sink him. The biggest question is will Dubas see what’s been obvious for a while now that the Penguins need systematic changes in how they defend away from the puck and attack offensively from the perimeter. Little has changed. Dubas has been known in Toronto to enforce some and that will be telling if the team has a so-so or poor four game homestand…….

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Rumblings, Musings, Opinion: League sources say there’s been a cordial cat and mouse game between the Penguins and Jake Guentzel’s representation on a new deal. With the cap rising to around $88 million, the Guentzel camp has been willing to wait things out and Kyle Dubas has been fine with that approach too. Could it backfire for either side? Guentzel’s lack of 5 vs 5 goals dating back almost a full season now will be something to watch moving forward if it eventually takes him of the $9 million a year price range league-wide a small crowd has believed his representation should hold firm on. The Ron Hextall regime planned to be more aggressive in trying to lock up Guentzel with a belief from the old management team that Guentzel had a desire to play in not Minnesota but To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Most pressure on a Penguins forward entering the next stretch of games? Rickard Rakell…….Taking off first power play unit, Rakell has to start carrying his weight. If Penguins management eyed a shakeup in adding a different style of forward in a term for term deal, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!. Dating back to last spring, Mike Sullivan has been criticized behind the scenes from now former members of the organization that he and the coaching staff deserved their share of the blame for not getting the most out of the likes of Kasperi Kapanen and Brock McGinn. If you want to compare Pittsburgh’s bottom-6 at start last season compared to this year, the 22/23 roster sure had more skill in the bottom-6……….

Pittsburgh got the Full Kenny Pickett Experience in Sunday’s 24-17 win over the St. Louis. Pickett had under 93 passing yards through three quarters which is abysmal in today’s NFL, yet the second-year QB showed that 4th quarter clutch gene where he threw for 139 yards and the offense puts up 14 points in a fantastic Fourth Quarter………Pittsburgh out-schemed and out-executed the Rams mightily on both sides of the ball in the second half and it might have been the best play calling half of Matt Canada’s career. Pittsburgh neutralized Aaron Donald all game but for the first time in the Kenny Pickett era, Pittsburgh from a scheme standpoint were doing things the Rams couldn’t counter or weren’t prepared for………………Now things get tougher for the Steelers as some tape has started to establish what puts Pickett and the offense in a comfort zone. What the Steelers have shown is no ability to counters teams that are a step ahead of them………

Trending towards best of all time? T.J. Watt is not only a bigger game wrecker than his brother J.J. was, but we also continue to witness one of the all-time greats on a weekly basis. Is Watt on a path though like T.J. is where playoff success just doesn’t happen despite being an all-time great? Time will tell……..The Steelers leading into the trade deadline have to be all ears on pass catching tight ends. Recurring hamstring can always lead to a yearlong problem which Pat Friermuth could end up dealing with. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Following a 6-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday night, the Pittsburgh are 2-2 at the four game mark. If you buy into expected goals, the good is arguments could be made that they should be 4-0 or at least off to a 3-1 start. The negative is in the long run where this club saw first hand last season that every point matters against inferior teams, getting 4 out of 8 points to open the year against four unlikely playoff teams isn’t ideal in a deep Eastern Conference.

What’s fascinating with this club through four games is every expectation with how this roster is built, has played out thus far.

Before training camp ended it was clear all of the Penguins offense was/is going to be predicated on the top-6 up front, top-4 on the blueline and the power play executing at a top-5 level. Wins and losses on a nightly basis will be determined there.

The two losses thus far show when you have a putrid bottom-6 when it comes to creating offense like Pittsburgh has, the top Power Play unit will play the primary role that’s going to swing games. The unit developing a killer instinct will be a tale sign.

The Chicago loss highlighted that when Pittsburgh failed to go up 3-0 and against last night vs Detroit. You get the early Evgeni Malkin goal to go up 1-0, and the mid-mark of the period Pittsburgh had a golden chance to go up 2-0 with a power play opportunity in the first. Instead, Pittsburgh fails to even record a shot and Alex DeBrincat scores 28 seconds after the power play opportunity ends to tie the game at 1-1. That was a huge swing.

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Expected/Optimistic Signs Through Four Games

1. Erik Karlsson was the best player on the ice vs the Red Wings and that was the best glimpse of how he can change the Penguins fortunes this season. As expected Pittsburgh is deploying Karlsson or Letang on the ice at an 80% clip…..
2. The Bryan Rust redemption tour continues with 4 goals in four games to start the season. And these are hard-nosed goals in getting to the net-front area, a particular area the team as a whole doesn’t excel at……
3. Word in the organization is despite a push from Mike Sullivan in the summer to sign Jason Zucker, the new management team viewed Zucker as a player that needs to work hard to produce compared to Reilly Smith who they felt brought much better 1-on-1 offensive ability/instincts away from the net-front area. All of that so far has certainly played out. Smith has been great at creating space and driving defenders back, opening up time and space for Evgeni Malkin…………..
4. Goaltending through four games is the least of the Penguins concerns and that’s a good thing. _____________________________________________________________________________________________

About That Bottom-6

— Pittsburgh has 14 goals through four games and are still waiting for a goal from a bottom-6 forward. Who didn’t see that coming. Pittsburgh has built their bottom-6 with the mindset of don’t lose us games. But, is doing nothing going to get this team anywhere?

— It’s early but………Lars Eller has looked shot offensively like so many evaluators felt after last season. Pittsburgh has felt their rush system will benefit him. Zero sign of that so far as the hands are gone……..Jansen Harkins does not look like an NHL player by any means. How long do they stick with him? A big thing in the off-season was having 16-17 NHL caliber forwards, so we’ll see how long his leash gets. You can live with the 4th line the Penguins have in the short-term and say what you want about Jeff Carter, the Penguins need any semblance of skill they can get from bottom-6. Cap hit aside, he’s the least of their problems. What they can’t live with is the lack of skill from the third line. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Home Opener | Blackhawks @ Penguins 8:00 P.M. |

‘Get Rolling’

The Kyle Dubas hire, splash trade of Erik Karlsson and more roster upheaval (8 newcomers will dress tonight) has accomplished the off-season goal of breathing optimism into a stale hockey club that not only missed the playoffs last season after an implosion in the final week of the season but is looking to win a playoff round for the first time since 2018.

There’s a sense of energy in the organization not seen for a number of years. “Now it gets up to us as a group and up to the team to turn that optimism into an earned confidence,” Penguins GM Kyle Dubas said Monday in his season opener press conference of the Penguins starting fast to the season and building off a successful camp.

Aside from the obvious Sidney Crosby vs Conor Bedard matchup, the NHL’s marketing team got this one right for once, it’s fitting Pittsburgh embarks on this season of where internally the organization feels they have a club that can win multiple rounds, against the Blackhawks where in reality more heads should have probably rolled for the embarrassing display the Penguins put on the ice that night back in April.

In an Eastern Conference that is much deeper than the Western Conference with 11 or so playoff level teams, a fast start to the season is vastly important for the Penguins to build off this sense of optimism the organization has:

“I think last year, the group here found out full well how important every single point is, and so starting Tuesday we have a chance to start to try to put those on board and get rolling,” said Dubas. “The standard that’s set here, when you walk in every day is that the group expects that they’re going to win each day, and that they’re going to stack all those days on top of the other, and that’s going to lead to contending and winning the Stanley Cup,” Dubas said. “That’s the only thing that’s talked about here.”

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Top Storylines Entering 2023-2023

1. All About Erik Karlsson — You don’t go out and acquire Erik Karlsson, the reigning and three-time Norris Trophy Winner, and not cater things to him systematically. Karlsson is a unique player that you can’t just say go out — ‘play our system and figure it out’. — Well, some coaches and evaluators view Karlsson as a fourth forward on the ice, Karlsson is a big test for Mike Sullivan to maximize Karlsson’s offensive prowess 5-on-5. Elsewhere to that point, a start has been Sullivan not playing into the egos and handing the reigns to Karlsson on the power play.

“His pedigree speaks for itself,” Dubas said of his big addition in adding Karlsson. “To see how prepared, he was and what focus each day to get himself ready for practice, for games has been quite impressive.”

A sidebar to Karlsson is how will Kris Letang handle Karlsson taking offensive situations away from him? — The Penguins having Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson on the ice 80% of the time is quite tantalizing. A concern in the organization from those who have been around Letang for years is it may take Letang sometime or worst case scenario he may never truly embrace not being the defacto #1 offensive defenseman on the team and it affects him in other areas. There’s nothing wrong with Sprinkling in Letang as an option with Karlsson on the top unit from time to time but Pittsburgh’s power play will go as Karlsson goes. Best case scenario for the Penguins is a bit of a pipe dream but if Letang embraces a less aggressive style with the pinching and catapults into a true shutdown role with pressure gone of having to shoulder the offensive load on the backend, it would pay dividends to this team doing some serious damage in 2023-2024.

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2. Tristan Jarry — The Penguins bet big on Tristan Jarry and in quick time last June head coach Mike Sullivan sold Kyle Dubas that Jarry is a Stanley Cup capable goaltender. The Penguins can certainly win with Jarry. The question with Jarry that isn’t going away is whether he’s built to handle the work load the true elite #’s can handle year in and year out. Some just aren’t built for it.

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3. Bottom-6 Biggest Wildcard/Most glaring Hole on the Roster — Pittsburgh’s top-4 on the blueline is drastically improved with Ryan Graves replacing Brian Dumoulin and the obvious addition of Erik Karlsson. The top-6 is about the same with Jason Zucker/Reilly Smith swap, though, some could argue against it as the core of the group is a year older.

We know what we’re going to get from Sidney Crosby if healthy. Elite level 200 ft game with 80+ points; Jake Guentzel in a contract year will be Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell should have another high 20’s, low 30’s goals season with 60 points if he stays on the number 1 unit. What the Penguins need is no drop off from Evgeni Malkin and who really knows what you’ll get from him at his age and last year might have been a mirage that could give up 75+ games. Where Malkin may do serious damage is on the power play with Karlsson at the helm. The wildcard of the top-6 is Bryan Rust. The Penguins internal models stated Rust should have potted around 28-29 goals. That’s the type of production the Penguins will need from him this season.

A fascinating part with the roster is the building of the bottom-6 where it’s a group the Penguins feel they are much improved in the puck pursuit game but on paper it lacks individual 1-on-1 offense. It’s more of a group the Penguins feel that isn’t going to hurt them at any point which was the point in the type of players, pairings they’ve put together.

The Penguins roster is built for the top-6 forwards, top-4 D-men and Number 1 power play to be very good to elite, while the rest of the roster rounds out the edges. We will find out if that strategy still works with the NHL’s oldest roster.

Right now on paper the Penguins are one or two top-9 level players short from comfort. Does Drew O’Connor become that missing link? We will see but that’s the major area of concern with the revamp roster. The Penguins look short a skilled forward or two in the top-9 especially if one or two players in the top-6 get injured or don’t carry their own of the bargain offensively.

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas is Jim Rutherford like in how he’s always in on everything and always open to making changes to the roster. Difference is everything with Dubas is much more thought out and calculated than making knee jerk, emotional moves like Rutherford was so accustomed to doing.

For those reasons the Penguins are a team Monday to watch on the waiver wire. As the team is very comfortable going into the season with Colin White or Radim Zohorna as the 13th forward on the roster, the organization went well into Sunday were still mulling outside options at the forward position and on defense, particularly the right D spot.

“Kyle and our staff are going to have some difficult decisions here within the next 24 hours, ” said Mike Sullivan following Sunday’s practice. “There’s a lot of things that are on the table at this point. We’ll work through those.”

The Penguins on Sunday placed Colin White (1 year, $775K Two-Way Deal signed on Saturday), Radim Zohorna, Vinnie Hinostroza, Mark Friedman and Magnus Hellberg on waivers as the newly acquired Jansen Harkins won a role in the lineup rather quickly and defenseman Ryan Shea, among the major surprises in camp, for now avoided being placed on waivers. If all clear and the Penguins don’t make any outside additions, the coaching staff is said to prefer to have To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

On defense, the organization remains open to adding a tougher minded physical defenseman to round out the third pair or serve as the 7th defenseman. With Kyle Dubas having ties To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins closed out the preseason with a 7-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday Night. And there was a lot to like……..

1. Pittsburgh came out of the game with no apparent injuries to their regulars which is the primary goal
2. The movement of the power play (2-for-3) was sparkling with Erik Karlsson running the point in a first glimpse of what this unit should be able to do this season.
3. Drew O’Connor’s strong camp continues to carry over to games with a 2-goal night and looked fantastic in a top line role.

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FINAL ROSTER BUZZ

— Not sound like a broken record but since an off-season game plan was put in place back in Mid-June, Pittsburgh’s new management team and the coaching staff led by Mike Sullivan have bought into the philosophy of building a bottom-6 that excels at a puck pursuit game and put together a bottom-6 that can eat up tough minutes defensively so the likes of Sidney Crosby can be freed up from constantly having to match up against the oppositions top line.

It’s certainly come into focus of who’s going to win the final two forward sports that had been up for grabs.

Even before camp started this was always going to be bad news for an Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen getting serious consideration for one of the final two forward spots and as expected both were sent to Wilkes Barre this week. Best bets for Nylander and Puustinen is getting a fresh start somewhere else eventually. Sam Poulin who’s made some noise and made a significant jump on the organizational depth chart, fits the criteria in type of player Pittsburgh wants in their revamped bottom-6 but Poulin was always going to be destined for Wilkes Barre for at least the first half of the season.

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Two Heavy Favorites?

There was no bigger disappointment in camp than Andreas Johnsson who was re-assigned to Wilkes Barre this week. As much as the front office liked Johnsson coming into the season that saw him start in camp on the second line, he played his way out of the competition after about a week. Looked nothing like an NHL player anymore in the preseason and most glaring was how poor he performed in practice sessions, team sources say.

TWO FAVORITES EMERGE

1. Jansen Harkins | A waiver pickup this past week, Harkins has immediately played himself onto the roster. The coaching staff, sources say, have been ecstatic about what Harkins has brought to the table, showing great speed in pursuing pucks and smarts as a forechecker in taking proper angles and forcing d-men retrieving pucks onto their backhands. One team source said the coaching staff see’s [hide] Brandon Tanev type comparisons to Harkins. “I thought he had another really strong game,” Mike Sullivan said Friday night of Harkins performance vs thew Sabres. “He’s made an impression on us in the short time he’s been here. He has good size, he can really skate.”
2. Radim Zohorna | Big Z put together an excellent camp to pass a few others in a bid for a roster spot. He has the size and versatility to be an ideal number 13th forward when this roster is fully healthy. Also helping his cause is Pittsburgh has concerns he would clear waivers. His spot isn’t as locked in as Harkins but Zohorna has moved ahead of others who were in front of him to start camp. [/hide]

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Coaching Staff/Front Office differ on Colin White?

— The waiver pickup of Jansen Harkins now puts Pittsburgh at 47/50 contracts. A major point of discussion in the organization is how many if any contracts do they want to use up towards the 50 limit when you easily have four to five forwards in Wilkes Barre already under contract that could handle any short-term call-up role. The team wants to leave some wiggle room for future deals. There was momentum moving in the direction of the team signing PTO Austin Wagner to a two-way contract but will the late movement of the coaching staff becoming very intrigued of Colin White’s defensive ability in the bottom-6 To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Kenny Pickett and the Pittsburgh Steelers offense were abysmal in a 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday Afternoon as questions mount that the Steelers not just have a dud at offensive coordinator but also at quarterback in the short and long-term. In the immediate Pittsburgh will turn to Mitch Trubisky vs the Ravens as Pickett exited the game late in the third quarter on a 4th and 1 dropback from the Texans 33 yard line with 1:16 remaining when Pickett doing Kenny Pickett things, left a clean pocket and spun to the left right into DE Jonathan Greenard where Greenard came down on Pickett’s left knee.

Pending the results of an MRI this morning, Pickett has been diagnosed with a To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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MORE INJURY BUZZ

— Through four games Pat Freiermuth has been a major disappointment in the passing game and as a run blocker as he showed so many signs last season of being an ascending star at the position. Freiermuth suffered a hamstring injury vs the Texans and the Steelers are bracing for at least a To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The biggest development out of Pittsburgh’s 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night is we’re going to see an extended look with the third line of Drew O’Connor – Lars Eller – Matt Nieto over the next little while in camp. Things are heading in the direction where it’s likely to be Pittsburgh opening night third line. Drew O’Connor was not a true bubble player entering camp but there was still some pressure to prove yourself for OC. O’Connor flashing excellent forecheck instincts, wall play, and some individual offense has seen him lock down a top-9 spot for now as he’s been among Pittsburgh’s best players in camp. That trend continued vs the Sabres……..

“I think OC’s played really well. I thought their line had a strong game,” Mike Sullivan said of the third line’s performance vs the Sabres. “They created a lot of momentum for us…….

The new addition to the line this week was Matt Nieto on the right side. The organization felt Nieto was a sneaky bottom-6 signing in free agency that brings speed, versatility and a high hockey IQ element the bottom-6 has been missing with the previous roster construction.

“Matt Nieto brings some speed. OC can really skate,” Sullivan said of the two wingers A mystery in Pittsburgh’s bottom-6 is how much offense does Lars Eller have left in the tank. While a general feeling around the league is that Eller is shot offensively, Eller was among the Penguins first calls during the free agency period and Pittsburgh felt Peter Laviolette’s system [hide] in Washington hamstrung Eller and that he was still built to be an effective two-way player in an attack off the rush system Pittsburgh deploys.”

“You can see Lars Eller is a really smart two-way center man,” Sullivan said with effusive praise of Eller after Thursday’s win. “He’s just a cerebral player and he’s good on both sides of the puck. I thought he made a lot of subtle plays to create opportunities for his linemates. We’re looking forward to watching them moving forward.”

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— Mike Sullivan loves to load up the top-6 and in a perfect world Pittsburgh will want to go with:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust

Rakell-Malkin-Smith

But a lot will depend on if what has projected to be an offensively challenged bottom-6 can hold their weight. The Penguins internally are optimistic the bottom-6 will be much more effective than many expect.

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MORE BUZZ

–The Kyle Dubas/Mike Sullivan regime showed what they think of Jonathan Gruden and Ty Smith. And what they think of those two is little to nothing. It’s a contrast from the Ron Hextall/Brian Burke regime near the end of last season who believed Gruden was ready for a regular NHL role in 2023/2024 and there were differing opinions on how they and Mike Sullivan felt about Ty Smith with the old regime frustrated that Smith wasn’t embraced by the coaching staff. All 31 teams passed on Smith this week, an expected development from the Penguins end due to Smith’s minors’ salary being $775,000.

— Could Jake Guentzel beat his timeline by two weeks and not only dress for the home opener but also have a new contract To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins will have their first dress rehearsal of mainly regulars tonight when they face off with the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena. Still a long ways to go, Wednesday saw Pittsburgh break into two groups for first time in camp as separation has begun among the bubble players.

Among the group making noise in camp, Radim Zohorna, Alex Nylander, Vinnie Hinostroza and Austin Wagner (PTO) all skated with the big group and have separated themselves from others for now. Zohorna has been among the most impactful players in camp.

Hinostroza is viewed highly by the coaching staff as an ideal 12 or 13th forward that can come in and give you a jolt anywhere in the lineup from time to time. Wagner, meanwhile is putting himself in position to being offered a 2-way contract from the Penguins and has impressed the coaching staff with his bottom-6 instincts.

A notable missing from the group is Andreas Johnson who according to a team source, ‘has looked nothing like an NHL [hide] player’ despite the golden opportunity he started camp with. There is great disappointment in the organization at how poorly Johnsson has looked in practice sessions and the preseason against meager competition.[/hide]

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OFF-WING BUZZ

With a nudge from the front office, Mike Sullivan has been asked and is showing a willingness at embracing wingers playing their off-wing. It’s something they’ve explored since the start of the camp and will continue as things are starting to get more serious.

Rickard Rakell, Alex Nylander, Matt Nieto and Austin Wagner are all expected to play on their off-wing vs the Sabres Thursday night.

Nylander has been an intriguing situation to monitor if the front office after thinking the world of [hide] Alex’s brother William, see’s more in Nylander than the coaching staff truly does. Multiple team sources have felt if Nylander made this team out of camp, it would be more of a front office push than coaches believing in the player. [/hide]

“Nylander got an opportunity to play with Geno and Reilly Smith. Alex is a talented kid. He’s got real good offensive instincts,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said after Wednesday’s skate.

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Penguins vs Sabres

Rakell – Crosby – Rust

Nylander – Malkin – Smith

O’Connor – Eller – Nieto

Wagner – Acciari – Carter

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D-Pairs

Graves – Letang

Pettersson – Karlsson

Shea – Ruhwedel

Updated 11:55 a.m. | Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan announced P.O. Joseph and Mark Friedman will not play tonight.

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Starting Goaltender: Tristan Jarry

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Rumors: Penguins will monitor trade market on Right D

Penguins coaches operated and treated Mark Pysyk since the start of training camp like a player already signed and penciled into a third pairing role….. Less than a week into training camp and that has been thrown out the window.

Trying to return from a torn Achilles, Pysyk underwent imaging on To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

“He’s out long-term with a lower-body injury, said Sullivan. “I’m not sure what that’s going to go….I haven’t had a discussion with Kyle,” Sullivan added. The coaching staff was excited about Pysyk’s defensive minded presence as the third pair and what they felt he would bring on the penalty kill. Chad Ruhwedel now immediately jumps back to being the favorite to open the season as the Right D on the third pair but for how long? There is likely going to be a desire from the front office To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

As mentioned yesterday, PO Joseph has run away with the No. 3 Left D spot on the blueline (there is no competition). Mike Sullivan wasn’t blowing smoke today that Joseph is showing signs of being an improved player as Sullivan called Joseph “light years” ahead of where he was last season. Meanwhile, Ty Smith’s ability to play the right side keeps him in the picture, but there’s no indication the coaching staff is coming around to embracing Smith’s lack of details in the defensive end. His power play presence is moot due to the acquisition of Erik Karlsson. Management’s desire for a physical right D could give To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

[WIN FNB CLUB TICKETS TO PENGUINS – SABRES THURSDAY NIGHT — REGISTER HERE ]

— Who is Garnering Buzz in the organization & Who Isn’t? The Latest Buzz from Penguins Camp —

Competition, Competition, Competition……. That’s been the theme of Penguins camp. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan early on in camp said this group ‘might be the most competitive group of players we have ever assembled.’ While the Penguins have had competitive camp and it’s a deeper group of NHL caliber players than past years, have many roster decisions with the NHL club already been made and in reality, were made before camp opened up?

Pittsburgh’s top 11 forwards penciled in are Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Reilly Smith, Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell, Drew O’Connor, Lars Eller, Jeff Carter, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto. Not to say O’Connor or Nieto won’t be on shorter leashes than others, but both are locked into spots to start the season as regulars. As for the final two forward spots? The coaching staff likes Vinnie Hinostroza, the front office likes Andreas Johnsson. Both went into camp with a slight leg up on others…………..

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— Who is looked at as a leading favorite to jump Hinostroza or Johnsson for a final forward spot? Most of the early buzz surrounds To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Defenseman PO Joseph went into camp a heavy favorite to win the third pairing spot and things are at the stage [hide] where’s he’s there’s no threat to Joseph to lose his spot on the third pair. Some disappointment among the Penguins brass Will Butcher is injured, while Joseph’s all-around game remains well ahead of Ty Smith……… #2 Netminder Alex Nedeljkovic has turned heads in camp as the new management team via their evaluation metrics strongly believe the team upgraded the backup goaltender position over Casey DeSmith and that Nedeljkovic has the talent to play a starters role. [/hide]

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— 2023 1st round pick Brayden Yager has performed above expectations throughout camp and has had several moments of looking like the clear-cut top prospect in the organization. Compared to others who were still on the board, some scouts felt Yager was a bit of a reach where Pittsburgh selected him due to a view around Yager that he projects at the NHL level to be limited offensively to warrant a top-15 selection. Penguin coaches in particular have been impressed with Yagers offensive instincts and ability to create 1-on-1 offense

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— Because of what went on last season, understandably there were really low expectations for 2019 1st round pick Sam Poulin to push for an immediate roster spot on the NHL club. Poulin, though, continues to impress the new brass, sources say. Multiple members of the organization are suddenly looking at him To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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PTO BUZZ

Pittsburgh having four available contracts and one of the NHL’s oldest rosters was attractive to agents of players who came to camp on PTO’s. Buzz in the room is veteran defenseman To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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PRE-SEASON GAME #3 9.26.2023 @ Detroit

Penguins Announce Lineup

Week 3 What We Learned

Steelers 23 – Raiders 18 (F) | First Down | Kenny Pickett Did It!!!!!! — Pickett in his 15th career NFL start and 16th game, threw multiple touchdown passes for the first time in his career as the Pittsburgh Steelers topped the Las Vegas Raiders 28-18 on Sunday Night. Pickett in the win was 16/28 for 235 yards with 2 touchdown passes and a 108.5 QB rating.

“[Kenny] made the necessary plays, “Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said afterwards. “I thought he was good in the environment. I thought he was a good communicator. He did the job tonight.”

Pickett’s start was not ideal. Pittsburgh opened the game with back-to-back three and outs and happy feet Pickett was an issue in the pocket. Down 7-0 early, though, Pickett connected with Calvin Austin deep down the middle for a 72 yard touchdown strike at 6:12 of the first quarter. Pittsburgh would never trail again the rest of the evening. The Pickett/Austin touchdown was on a broken defensive play as no Raider was within 10-15 yards of Austin. Pittsburgh’s most impressive drive of the night would come in the 3rd quarter when the Steelers drove 81 yards on six drives, with Pickett capping the drive off with a 13 yard TD pass to Pat Freiermuth to give the Steelers a commanding 23-7 lead with 3:56 left in the third game. The drive was among the highlights of the night where the Steelers excelled with misdirection calls.

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Second Down: Considering the opponent, scoring 23 points and totaling 333 yards and 17 first downs is nothing to get too excited about in the big picture. That’s pretty pedestrian in today’s NFL. But for this offense and this quarterback, it’s hard to come away with much of anything to overly negative about. If Marcus Peters doesn’t drop that gimme pick-six, who knows how that game goes even with Jimmy Garoppolo being so bad. Despite Pittsburgh looking to be in control most of the night and the superior team, this still ended up being a one score game as that Marcus Peters dropped pick-Six Int was a huge stain on the on the Raiders stealing one.

What we learned against the Raiders was some of Pickett’s high moments last season where he was accurate with his ball placement at times with his first option reads and was a little bit of a threat with his legs where when that plays out Pickett looks more the part of a confident quarterback when he’s rolling out to his left. At the end of the day Matt Canada had a very positive night. There were multiple situations where Pittsburgh scheme wise was a step ahead of the Raiders. Pittsburgh’s formations countered what they believed the Raiders were going to do and it led to some quick gains, and most impressive in that department was the game ending 3rd and 2 call on the Allen Robinson six-yard reception where Canada out-schemed the Raiders.

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Third Down: Another two-sack game for T.J. Watt and every week we could talk about how special of a player Watt is. Las Vegas had no answers. Enjoy the greatness we’re witnessing………. Elsewhere, splash plays from weak links on the defense ending up being the story for Pittsburgh in the win. A two Interception night from Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson adding an interception saw Pittsburgh intercept Jimmy Garoppolo three times in the win. Davante Adams torching the Steelers secondary with 13 receptions for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns is an afterthought with the splash plays the Steelers created and Garoppolo’s poor decision making…………

.A major big picture development in the win is rookie DT Keeanu Benton who is already an ascending player on the D-line………

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Fourth Down: AFC North Bottled Up after Three Weeks

Pittsburgh will enter Week 4 tied atop with the AFC North with a 2-1 record and head to Houston to face the Texans (1-2) in week 4, a game that always had a ‘W’ next to it before the season. How Houston’s defense held down Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Stroud being better than expected this early and with that offensive line will give some pause that this could be a tougher game than expected before the Week 5 showdown with the Ravens (2-1).

Penguins Training Camp is Underway: Here are storylines & Buzz from Day 1:

Hinostroza – Crosby – Rust

Crosby’s Left Wing: No Jake Guentzel for the next little bit means audition time on Sidney Crosby’s left wing. Often times you’ll see a younger player get a look early on with a Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Day one of camp saw 29 year old Vinnie Hinostroza flanking Crosby’s left wing.

Crosby loves playing with wingers who can skate well and are puck hunters on the forecheck, two areas Hinostroza excels at, but the ‘read into meter’ here is pretty low that this is something we’ll see much of when things get serious near end of camp. Crosby embracing the possibility of playing the regular season with two right-handed wingers is also not happening.

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Johnsson – Malkin – Smith

Front Office high on Johnsson?: There’s no true audition on Sidney Crosby’s line. When Jake Guentzel’s healthy, he’ll be Crosby left’s winger and either Bryan Rust who Crosby always prefers, or Rickard Rakell/Reilly Smith will be on Crosby’s right wing.

Where there’s wiggle room for someone outside of the clear top-six forwards to emerge is on Malkin’s wing. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Bottom-Six

As the Penguins feel they have built a more defensive minded, 200 ft group among their bottom-tier forward groups, on paper the Penguins have serious question marks in their bottom-six that the group will be able to provide adequate offense. Another question is will Mike Sullivan be able to help himself go against the lure of loading up the top 6? Pittsburgh’s so called third line to open camp was:

Drew O’Connor – Lars Eller – Rickard Rakell. O’Connor To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Another Line with Staying Power?

Another unit with likely staying power was Pittsburgh’s DeFacto 4th line to open camp in Matt Nieto – Noel Acciari – Jeff Carter. Seen some stuff out there that Nieto could be a cut candidate if Pittsburgh had a surprise player emerge but internally Nieto is considered pretty locked in. The front office is pretty high on what he’s going to bring to the table.

The wild card with this group is more Jeff Carter. Mike Sullivan, though, has been a strong supporter of Carter’s to the new management team that Carter provides an important role moving forward and as expected Carter’s opened camp on a regular line. Sidney Crosby values Carter’s leadership and what he brings to the room as that also can’t be overlooked. To the fan bases dismay, Carter is expected to get a pretty good 15-20 game To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

TIOPS NOTEBOOK BUZZ

Penguins have improved by 7 points?

Stamkos getting Malkin treatment?

Bob Errey Just Wasn’t Wanted Back

#32 Rank QB

Past Steelers GM Candidate Trashes Canada

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–Optimism is in the air as the Pittsburgh Penguins open training camp this week. A significant change in the GM chair gave the organization a jolt off the ice, people actually enjoy coming to work again, and the addition of Erik Karlsson has the buzz back surrounding this club for the first time in a few years. What the Karlsson addition has done is give the core a belief they can make some noise this season. Will the Penguins not only make it back to the post-season but win a round for the first time since 2018? One internal metric the Penguins have has the team improving by To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— Tampa Bay Lightning star forward Steven Stamkos created a stir in hockey circles by expressing disappointment by the lack of contract talks this summer with the Lightning about an extension. It’s very rare a superstar in the NHL goes against the often-boring company line like Stamkos did. What Stamkos is doing is sending a message after giving the Lightning a sweetheart deal back in 2015. A couple seasons ago it looked like Stamkos might have been cooked due to injuries. At age 33, Stamkos has had a renaissance the last two seasons and with the cap significantly rising he’ll cash in somewhere if he decides to eventually go that route. From the Lightning’s end, the passive approach to resigning Stamkos is understandable and kind of Evgeni Malkin-Esque in the buildup of being between a rock and hard place with an aging significant franchise player entering the final year of their contracts. Though hardly at fault, Kyle Dubas To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— Rumblings, Musings, Opinions: One NHL scout is drinking the Erik Karlsson Kool-Aid; “I don’t love the bottom-six. I don’t love the top-6. I don’t trust the goaltender. But Pittsburgh’s gone from missing the playoffs to a two-round [hide] level team because of ‘one player’ [Erik Karlsson], the scout said”[/hide]………………..There’s no Erik Karlsson in a Penguins uniform if Ron Hextall was able to pull off the four-team trade on deadline day for JT Miller and that deal was very much alive around noon of deadline day. That will be something to remember if Pittsburgh makes some serious noise this year…………More broadcasting announcements today as Colby Armstrong, Phil Bourque and Mike Rupp will all rotate as lead color analysts on the TV side for Sportsnet Pittsburgh. Jay Caufield will stay on as a studio analyst. As Steve Mears bounced back on his feet in landing on the radio side, Bob Errey just wasn’t wanted by the new ownership group………….

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Pro Football Focus is often controversial with their game-by-game grades, as evidenced by Myles Garrett grading higher than T.J. Watt Monday Night. However, hard to disagree with their #32 ranking of Kenny Pickett…………..Former Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley interviewed twice for the Steelers GM opening in 2022. Count him among those not having much respect for Matt Canada as a coach. Whaley in his weekly appearance on 937 The Fan trashed Canada in citing Canada’s simply just not qualified for the job. And the best points from Whaley was being critical of Canada dating back to his first year with Ben Roethlisberger, which is still mind boggling the organization sacked Roethlisberger with Canada for his final NFL season……..

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TIOPS NOTEBOOK BUZZ

Matt Canada’s Future as Steelers OC

Extended Thru 2024?

Sportsnet Pittsburgh

Supporting Matt Canada is going to be a constant losing battle for head coach Mike Tomlin from a perception standpoint. Tomlin, though, surely isn’t losing sleep with Steelers fans erupting in a frenzy Monday night in the 4th quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-22 win over the Cleveland Browns with ‘Fire Canada’ chants. It won’t be the last ‘Fire Canada’ chants in a season that’s going to have a lot of downs on the offensive side. The tipping point Monday night was the 3rd and 1 call late in the 4th quarter that was so badly called and executed that the immediate reaction from analyst Troy Aikman was ‘that didn’t fool anyone’. The call is viewed as being so bad that some in the media like the Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittapaldo called it one of worst calls ‘ever’ in team history.

“Man I appreciate their passion, I share their passion,” Tomlin said Tuesday of Steelers fans. “We all do. We love our fans. They inspire us, they challenge us. It’s an awesome relationship. — That said at least Tomlin didn’t sugar coat the obvious struggles with the offense — “We have to get our mojo back,” Tomlin said. “We’ve got to get that mojo that we had in the preseason where we’re playing fast and fluid with confidence individually and collectively. We’ve lost that, to be blunt, in the last several weeks. We’re not getting the type of fluidity that we want in our starts.”

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Rumblings, Musings, Opinions: Count me among the small crowd that feels Kenny Pickett has been the bigger problem than the offensive coordinator through two games. Still, it doesn’t excuse the organization for all of the coaches in the world, this is the guy they handed the keys too, not only for Ben Roethlisberger’s final NFL season, but now in the hands of your first-round pick who’s clearly showing he might not be the first-round franchise level quarterback that former GM Kevin Colbert thought Pickett was…….

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Frustrating part is you’re the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you truly wanted to find a great offensive mind as OC, you don’t need to hire a search firm to find one. The Rooney operation just constantly steps on their own feet that they think they’re smarter than others with their hiring process/beliefs…….Want to see more uproar from the fan base? Don’t be surprised to hear in the coming months that Art Rooney II quietly extended Canada’s contract through the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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The Steelers in the off-season of committing to at least another year of Matt Canada just always seemed to be a situation of delaying the inevitable. If Pickett never finds that next level by the end of this season, it’s a disastrous situation for the Steelers in that they’ll be entering year three of the Pickett era with doubts that he’s the guy long-term, but it would still be too early to move on. You’d have to try another OC. Matt Canada will eventually be the fall guy for Kenny Pickett and the Steelers will cross their fingers that a new OC can fix him. That’s where we’re probably eventually headed after this season. Problem is year two and year three of Kenny Pickett is not supposed to be experimental years. That was supposed to be year one……….

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Steelers (1-1) on the road have opened up as 1.5 point favorites vs the Raiders (1-1) for Sunday night Football. …………

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The Penguins today announced their official training camp roster of 58 players…………

Broadcasting changes for 2023-2024 include Josh Getzoff becoming official in taking over as play-by-play announcer for Sportsnet Pittsburgh, while Hailey Hunter who recently covered the PGA Tour will be the new rink side reporter as Dan Potash moves full-time into the lead-studio analyst role. What’s not expected is the hiring of a full-time color analyst to replace Bob Errey. There’s been a desire from those calling the shots to have a revolving door of color analysts’ next to Getzoff. One or two with connections to the Penguins, Colby Armstrong a strong candidate, while hiring an outsider for select games is also under consideration. There’s been a strong desire to improve the pre and post-game coverage of the team, sources say. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Steelers 26 – Browns 22 (F)

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1st Down: We all know T.J. Watt is special. We’re witnessing greatness on weekly basis for the Future 1st ballot Hall-of-Famer who returned a fumble 15 yards for a touchdown with just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Steelers a 26-22 lead. As a unit the Steelers defense is not special by any means. Having a group of special 3-4 players, though, gives you nights like the Steelers had where the defense balled out by scoring 2 touchdowns, 6 sacks, 1 interception (returned for a TD) and producing 4 forced fumbles.

On a night where the Steelers were without Cam Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick was roughed up and exited the game early, Watt and Alex Highsmith willed the Steelers to victory. Pittsburgh had no qualms dishing out nearly a $70 million contract to Highsmith because you never move on from pass rushers with his good to sometimes great ability in their prime. No one regards Highsmith as a top-5 outside backer in the game but what a luxury this team has to have the caliber of a pass rusher in Highsmith to combine with the greatness of T.J. Watt. Teams have to focus so much on Watt, impactful nights like Highsmith had with the game opening pick-6 and the strip-sack that led to Watt’s go-ahead touchdown are more likely to be the norm.

2nd Down: Kenny Pickett is not It: Another game, another pedestrian night for Kenny Pickett who aside from a few moments here and there, showed little to no improvement from Week 1. Pickett is struggling mightily with his accuracy in 1-on-1 tight situations, and he was panicky in the pocket once again. This is just not what you want to see from Pickett in what was his 14th career start (15 games). The wait continues for a 2-touchdown passing game. | Kenny Pickett Stat Line | 15/30, 222 Yards, 1 TD-1INT, 12.3 QBR

3rd Down: Fire Canada, Warren RB1? The Pittsburgh Steelers trailed by three entering the fourth quarter and won by four. All of this despite having minus-7 yards in the fourth quarter. Now that’s a stat. “We’re not going to apologize for winning,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said. As expected, the ‘Fire Canada’ chants were loud in the fourth quarter. A good argument, though, is Canada probably had a better night than the quarterback with an impressing play design on the George Pickens 71-yard touchdown he took to the house and design on the Jaylen Warren 30-yard catch and run reception. Pittsburgh rushed for just 55 yards and as Najee Harris gained 43 yards on 10 carries, including a 21-yard run in the fourth quarter, everything seems headed in the direction where it’s only a matter of time that Jaylen Warren keeps taking more and more reps away from Harris.

4th Down: Browns season is over? Pittsburgh and Cleveland are both 1-1 at the two-game mark and Cleveland like Pittsburgh has a defense that can win games as it showed in week one vs Cincinatti. Yet, Cleveland has a major hill to climb to overcome the loss of Nick Chubb who was the engine of their offense. There’s no evidence Houston Texans DeShaun Watson is ever going to show up.

WEEK 2: MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Browns (1-0) @ Steelers (0-1)

ODDS: CLE -2.5

— The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t lost a Monday Night Football home game since 1991……….We all know the lopsided history in the Steelers favor when it’s Browns -Steelers. Yet it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers who enter tonight’s home game as an underdog and because of how bad things went in week 1, Pittsburgh faces all the pressure to avoid going 0-2……..

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–Top Five Steelers/Positions feeling the most pressure Tonight —

1. Kenny Pickett | Pickett was so abysmal in week 1 that all this clout he built up in the preseason means nothing. The All-22 tape was even much worse than Pickett looked live vs the 49ers. Things like Pickett never throwing more than one touchdown in a game which is truly an amazing stat for a first-round quarterback with 14 games under his belt, is rightfully becoming a talking point and it should be before the week one dud. It’s mindboggling Pickett has yet to have a two-touchdown passing game in his career. On the big stage tonight it’s time for a legit good game from Pickett #’s wise. No excuses…….
2. Defense Without Cam Heyward | All summer there was talking coming out of the Steelers organization Pittsburgh’s defensive unit has a chance to be one of the best since the vaunted group 12-14 years ago. This has always been a unit that can terrorize weaker opponents but more often than not, a team with an elite quarterback or an elite running back will have a field day against this group as Christian McCaffery showed again in week 1 against the Steelers. With no Cam Heyward and ‘Mr. Chubb coming to town, the pressure is on the defense to take away Cleveland’s running game and make it a night where Deshaun Watson has to beat you.
3. Matt Canada | More likely than now it’s probably going to be embarrassing night at times for Matt Canada in how some many pundits will be in disbelief the Steelers are running a Division-II caliber offense from scheme and the inability to take advantage of mismatches. Yet, there’s no sense of any serious pressure on Canada internally from those above him that matter. In reviewing the tape, many in the organization pinpoint the offensive woes squarely on Kenny Pickett.
4. Patrick Peterson | The San Francisco 49ers pinpointed a weakness in the secondary, hence Patrick Peterson, who is being used like the Steelers coaches think he’s 27 again. With the Steelers being coy that Joey Porter Jr is ready for a bigger role, the Browns are primed to go after Peterson early and often. Whether Peterson has a bounce back performance or the Steelers can hide in better will be telling point to how the night goes.
5. Bully Ball? The Steelers have believed in building a team this season and beyond that bullies you in the trenches. Week One saw the Steelers being a team that got punched in the mouth and caved. Pittsburgh was dominated in the trenches. Can Pittsburgh establish that hard-nosed running game tonight and begin establishing the type of identity they covet.

— Prediction: Steelers defense shines with a 17-16 Win —

— The Penguins kicked around trade scenarios for Calgary Flames LH defenseman Noah Hanifin prior to free agency and signing Ryan Graves, a signing the organization saw as a high value signing compared to the cost of trying to acquire Hanifin or a similar mold defenseman whether in the summer or sometime this coming season as head coach Mike Sullivan had been a big proponent behind the scenes that team had to upgrade the Left hand D spot for the 2023-2024 season. The team seriously weighed a future first-round cost for Hanifin but going the free agency route with the Graves signing paid huge dividends to pursuing Erik Karlsson (saving draft capital) or any fallback plans were Pittsburgh not able to acquire Karlsson. Dubas is calculated in everything he does and one of his best attributes is he takes big swings in trade talks. One significant Karlsson fallback plan the Penguins looked into this summer wasn’t on the backend. Multiple league sources say the Penguins circled back to To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Pittsburgh bringing in forward Colin White on a PTO continues to fit a similar bottom-6 trend of speed and limited offensive upside. With few young players ready to push for bottom-6 roles, Pittsburgh is primed to have a ton of competition for the final or two forward spots. They’ve gone into camp believing they have as many as 17-18 legitimate NHL forwards on the camp roster.

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Fenway Sports Group interviewed Doug Wilson very early into the GM hiring process last May and despite honing-in on hiring a younger executive when the process got near the end with Kyle Dubas and Mathieu Darche being the two finalists, Wilson was someone that really impressed ownership from the start, and he was an individual they kept in the back of their mind throughout the summer. Kyle Dubas is getting paid nearly $7 million per season so it was always going to be his call to bring on a prominent veteran NHL executive like Wilson, but the willingness to bring Wilson on board and selling Wilson on the position/role has been just more proof to many in the organization of how great Dubas excels in being a CEO at running and putting an elite staff under him. Dubas is going to have some misses with decisions on the ice, but it’s just been night and day at how he’s running the organization behind the scenes compared to the Hextall regime that operated with roles for the front-office staff and interactions with the staff as a whole that were archaic.

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— For a few hours on Tuesday Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner held Mike Babcock’s coaching future in balance after the accusations made by Paul Bissonnette that he was forcing players to hand over pictures and these players were uncomfortable with it. As the accusations have been denied and multiple Blue Jacket players have come out in support of Babcock, If Jenner or even one had publicly supported what Bissonnette said, Babcock would not have made it to training camp.

— The Colorado Avalanche one year, $1.5 Million signing of forward Tomas Tatar was a sneaky good September signing. There was word last month the Penguins had some preliminary talks with Tatar, but it doesn’t sound like anything got serious. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

—- The Kenny Pickett Crowd got hit with Reality Against the Elite 49ers Defense —-

The blame game is in all full force after the Steelers embarrassing 30-7 home opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon that now see’s the 0-1 Steelers even being listed as a 1.5 point underdog against the Cleveland Browns (1-0) this coming Monday Night at Home. A near perfect preseason saw the hype machine locally and nationally humming about the Steelers prospects in 2023 about not just getting back to the post-season but being a team with an ascending second-year quarterback that is deep and talented enough to be a threat to the top guns in the conference.

What Sunday proved was a dose of reality in how far away the Steelers still are in competing with truly elite teams like the 49ers are. Aside from T.J. Watt, you could dissect any part of the lineup Sunday where the Steelers were vastly overmatched on the field and on the sidelines.

The reality check for the Steeler, though, is despite some of the holes they still have when going head-to-head with a true Super Bowl Contender like the 49ers and the disadvantage they have almost every week with who they’re employing at offensive coordinator, Kenny Pickett is just so far away from being that next-level QB so many were anointing him already as that guy coming into the season. If the Steelers are going to be an 11-win type team that the team internally believes they were going to be prior to week 1, it was and will come down to how significant of a jump Pickett makes in year two.

Pickett is surely going to be better moving forward but his performance was as alarming as it could get as Brock Purdy looked everything of a franchise quarterback in how he commands the offense with great pocket presence, takes advantage of mismatches and for having nowhere near elite arm strength, can drill a tight throw inside the numbers when needed with excellent accuracy. Pickett is such a work in progress in those areas and let’s be honest, with 13 starts at the helm, the body of work is average at best, especially for an older second-year QB. So many became enamored with a couple magical 4th quarter drives late last season that major holes in Pickett’s game gotten overlooked from the Kenny crowd and even the doubters. Pickett’s biggest Achilles heel is an inability to drive the ball through the middle of the field. He doesn’t scare defenses to beat them……..

As putrid as the Steelers run blocking presence was vs the 49ers, considering the opponent, the O-line was admirable in pass protection. “I thought they did an awesome job, particularly from a protection standpoint minimizing Bosa. And really, I thought from a protection standpoint, we were really solid until the very end,” Tomlin said of Pittsburgh’s pass protection against the 49ers ferocious front-seven. “

Pressure has ratcheted up on Pickett for Week 2 matchup vs Browns

We’re reaching the point where the TD/INT ratio is becoming worrisome for Pickett. The 25 year-old quarterback has thrown just 8 touchdowns with 11 interceptions in 14 career games. With no Diontae Johnson Monday night and Cleveland having a huge coaching advantage in Matt Canada vs Jim Schwartz, the pressure is on Pickett to beat matchups that will favor the Browns on Monday night. Particularly the sizeable matchup advantage the Browns have with cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome II who gave the Bengals fits in week 1.

“I thought if you wanted to summarize the game in a small number of words, their corner ability to stand up and man to man on the line of scrimmage versus Cincinnati’s receivers was the story of the game on either side of ball,” Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday when reviewing the Browns tape.

One of Kyle Dubas big sale points to Penguins ownership during the interview process is he believed a trade of Erik Karlsson was THE game changing type move he could make to reopen the championship window and Dubas later proved it wasn’t a fantasy world type pursuit when back in May he told Penguins ownership it was a complicated trade he was confident he could execute based on his pursuit of Karlsson last season as Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager and all the logistics he knew that would be involved.

Is there another big-name pursuit out there that Dubas pursued as Toronto GM that carries over to the Penguins chair this fall?

Industry buzz is To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

MORE BUZZ

— As the Erik Karlsson trade and the slew of front office changes has breathed new life into the Penguins organization, it’s no secret in team circles that Mike Sullivan is going to get at least a one-year Honeymoon run here. Still doesn’t mean the pressure isn’t going to be on. Kyle Dubas has given Sullivan clearly a better roster and has given Sullivan great lead-way on particular roster decisions that in the end will eventually add more pressure on Sullivan. Among them has been a desire to rebuild the bottom-6 lines into a more responsible 200 ft type group that may not provide the type of offense you necessarily see among true Cup contenders but will be responsible and hard to play against in becoming puck hunting hawks through the neutral zone and defensive zone. There’s a belief in the organization that Pittsburgh’s top-6 and the Erik Karlsson addition will easily make up for a lack of offense in the bottom-6……

— Worst kept secret in the organization is Sullivan has gone to bat for Jeff Carter (who dealt with a wrist injury for the second half of the season) and the belief to the new management To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired star defenseman Erik Karlsson from San Jose Sharks in a blockbuster Three-Team Trade involving the Penguins – Sharks – Canadiens:

Pittsburgh Receives: Defenseman Erik Karlsson, Forward Rem Pilick, Forward Dillon Hamaliuk and San Jose’s 2026 third round pick

San Jose Receives: Pittsburgh’s 2024 First-Round Pick, Forward Mikael Granlund, Defenseman Jan Rutta and Forward Mike Hoffman

Montreal Receives: Pittsburgh’s 2025 Second-Round Pick, Defenseman Jeff Petry, Goaltender Casey DeSmith and Forward Nathan Legare. (Pittsburgh retains $1.56 million of Jeff Petry’s $6.25 Million cap hit for the next two seasons).

TRADE BUZZ: As the Penguins unloaded Mikael Granlund, Jeff Petry, Jan Rutta and Casey DeSmith to complete the trade, Pittsburgh will take on To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Pittsburgh’s on-going pursuit of Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson is around the two-month mark as Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas has been dead-set on acquiring Karlsson since the moment he was officially hired and really since he interviewed in person on a Sunday night with Penguins ownership back in May. Finding a way to acquire Karlsson who Dubas also pursued last season as Leafs General Manager has been the primary and really only game changing type move up Dubas has sought since taking over that the team internally believes can and would re-open the Penguins window as a serious contender in the Eastern Conference for the next couple seasons.

As the Drew O’Connor resigning has opened up a 48-hour buyout window starting Saturday all eyes are now on Dubas and Pittsburgh and whether they can get creative enough and close the financial gap with the Sharks and a possible third team involved to secure a deal for Karlsson. The sense around the league continues to be that Pittsburgh is in the driver’s seat to acquire Karlsson but there is a belief in league circles that if Pittsburgh can’t come up with the creative means to close the gap by early/middle of next week, San Jose plans to go back to the drawing board and patiently wait out the process despite the player and representation strongly pushing for the completion of a trade this month.

MORE BUZZ

— Could the Penguins opening night right side of the defense be: Kris Letang, Erik Karlsson & Jeff Petry? It’s something the Penguins have internally felt was possible, at least at one point this summer during the Karlsson pursuit. As the Penguins have been upfront with Petry and his representation at Newport Sports about the possibility of a trade this summer due to their desire to acquire Karlsson who is also repped by Newport Sports, one prominent trade scenario discussed To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Pittsburgh’s big announcement Friday that Jake Guentzel had ankle surgery this week and will be evaluated in 12 weeks has led to the mystery of when he was injured? The Penguins in a released statement are talking like this was a nagging injury: “As Jake continued to increase the intensity of his preparation for the upcoming season, it was apparent that his ankle injury was not resolving in a way that was satisfactory to he or the Penguins,” Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas said in a statement. “In collaboration with Jake – his representative Ben Hankinson of Octagon Sports, the Penguins medical team led by Dr. Dharmesh Vyas of UPMC Sports Medicine, and Dr. Coetzee – it was decided that surgery would be the best way to ensure Jake would be at his best in 2023-2024.”……….Okay players have nagging injuries but if that’s the case why was he playing all summer, including this week in the Da Beauty League or whatever it’s called? Everyone has been quick behind the scenes to say Guentzel was not hurt this week in the Minnesota summer league, but what would you expect. No one is dumb enough to admit that even if it was the case. Facts are the Penguins and Guentzel’s camp have to understand the questioning they’re getting and are going to get on this one………..Guentzel entering a contract year had been in casual talks with the Penguins on a long-term extension of at least five years and slightly over $To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— After signing a staggering seven-year deal worth around $45 million back in June to take the reins of the organization, Kyle Dubas this week, as expected, named himself General Manager and will officially assume the role of President of Hockey Operations and General Manager. Other newsworthy promotions to the Penguins new front-office structure:

Penguins Free Agency Frenzy

Goaltender Tristan Jarry | 5 Years – $26.875 Million

Defenseman Ryan Graves | 6 Years – $27 Million

Forward Noel Acciari | 3 Years – $6 Million

Center Lars Eller | 2 Years – $4.9 Million

Forward Matt Nieto | 2 Years – $1.8 Million

Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic | 1 Year – $1.5 Million

Kyle Dubas on Day 1 of Free Agency dished out almost $70 Million in one-way contracts as talk of holding cap space or just making some minor depth signings in free agency did not play out.

PENGUINS STILL NEED A KARLSSON LIKE SPLASH

What We Learned: Dubas and the franchise decided to go all-in on Tristan Jarry moving forward. Head coach Mike Sullivan had a strong influence on the Penguins new brass believing this was the right route to go and this decision was made prior to the draft. Just took a little while to get things completed. All signs in the 48 hours leading into free agency pointed towards a Jarry return, the question was just would Jarry and his reps at Newport Sports land the coveted five-to-six-year term they had coveted since negotiations last season with the Ron Hextall regime. Well Jarry was the big winner here in getting the five year, $26.875 Million commitment from Pittsburgh. Just a fantastic deal for his camp to land that deal for him. There were zero signs of another deal that competitive was out there for Jarry and now we all wait to see if Dubas and Sullivan betting on Jarry pays off or becomes a long-term blunder……

Dubas other significant deal of the day was dishing out a six year, $27 million contract to left-handed defenseman Ryan Graves. “He’s one of the younger players in free agency,” Dubas said of Graves. “I think he complements what we have on our right side very well with Kris Letang and Jeff Petry. So, we’re excited about that. The move fills an immediate hole on the left side with the disaster decision of trading Mike Matheson like season and Brian Dumoulin falling off a cliff and the club deciding not to resign Dumoulin. Pittsburgh is improved with a top-4 of Marcus Pettersson and Ryan Graves from where they ended last season. Where there is some questioning in the industry is the term. While Graves was somewhat younger at age 28 than others on the market, that’s a lot of term where when players hit their 30’s there can be a gradual or steep decline……..

Around the edges offensively, Dubas made some expected moves in the type of players he brought in. Noel Acciari, 14 goals and 9 assists last season, is a player Dubas knows well and gives the Penguins a needed element in the style he plays with. Acciari, though, is another smaller player at 5-10 who turns 32 in December. The three year term was a little questionable here especially for a bottom-6 player who’s offense is more reliant on goals than creating offense as a playmaker………..Matt Nieto was a signing that’s hard to complain about, even though it’s another 30+ years old singing. 2 years with a $900,000 AAV, that’s a no risk signing for someone who can hopefully get you 12-15 goals and comes from a similar styled system. Dubas, though, ended the day with another questionable signing with the Lars Eller 2 year, $4.9 Million contract. Scouts and executives think Eller is cooked as a legitimate third line scoring center. That was an interesting contract to give out for a soon to be 35 year old who is also repped by Tristan Jarry’s agent.

What’s Next for the Penguins?

Are the Penguins right now improved at all from where they ended last season? That’s hard to say, but they’re little bit different so that’s a start I guess.

Still, Dubas knows none of this has likely moved the needle from the Penguins suddenly being able to go toe-to-toe with the Devils, and the other expected big boys in the east.

However, there’s one move out there that changes thing and it’s Erik Karlsson.

Many in the industry say Dubas has long been enamored with trying to acquire Karlsson dating back to last season as Leafs GM and he’s put a strong effort into doing so this week now in the Penguins chair.

Despite Pittsburgh eating up all their cap space, Pittsburgh remains one of the last two or three teams standing for Karlsson as of Saturday morning.

As the Sharks and Karlsson’s reps at Newport Sports have worked on orchestrating a trade over the last week, the big development is on Wednesday the Sharks granted the Penguins permission to speak to the agent Craig Oster and Karlsson directly about a facilitating a Karlsson trade. I’m told Karlsson spoke with a number of key members of the organization, including [hide] Sidney Crosby] as the Penguins have tried to sale Karlsson on Pittsburgh. The push from Karlsson’s reps for weeks has been to eventually orchestrate a trade to a specific team, though, there’s been frustrations from the Karlsson camp with Sharks GM Mike Grier in getting over the finish line. Whether Pittsburgh ends up being that team is still up in the air, lot of talk yesterday Carolina might be the preferred destination from the player, the Penguins push for Karlsson was still on-going even after their free agency spending. While this is a complicated trade that would involve three or four teams per sources, it’s a home-run pursuit from Dubas in making a strong push for Karlsson who would be electric in the Penguins system and playing behind Kris Letang at 5 vs 5 as Letang can take on the tough minutes….[/hide]

Pittsburgh’s acquisition of Reilly Smith this week has been universally praised from a value standpoint and a playing style fit. Signed through 2024-2025 with a $5 million cap hit, it was just the perfect fit for how Kyle Dubas wants to operate with term on players in their 30’s. It was too good of a deal to pass up. One feel in the industry though is the acquisition loses some luster if Jason Zucker isn’t resigned or the Penguins don’t replace Zucker with a similar styled impact player. Still, as for Smith who can play both wings, kill penalties and create off the rush, he fits how Mike Sullivan still believes in playing. Any hope of a new General Manager wanting the Penguins to change the style of play isn’t going to happen at least not in year one of the Mike Sullivan/Kyle Dubas honeymoon phase. Sullivan is all-in on playing like it’s 2016 and Smith even at his age gives them that element.

— A respectful cat and mouse game continues between the Penguins and Jason Zucker’s representative Eustance King. Mike Sullivan has continued a big push behind the scenes on trying to resign Zucker. As the Zucker camp has tried to wait and wait Pittsburgh out to bend on term, two sides were a year apart as of yesterday, there’s a realization that Pittsburgh is actively in the forward market where the Zucker contract offer couple be wiped To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!……… Zucker has been fond of playing out West if things with the Penguins can’t be worked out, sources say. But a coveted five year offer the agent has sought might be coming from the East. There’s a belief two Eastern Conference teams, one being the Columbus Blue Jackets have Zucker high on their radar.

— Contract Talks between the Penguins and Tristan Jarry are going down to the wire ahead of free agency opening up. Talks have been described as ‘encouraging’ over the last 24 hours and both sides see a possible path To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Pittsburgh has been linked to Blake Wheeler all week who was bought out today To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Many teams were not aware Matt Duchene was going to get bought out until it happened today including super agent Pat Brisson who is Sidney Crosby’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins landed their top target today in hiring Kyle Dubas as President of Hockey Operations, an A+ level hiring for the difficult task ahead of trying to build a consistent winner in the short and long-term that has an aging core soon to be pushing 40 years old.

“Very honored to be here today and join the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Dubas said of being named President of Hockey Operations. “We heard from [Pittsburgh] basically next morning after my time in Toronto came to a close.”

Dubas thanked all parties involved in courting him to Pittsburgh from ownership to Mike Sullivan/Sidney Crosby to the Penguins PR team. “Last week they did incredible job showing us around the city,” Dubas said of Pittsburgh’s PR team. “Early this week we made decision this was going to be right decision. Deep feeling of appreciation to everybody,” Dubas said who has young kids and a key part of the decision was the comfort level of his family making this move.

Prior to Dubas being let go in Toronto, when the Penguins job first became available, those in league circles believed Pittsburgh’s job could be right up Dubas’ ally in that he could play the card of being aggressive in the short-term, while also building out a long-term plan as being something that would appeal to him. That’s exactly what Dubas layed out.

At his introductory press conference today, Dubas showed enthusiasm for the task at hand of giving this core a better chance to compete next season, while starting the infrastructure on day 1 of executing a long-term plan where the club moves from the current core to a new era where there’s no retool or rebuild in-between any transition whenever that time comes.

“I see this task ahead of us as a two-pronged effort. To reduce gap between core and new age of players,” Dubas said.

Among the Highlights from Dubas:

— Penguins did excellent job of selling Dubas on Pittsburgh: Dubas indicated late in the press conference that his initial feeling was to take some time away before making a decision and ‘wasn’t intention going in to take Penguins job’. Dubas said his wife telling him he should at least take a meeting with the Penguins and things went from there. A key for Dubas was being so comfortable with people already in place in the organization.

–– Dubas speaks highly of Sullivan: The New York Rangers dream of hiring Mike Sullivan is over. There’s going to no coaching change or consideration for one from the start. Dubas spoke glowingly throughout the press conference about Sullivan. “Throughout course of this process had chance to speak this week to Mike Sullivan (multiple times) and Sidney Crosby (once)….. a number of conversations with Mike Sullivan,” said Dubas. “Sully can coach forever. He’s a great coach, there’s no expiration date on Mike” Dubas said in the press conference.

— Dubas hints at big splash? Dubas cited throughout about improving the depth. “Depth pieces, what can we add via younger players (trade or free agency),” Dubas said . Later in the press conference, though, Dubas hinted To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— All in on the core? Just playing to the crowd or is this a true feeling? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

–– Focus on building team to win division not competing with other 31 teams: Dubas says with Penguins being in the same conference as Toronto gives him a good feel of roster and AHL roster. Will rely on coaches and others in the organization at the start and what he focuses on when building a contender is on the division. “Major focus is inside the division. Let’s focus on our division,” said Dubas.

–– Penguins to shop for top Left D? Dubas earlier in the press conference made a quick comment about determining possible need for change at top of the defense, likely indicating a desire of Mike Sullivan’s to land a Number 1 left pairing d-man. Sullivan pushed for a top pairing Left-D before the trade deadline, though, Sullivan was strongly in favor of trading Mike Matheson last summer which played a big part in the hole the Penguins now have with Brian Dumoulin a free agent and no longer capable of playing that role.

— 50-50 whether Jarry returns? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Dubas will handle GM for now: Calling himself the “interim GM”, Dubas will handle the GM role through at least the month of June, the Penguins new head of hockey operations said. Hello Jason Spezza when his contract expires on July 1……….

The wait is over……

After a six-week search and playing the waiting game, the Pittsburgh Penguins today have officially hired Kyle Dubas as President of Hockey Operations. Dubas will have full autonomy on all hockey decisions throughout the organization.

From the Penguins: To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

This is a massive hire for the Penguins and sale job by FSG. Dubas will be among the highest paid executives in the game and he comes out with full control as a key part of the agreement is believed to be that Dubas will have full authority to make decisions without having to have ownership sign off, a major change for how things operated in Toronto for Dubas.

Two immediate major storylines from the hire is: 1. The General Manager Hire? 2. Mike Sullivan

Many around the league are buzzing that To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! is in the driver seat to be named General Manager To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Had Dubas passed on the job and Pittsburgh did set a deadline for this Friday, two sources involved in the situation indicate the team planned to name Dallas Stars executive Steve Greeley as President of Hockey Operations and Tampa Bay’s Mathieu Darche as General Manager. The Greeley camp believed as late as Tuesday afternoon things were heading into that direction and he was set to be offered the job. That’s how close it going to going either way on the Dubas front. Greeley was told this morning the team was going in another direction as the contractual agreement between the Penguins and Dubas did not become official until about an hour before the release and Pittsburgh did not receive a verbal agreement from Dubas until late Wednesday evening, sources say.

— The biggest storyline of all in the immediate is the short and long-term future of Mike Sullivan. Sullivan was gaining more and more power/influence throughout the organization on a number of levels, especially on personnel moves, and the hiring of Dubas puts a pause to that. It will be fascinating to see how Dubas truly feels about Sullivan and does this become a Dubas/Mike Babcock 2.0 situation where it’s just a matter of time he eyes an opportunity for a coaching change. At the minimum this was going to be likely the only hire where the coaching staff gets truly evaluated like they should be than pushed on an in-experienced General Manager and the worst kept secret around the league since Pittsburgh’s pursuit of Dubas is that he’s a big Mike To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Among the new developments in the Penguins search for a new Hockey Operations leader is the Pittsburgh Penguins top brass will hold a face-to-face meeting with Kyle Dubas this week, a meeting that’s expected to happen as early as today at an undisclosed location. Early last week the Penguins had moved on from any Dubas scenarios and were tracking towards naming a new General Manager as early as Tuesday or Wednesday this week. However, things changed with Friday’s firing of Dubas and the Penguins on Saturday gathered intel that Dubas was willing to meet with the team after all that has put the core group of 4-5 finalists in the GM search now in limbo. As the team has casted a wide net of candidates, if Dubas was indeed willing to at least take a meeting, the Penguins didn’t want to go through this search without speaking to the former Leafs GM………So here we are…………

“Pittsburgh was very close to ending their search (before the Dubas firing),” Top NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said today on his _{32 Thoughts Podcast}. “Now Dubas has dropped into the middle of all of these searches. Whole idea of Dubas going to Ottawa at some point definitely appealed to some people……Pittsburgh is going to make their pitch,” Friedman said.

A big question is will there be consequences for the Penguins losing someone they wanted if Dubas passes on Pittsburgh? A strong sense in league circles on the Penguins search is Tampa Bay’s Mathieu Darche and New Jersey’s Dan MacKinnon had emerged as the leaders in the clubhouse as multiple Penguin players were said to be buzzing prior to the weekend that the team had planned to hire To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

“

As the Penguins are closing in on hiring a new General Manager, (announcement could come as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday) what continues to be a moving target is whether the team hires a President of Hockey Operations in that same time frame or if they hire one at all. The Penguins over the last couple weeks have leaned into the direction of going the President of Hockey Ops / General Manager Combo but word this week continues to be that the team is not 100% locked into going that route. Certain individuals though have been interviewed for this role and vice-versa for the GM role. Everybody was not interviewing for the same position and if the Penguins do indeed go the Pres/GM route, there is said to be some combinations weighted over others.

— Some New Developments —

Is he in or is he out? There continues to be mystery surrounding Jason Botterill’s Candidacy. Botterill did not actively seek out this job and Seattle had blocked permission while they were still playing. Pittsburgh, though, from the start had targeted Botterill for the top hockey operations role. Pittsburgh over the last week had been pushing for an interview and the Penguins late this week finally had a face-to-face meeting with Botterill that took place Thursday afternoon and into Friday morning. The sense on Botterill is coming into this meeting is Pittsburgh had to be the one’s selling Botterill on taking over the hockey ops than Botterill To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

MORE BUZZ

• Dallas Exec Steve Greeley has made an impression with the Penguins brass throughout and is believed to be being considered for the Top Hockey Operations role than the GM role. Among Re-tread General Manager’s that have received or are still in the mix………..
• Marc To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
• Peter Chiarelli’s close friendship To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
• To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
• To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Pittsburgh’s General Manager search has heated up significantly in the last 7-10 days as the Penguins have whittled their General Manager list down from as many as 18 candidates to now a group of four candidates. It’s group that has been tabbed internally as the four finalists in a search the Penguins anticipate coming to completion next week and are hopeful of announcing a new hire before Memorial Day Weekend. Barring a change of heart from the now Ex-Leafs GM Kyle Dubas on wanting to pursue the Pittsburgh job, the four finalists To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Among the group, New Jersey’s Dan MacKinnon To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

*The Pittsburgh Penguins over the last week have held as many as 8-10 interviews with potential General Manager candidates, mostly phone interviews, sources tell Inside Pittsburgh Sports. Things, though, continue to be described as being an extremely slow process. One sense is the organization isn’t even sure yet what direction they want to take and how it’s going to shake up. A belief around the league is Pittsburgh may be finding out that teaming an experienced General Manager with two or three individuals under him who would also have significant say on decisions and philosophies might be more fantasy than reality. That has been the ultimate goal for the Penguins organization going into this of trying to find multiple individuals they feel will mesh with each other. Whether the Penguins pivot from this remains to be seen but all indications are a number of former General Manager’s the Penguins have interest in and have spoken with thus far in the early goings eye an opportunity of a more traditional General Manager role than a President of Hockey Operations type role.

*Another obstacle the Penguins are said to have run into is getting permission to interview some of the top executives from teams still in the playoffs. While Dallas granted permission for a phone interview that happened recently between the Penguins and Stars executive Steve Greeley whose considered a top rising candidate in league circles, another team in the playoffs told the Penguins no permission would be granted until July 1st for a prominent assistant General Manager, which is basically saying no permission will be granted. That team is believed to have been To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Noise Around Three Former GM’s: Two individuals the Penguins conducted in-person interviews with last week who are expected to be a part of this and are considered likely to be in the mix when things start to really heat up: Former To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

*Down 3-0 in the series, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the Florida Panthers right where they want them…………The way the Leafs are bowing out, Brendan Shanahan is going to have a tough sale on all three majority owners signing off on a new To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Value, Value, Value

Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager Omar Khan knocked it out of the park in his first draft as General Manager. An aggressive free agency that chipped away at holes in the roster, helped set up a smart and calculated draft by the Steelers led by Khan, head coach Mike Tomlin and assistant General Manager Andy Weidl.

“What do they call him, the Khan Artist?” Tomlin said of Khan as the first year GM executed and operated like he’s been on the job [as General Managers] for 10 years.

RD 1 (14): OT Broderick Jones, Georgia
RD 2 (32): CB Joey Porter Jr, Penn State
RD 2 (49): DT Keeanu Benton, Wisconsin
RD 3 (93): TE Darnell Washington, Georgia
RD 4 (132): OLB Nick Herbig, Wisconsin
RD 7 (241): CB Cory Trice, Purdue
RD 7 (251): OT Spencer Anderson, Maryland

Multiple Great Value Picks: Where the Steelers excelled greatly at with their 2023 draft class was finding value all over the map and this isn’t some type of redshirt class by any means. There’s the potential for multiple contributors for the 2023 season. Khan & Co were aggressive in trade talks in the leadup to the draft about moving up into the top-10 with Paris Johnson Jr being the targeted player that would have tempted the Steelers to make a significant jump to 8 or 9 if he were to fall. Instead, the Steelers made their play with much less risk in trading up three spots for the 14th overall pick to select offensive tackle Broderick Jones out of Georgia who the team had rated as the second-best tackle in the draft and was bound for the New York Jets at No. 15 if the Steelers with a helping hand from the Patriots had not jumped ahead of New York.

“Broderick was a player we identified that would be a great addition to our team,” said Steelers general manager Omar Khan. “Really excited. I think he’s going to be a great Steeler for a long time. Love his athleticism. Love his upside. Our job is to bring in competition. By the time we get to the opening game, the best five offensive linemen will play.” With high upside and elite athleticism, Jones was a selection universally praised as he went right where he should have and the cost of a 4th rounder to move up was less than what the trade chart said it should have been.

Finding good to great value picks really hit home for the Steelers brass the rest of the way. Joey Porter Jr at No. 17 would have been one of those tweener picks where some saw it as an area he should go while the whispers days leading up to the draft that his draft stock was miscalculated by the media and draft pundits as a likely mid-teens first round pick compared to where NFL teams really rated him end up ringing true. Still, this was a player that had a first-round grade on a lot of draft boards and the Steelers not being enticed by multiple trade offers for the 32nd selection shows Pittsburgh had a legit first-round grade on Porter as this was a deep cornerback class. With great size and attributes at 6-3, 192, Porter has all the makings of being an impact rookie in 2023.

“He’s got a lot of great attributes, size, competitive, athletic, tough,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said of Porter. “We’re looking forward to him coming in and competing. We’re looking forward to him contributing this year. There’s no redshirt [with Porter].”

In the third round was more magic from the Steelers. Trading back from No. 80 to land No. 93 and getting a 4th round pick back (132) saw the Steelers select Tight end Darnell Washington out of Georgia, an elite blocking tight end with great measurables. “I think the awesome thing about [Darnell], besides his measurables, is his mindset, I mean, here’s a guy that I think maybe has sixth offensive linemen on his license plate,” said Mike Tomlin.

Washington was rated as a top-40 prospect from a number of draft experts, ranking 30th from NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, and 38th and 39th respectively by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr and Todd McShay. It didn’t stop with Washington in finding value. You won’t find many complaints about the selection of Wisconsin linebacker OLB Nick Herbig and cornerback Cory Trice who at 6-foot-3, is a 4th round talent the Steelers got in Round 7 as injuries saw Trice get drafted much later than he should of.

Wild Card at 49? Nose tackle Keenau Benton at the 49th overall selection was one of rare Steelers picks of the weekend where there wasn’t as much universal agreement as being good value compared to others. Some love Benton and had clear second-round grade on him, while others think he’s more of an athletic specimen than an actual productive football player and there’s some talk Benton was regarded as more of a third-fourth round prospect than a clear second rounder.

Addressing the defensive line early, though, was a major need heading into the draft and Benton at 6-4, 310, fits the identity Tomlin is trying to establish moving forward in Pittsburgh being a team that bullies you at both lines of the scrimmage. Benton certainly fits the bill after starting 36 games over four years at Wisconsin and

“There are some good football players there,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said of the team being drawn to Wisconsin players. “When you look at a lot of guys, they kind of fit the Steelers mold. Tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar guys. You know what you’re getting when you get a guy from that school. He’s a big body, but he’s not a two-down guy. He’ll get a chance to move outside and play on third down.”

Veteran GM Chances Increasing: Been saying it since the very beginning of the Penguins General Manager/Hockey Operations Leader Search that it would be an absolute stunner around the league that the Penguins primary hire for a hockey operations leader would be an individual that has no prior General Manager experience. While media and pundits are pushing this storyline that FSG is destined to hire an off the board hire or a data driven individual whether they have no experience or not, rival executives just aren’t buying it at this point. Now a little over 10 days into the Penguins hockey operations leader search, the sentiment around the Penguins search is the Pittsburgh brass is honing-in on going the veteran route with the ‘Primary Hire’, while filling out the rest of the new look staff with a young fresh mind or multiple others in that mold as mentioned before. The sense continues to be that Pittsburgh wants to toe-that-line of pairing a veteran General Manager who can combine an old way and new way of thinking with the type of analytics department they’re trying to put together.

— Here’s some latest noise surrounding the search —

How long will Pens wait for Dubas? The Maple Leafs winning a series does not make it a slam dunk that Kyle Dubas is back in Toronto as General Manager. The belief around the league continues to be that Dubas wants to weigh other opportunities. Ottawa will surely wait for him as a prominent new ownership group in the bidding has their sights set on Dubas. One of the wildest rumors in league circles over the weekend was New Jersey Devils ownership being enamored with Dubas and some feel would even be willing to move on from Tom Fitzgerald who’s done a fantastic job, if they could land Dubas. Once the Leafs are knocked out of the playoffs, teams expect it to be quickly known on whether the marriage in Toronto will continue or not. How long will Pittsburgh be willing to wait to potentially speak to Dubas is among the mysteries if the Leafs do indeed advance past Round 1.

Pens Job coveted by veteran GM’s: The easiest thing to decipher in the Penguins search from what’s real and what’s not is who has expressed interest in the job. Among veteran General Manager’s that have expressed strong interest in the job: Former To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Will Brad Treliving be a factor? Brad Treliving is not To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Pat Brisson’s Impact on the Search? The Penguins ownership group is new to the NHL and rightfully so, they’ve reached out to powerful folks in the industry to get a feel of things. They’re doing vast research on a a number of different angles. Among those they’ve sought out feedback from early on in the process To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Sleeper Name to watch in search: Multiple league sources have brought up To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Brad Treliving’s instant availability has seen him pop up as a name around the league the Penguins should be seriously looking into over the coming weeks. Some inside league circles have even gone as far to say that Treliving should immediately be the Penguins No. 1 target. While so many in the media and others are fixated on the Penguins bringing in analytics driven individual to run the hockey operations department whether they have no experience or not running a team, as much as a wild card FSG’s ownership group is, rival executives would be stunned that Pittsburgh’s primary hire would be that type of individual with Sidney Crosby entering the final two years of his contract. The 2023-2024 season is going to be on selling Crosby to finish his career in Pittsburgh who team officials believe still has 3-4 great years left him in that he’s destined to be a Tom Brady type that can play at an elite level well into his late 30’s.

History of Big Swings: Every retread General Manager has their hits and misses but Treliving is intriguing for a wide variety of reasons in toeing-that-line of trying to retool over the summer to become a contender again and having an eye on the future. The Penguins need some bold maneuvering this summer. They can’t have someone come in and be patient and take a let’s see what happens next season approach. They need someone that will take some risks right away with the roster who won’t be afraid to take a couple big swings. Treliving has a history of being that guy from the Tkachuk situation last summer to the Jakob Markstrom signing, ect. And he’s been put in some tough situations. Turning a star young player wanting out into Jonathan Huberdeau, Mackenzie Weegar and a first-round pick was still a move 9 out of 10 General Managers in a win-now situation like Treliving was in would have made. Trading Dougie Hamilton and the rights to Adam Fox (both wanted out) for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin was another example of a high pressure move Treliving has a history of making.

Identifying a General Manager who might have a different view from the head coach in how to fill out the roster at the forward position won’t be a bad thing either when restructuring the roster for the 2023-2024 season. The Penguins have to make a philosophical change in getting heavier up front. The days of targeting these Mikael Granlund’s types just needs to end and as much blame as Hextall & co get, Granlund’s been type of forward Sullivan has preferred for years. They need to be more Minnesota Wild in building a forward group beyond the core and Treliving was very effective over the course of his GM career at prioritizing players at the forward position who had a good combination of skill and size. From drafting the likes of Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk to additions recently in the mold of Tyler Toffoli, Nazem Kadri shows a contrast to the type of styled forwards Pittsburgh has prioritized under the recent regimes and Sullivan. Even the Nick Ritchie addition by Treliving at the 2023 deadline gives another glimpse of the type of forwards Treliving likes to target in filling out the bottom-6.

Draft Success: A sense around the league is Treliving’s drafting ability and how well he is universally regarded in working with others and allowing others to their job inside the hockey operations department, furthers his stock as a candidate that should strongly interest the Penguins ownership group that’s making it a priority for multiple high-level individuals in different departments to be in-sync in working together.

Treliving had some home run drafts as Flames GM when it comes to identifying talent and a great run pretty much from 2015-2019. The 2015 draft was a home run in drafting or adding young talent. Treliving traded for Dougie Hamilton, drafted Andrew Mangiapane in the 6th round who’s nearly a $6 million a year player that scored 35 goals last season, selected defenseman Rasmus Andersson 53rd overall who’s now a 50 point type defenseman and also selected defenseman Oliver Kylington 60th overall. Kylington is also regular on the Flames blueline and had a 31-point season. 2016 was another home run draft. Matthew Tkachuk is a superstar, forward Dillon Dube was nabbed 56th overall and has appeared in almost 300 career NHL games already and has blossomed into a 45–50 point player. Treliving then drafted Adam Fox 66th overall. It might lack star power buts scouts also love the Flames 2019 draft class and there’s 3-4 legit NHL players out of that class long-term. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Fenway Sports Group is a forward-thinking ownership group and there’s no question the Penguins search for a new hockey operations group will cast a wide net. “At the moment, there is no parameters or set format for what we’re going to hire,” FSG Dave Beeston said on Friday. “I think that what we’ve learned in all of our endeavors in sport is that these jobs are not one-person, two-person jobs, they are entire department-wide. What we’re focusing on building is that hockey operations machine and something that can build on what we’ve already got, which is exceptional, and improve it. “So, whether that looks like a president, a president and a (general manager), a president and a GM and four assistant (general managers), I’m not sure. And I don’t think we have any preconceived notion of that yet. But that’s sort of open for discussion.”

Based on how FSG operates with their other endeavors, no one is ready to rule out a complete off the board hire, those who know the group say anything is possible with them, but one sense around the league seems to be many are wrongfully running with this idea that next hire is 90% going to be somebody who’s mostly been behind a computer just because FSG is so analytic driven.

~~~~~ Open Minded Search for basically two different openings? ~~~~~~~~~~

Early buzz on the Penguins search from league executives is FSG is conducting one search into two pivotal hires, and really multiple ones as a whole. What job titles come out of it remains to be seen but the belief is FSG plans two major hires. A de-facto General Manager and a separate leader to run the new hockey operations analytics/player evaluation department (something ownership had already been making in-roads on), which will consist of a group of individuals who will have a big say in roster evaluation parlayed to what ownership feels will be more effective roster decisions being made. This is going to be a coveted position with the financial commitment ownership is prepared to make to this department, sources say, as indications are ownership is willing to throw GM money at two individuals to revamp the hockey operations department. Some of the names getting linked to the Penguins GM opening are believed to be getting mis-casted by reporters and are more likely in the mix for this role. Among them is To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Searches rarely go how you want them, just look at the Penguins recent search where Ron Hextall was third on ownerships target list behind Chris Drury and Tom Fitzgerald, as Drury after initially accepting an interview, took himself out of the running and Pittsburgh was unable to receive permission from the Devils to interview Fitzgerald at a time when Fitzgerald wasn’t on the type of good footing he now is with the Devils organization. In a perfect world a belief around the league is FSG hopes to pair a veteran GM who has a blend of old and new way of thinking that can mesh well with the other individual or individuals that are going to be running the new department that’s being put in place. And here’s why not to totally rule out a retread GM like so many are in the early goings.

Many in the organization say any General Manager put in place has to be ready to handle the personalities in the organization. Mike Sullivan gets along with others well, but he has significant power and is a big personality. You can’t have some newbie come in that’s never dealt with pushback. He or she will get ran over. Sidney Crosby’s inner circle is not Lebron James-like by any means, but they can be an annoyance, former team executives have often said. You have to be ready to take on the pressure from To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Early Buzz on three names among veteran General Manager types many around the league are keeping an eye on:

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Peter Chiarelli – Serving as the Vice President of Hockey Operations for the St. Louis Blues, why has Chiarelli become a name to watch to rival executives? Here’s Why: The Cup winning General Manager in Boston has close relationships with key members of the Penguins ownership group, league sources say. Don’t be surprised if Chiarelli gets consideration from FSG. Chiarelli had strong interest in the Penguins opening during the 2021 search and his name is starting to surge again among search firms involved in top executive searches.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins moments ago officially announced the team has fired President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke, General Manager Ron Hextall and Assistant General Manager Chris Pryor. The search for a new hockey operations group will begin immediately.

Fenway Sports Group in cleaning house with the front office hierarchy, said in a released statement they still believe in the ‘core leadership and the goal for competing for a Stanley Cup has not changed.’

“We are grateful to Brian, Ron, and Chris for their contributions to the organization over the past two seasons, but we feel that the team will benefit from new hockey operations leadership. While this season has been disappointing, we believe in our core group of players and the goal of contending for the Stanley Cup has not changed,” John Henry and Tom Werner said.

Knowing their fate was likely sealed, Hextall and Burke each traveled with the team for Pittsburgh’s season finale against the Blue Jackets. Hextall signed a five-year contract as General Manager with the Lemieux Group in February 2021, though, the fifth year of the contract was a club option. One significance in the press release from the Penguins: Mike Sullivan To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins will miss the postseason for the first time since the 2005-2006 season as the longest active playoff streak in pro sports of 16 seasons officially came to an end Wednesday night. Now, the question becomes how fast and furious do changes coming after the Penguins season finale against the Columbus Blue Jackets. 36 hours later and it’s still hard to fathom how the Penguins lost that game Tuesday night vs the Blackhawks and fumbled away their season. There has to be consequences and heads to roll beyond a possible front office shakeup.

Where this organization got it wrong in recent months? After the Edmonton loss back in February, the bold move for the Penguins at the deadline would have been going the Capitals route, hence, punting on the season, accumulate picks for your pending UFA’s, ect, and use those assets to retool for next season. That would have taken guts for this management team with how well the core was playing but the writing was on the wall with how inept the Penguins had been all season in matching up speed wise and physicality wise against the top tier of the East. Said it then and still feel it was a major missed opportunity for the Penguins. Ron Hextall’s best move of the deadline was acquiring a third-round pick for pending UFA Teddy Blueger. Problem is accumulating picks for pending UFA’s stopped at Blueger and the Penguins had to throw the 2024 third-rounder received from Vegas into the Anaheim Ducks deal so Anaheim would take on Brock McGinn.

For every positive move of Hextall’s from beating down Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin in negotiations for $6 million a year cap hits to go along with the Rickard Rakell addition last year that has worked out great, there’s just been countless decisions that have become catastrophic blunders from this management group dating back to the 2021 expansion draft that become quite hard for even a distant ownership group to overlook when you have a non-playoff season. While Hextall has been praised around the league for doing an admirable job in slowly building the Penguins prospect pool back up, the sense in league circles is the Mikael Granlund acquisition will be the nail in Hextall’s coffin. “I just don’t see how Ron survives that,” a long-time Eastern Conference exec said of Hextall.

And the Granlund acquisition has so many layers to it from what almost happened in the 24-36 hours after the Penguins acquired Granlund in how the team tried to trade one of their best wingers because of Granlund’s presence in the present and future ………

— Rumblings inside organization that one of Burke or Hextall will have to go-–

— There’s a strong sense the working relationship between Hextall and President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke started to deter in the final days of the deadline, multiple sources say. Burke wanted the team to acquire Brandon To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! The JT Miller pursuit is where things got really interesting as more info has come out. Burke behind the scenes found a potential avenue to acquire Miller from the Vancouver Canucks in the days prior to the deadline after casual conversations To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

While on the day of the deadline as the Penguins and Canucks worked on a complex four-team deal that would have also included the Florida Panthers and Anaheim Ducks, rumblings from other teams at the time was that Mikael Granlund was potentially on the move again to make the money work. However, it was actually Jason Zucker who would have been the $5 million a year cap hit player that would have been part of the four-team trade, Talks got so serious around 11:00 a.m. eastern of deadline day that the Canucks were working on essentially bringing To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

MORE BUZZ

— One version of players involved in the Penguins-Canucks-Ducks-Panthers trade talks had Pittsburgh trading Zucker, PO Joseph, Jan Rutta, and Brock McGinn, while receiving To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— A top consideration for whoever is in the General Manager’s seat this summer: Buyout Mikael Granlund? While Pittsburgh would take on a $1.8 million cap hit in 2025-2026 and 2026-2027, Pittsburgh would create close to $4.2 million in cap space next season and $3.1 million in cap space for the 2024-2025 season if they were to buyout Granlund. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Was Pittsburgh’ 5-2 loss to the tanking Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday night the worst loss of the Sidney Crosby era?

Absolutely it is, unless the Penguins receive another gift from the New York Islanders Wednesday night and stave off elimination and go on to lose to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the season finale…………That would be something.

Let’s hold off for a day on writing the Penguins obituary until the team is officially eliminated, but as all of the criticism and out-rage is on Ron Hextall as it should be in a number of cases, we’ve reached the point where it’s utterly ridiculous that Mike Sullivan goes unscathed. Said it prior to the trade deadline, the Penguins have a roster and a system problem. Instead or prioritizing

Sullivan has become so stubborn in his ways that there is evidence for months now he is just not the right guy for the next phase of this organization in trying to be as competitive as you can in Sidney Crosby’s final years and toeing the line of embracing younger players.

The Penguins in their 5-2 loss to the Blackhawks can again pat themselves on the back for dominating shot-attempts, possession time, ect, but here we are again where the team can’t finish. There’s a reason for that. And that always comes to the style of forward Sullivan believes in to play his rush system the best. The Penguins just don’t have enough blue-paint forwards and the system is so predicated on the d-men being #2 and #3 options off the rush.

How the coaching staff has never adapted systematically through now 80+ games remains’ a great mystery. Not to sound like a broken record but the organization in wide agreement made a decision last summer to get heavier on the backend. Yet, they’re running the same system as if they acquired two more Mike Matheson’s instead of the reality of having a cone on the ice in Jan Rutta. It’s insanity.

The Blackhawks sunk the Penguins in the third period by scoring twice in a 26 second span as the game quickly went from 1-1 to 3-1. The Andreas Athanasiou bank in goal felt like a season-ender. The leadup to the goal was everything that has held the Penguins back this despite the glaring holes they have.

System and Goaltending.

1. In a classic rinse and repeat of the Penguins system, three forwards are deep on the forecheck and of course Brian Dumoulin pinches on less than a 50-50 puck and the Blackhawks are off to the races for a 2-on-1 led by the speedster Athanasiou.
2. Tristan Jarry makes initial save than stumbles and gives up a crushing goal in a situation that what his Penguins career has become. He’ll get you .920 save percentage and a few All-Star appearances but when you really need him in high pressure situations, he’s just not the guy.

Hextall Out, Sullivan to mutually Exit?

No one among Sullivan or To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— The Mystery of how Fenway Sports Group would react to missing playoffs: FSG bought the Penguins to just add to their portfolio. The group had been on the hunt to buy an NBA or NHL team and the Penguins going for sale fell into their lap. From that sense, no one should be shocked it’s been a very distant ownership group. Will they eventually take interest and bring their own people in? No one is certain when or if that will come. It’s a mystery ownership from whether there’s any true interest of taking on a hands-on approach. Would missing the playoffs combined with the current fan outrage finally force their hand from a PR standpoint? Again, it’s a mystery to many. What we do know is this: President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke continues to be very well liked by ownership and leaned on, sources say. Burke is the eyes in the sky for Thomas Werner who’s the only individual that truly checks in on the team from time to time with any interest. And one thing Burke has consistently done is go to bat for Ron Hextall who as of a few weeks ago was said to be on good footing and not considered to be on the hot seat by any means. The guess from those close to the situation is Burke will be the driving force on any GM decision that is made or not made at seasons end. Another question is Burke will be 68 years old next season, still enjoys living in Toronto, could go back to Sportsnet in a heartbeat, so who knows how much longer he wants to keep going especially with a potential sinking ship, though, word for a while is he’s been committed to honoring the five To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Crosby would have final say on Mike Sullivan’s Future?: Whether it’s an eventual first-round exit or missing the playoffs, there’s enough sample size this season and past seasons to question if Mike Sullivan is the right coach for the next phase of this team. One thing Sullivan has done is dig into his ways. From poor usage, deployment, to being dead set on not changing the defensive structure that is losing games, to not embracing young players, there’s a lot of evidence that it’s somebody else’s turn behind the bench to try to get the most out of the final Sidney Crosby years. And we’re potentially looking at maybe just a max of two years left of Sidney Crosby in a Penguins uniform who has two seasons left on his contract and it can’t be ruled out that he ends his career elsewhere after his current contract ends. FSG clearly tipped their hand with how they feel about Sullivan this past off-season by extending him through the 2026-2027 season with a salary of around $5.75 million per season when there was no reason to extend him with two seasons already left on his current deal. Even though there isn’t much care from the ownership group, they view Sullivan, a Boston guy as a rockstar in his field. Hypothetically, though, if FSG was swayed on cleaning house and looked at the Bruins as an example of what bringing in a new coach can do for a stale club, league sources contend a coaching change would have to be embraced To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

MORE BUZZ

Source: Penguin minority owners favored Utah Jazz owner bid for team in 2021: Ron Cook of the Post-Gazette had some juicy details this week about a fallout between Mario Lemieux and the Fenway Sports Group as Lemieux has not attended a Penguins game this season. There’s been push back that the situation is being a bit overblown, nonetheless, Lemieux and Ron Burkle were sued last year by a group of former Penguins minority owners for accelerating the sale to FSG without going through proper legal measures pertaining to the minority ownership group. Legally the lawsuit had merit and was eventually settled by Lemieux and Burkle. Cook also states in the column Lemieux and Burkle thought they were getting a larger stake from FSG, though, if true that’s on Lemieux and Burkle. The question at hand is what happened to all this initial talk of Lemieux staying involved?

Despite a press release at the time of the sale from FSG that Mario Lemieux would actively stay involved with the hockey club, those close to the situation believe a rift or not, that talk at the time was nothing more than a PR statement. Lemieux moving on with his life was always going to be the likely route after retaining around just 3% To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! The hirings of Brian Burke and Ron Hextall in 2021 was all about leaving what Lemieux thought was the organization in good hands for the present and future. The real rift here was between Lemieux/Burkle and a few prominent minority owners. Indications are a sale to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith who had a very competitive owner was favored by many inside the former ownership group but one belief is a personal grudge between To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Michael To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Three Teams for Two spots in Wildcard Race: Penguins (78 pts / 68 GP), Islanders (78 pts / 70 GP), Panthers (75 pts / 68 GP) Excitement that the Penguins had an opportunity to make a legitimately play for third in the division has quickly waned since last Sunday’s 3-2 win against the Rangers on home-ice. The Rangers enter tonight’s game 10 points ahead of the Penguins with each team having 14 games remaining. Wild Card Race Points Pace Entering Saturday -| Pittsburgh 94 pts, New York Islanders 91 pts, Florida 90 pts

— The collapse of Brian Dumoulin: There were surely signs last season of Brian Dumoulin’s free fall as a No. 1 pairing defenseman but it’s still stunning how far his game has fallen in the past two years. Everybody can’t play well into their 30’s but Dumoulin isn’t close to being to Jeff Carter’s age. Thursday night’s 4-2 loss to the Rangers highlighted a little bit of everything of what Dumoulin can longer do as the decline mentally of the player was at the forefront of the Mika Zibanejad breakaway goal where Dumoulin put himself in no man’s land with a bad pinch and most concerning of all for a defenseman like Dumoulin, is how he’s getting cratered in trying to defend the net-front area. It was clock work for Chris Kreider on the game winning goal. Dumoulin’s decline combined with the trade of Mike Matheson has led to a massive overtaking in rebuilding the left D group on the fly next season.

More Buzz:

— PO Joseph’s struggles this week have showed why Mike Sullivan pushed for weeks in advance of the trade actually happening for the team to acquire Dmitry Kulikov as the coaching staff sought a veteran defenseman in the mold of Kulikov to play over Joseph. Like the player or not, Kulikov injury has become a sizeable loss with how inefficient Dumoulin and Joseph can be on a nightly basis………Have to wonder how short Alex Nylander’s leash starts to get moving forward. Thursday’s loss saw Sullivan go back to Rickard Rakell skating on the top-line mid-way through the game, a move that catapulted Pittsburgh’s comeback. The result was Nylander getting bumped to the third line. While loading up the top-6 takes away needed balance, Nylander’s inability to finish thus far was going to make this switch inevitable at the first sign of trouble with how the coaching staff doesn’t trust young players. And that’s been Nylander’s biggest downfall in this short stretch as he’s had some golden opportunities off the rush to finish plays………… Are we a game or two away from O’Connor-Granlund-Carter? Nobody should be shocked if it happened and what outrage that is going to be from the fan base…………..Jeff Petry To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins have suddenly been among the most effective teams 5 vs 5 offensively over the last 4-6 weeks and in some metrics even dating back to the start of the New Year, and that’s even been with an unplayable bottom-6 for large stretches. You combine that with special teams getting hot at the right time for a first-round series and there’s at least some hope they could be a tough out against a team like Carolina for example.

Except for This…………..

Why the roller coaster season continues with two steps forward and then one step back as it did with Tuesday’s embarrassing 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on home-ice is goaltending and systematic defensive play.

Tristan Jarry on Tuesday night was pulled for the third time in nine games after allowing four goals on seven shots and he was unplayable. Just atrocious goaltending in not being to provide a save after Pittsburgh jumped out to a 2-0 lead four minutes into the game against a bad opponent that played the night before. And Pittsburgh’s aggressive defensive system in demanding the d-men to provide immediate pressure below the dots continues to be among the most maddening things with this hockey club where the strong side ‘D’ and weak side ‘D’ are over pursuing, and the forward line of defense is often in no-man’s land. The system puts such reliance on Pittsburgh’s centers to read and react defensively and aside from Sidney Crosby, they don’t have any centers capable of playing this way defensively, yet, it remains the structure in place.

What’s the future hold for Tristan Jarry?: The goaltending picture is becoming a potential disaster situation for the Penguins in the short-term and long-term. You can’t rely on Casey DeSmith for so long. He’s had some great moments of late but past performances show if you put too much on DeSmith’s plate, he eventually falters like most backup goaltenders do. Ron Hextall’s best move of the year might have been pulling back on contract negotiations with Jarry’s representation at Newport Sports in late To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Mike Sullivan made his mark during the early stages of his Penguins tenure as head coach of locking in pairs of ‘two’ with a focus on balance. He also embraced top-9 roles for inexperienced players. There has been less and less of that throughout the years and the lack of interest from Sullivan in spreading out the group of top-9 forwards to try to have a more balanced third line has been maddening this season and an area that Sullivan has deservedly been highly criticized for.

Better late than never, right?

Pittsburgh’s performance in their 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday afternoon was far from being a greatly encouraging victory. Give up on believing this group can consistently put together a 60-minute game. That said, what was encouraging, and a building block moving forward was the lineup.

Trickle Down Effect of Nylander on 2nd Line: You want to see Alex Nylander get a run against quality playoff level competition as the second line right winger and that will happen Sunday against the Rangers. The metrics of the Malkin line was not outstanding by any means against the Flyers, 1 Goals For, 47 CF%) but two games in Nylander has been impressive in how he hasn’t looked out of place with Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker. Against the Flyers, he again put himself in the right spots and what’s even been surprising to the coaching staff has been the little details in how he’s reading and reacting next to Malkin. Anyone can see the obvious and how an embrace by the coaching staff to give this combination a run together can have on making the lineup deeper. In two games Nylander has played 25:28 at 5 vs 5 and the Penguins are 3 Goals For, 0 Against with 37 shot attempts to 17 attempts against with Nylander on the ice. “I’ve been overly impressed with his complete game,” Mike Sullivan said after Saturday’s win, while also saying if Nylander continues playing like this, he’s proving to be an NHL player. The burning question might not be Nylander’s fit but Sullivan’s patience with an inexperienced player as Sullivan’s actions this season show this is still going to be a game-by-game basis for Nylander no matter what……..

Intrigue of Granlund-Rakell Combination: Pittsburgh’s biggest issue with their third line play this season has been the lack of ability of pretty much any individual among their line combinations to have the ability to create 1-on-1 offense. Long-term many like they should hate the risk the Penguins took in taking on Granlund’s contract but as mentioned before, in the immediate he addresses a major need in his ability to create 1-on-1 offense outside of the groups top-6 forwards. The coaching staff in the short-term thought the Granlund addition could jump start Jeff Carter’s offensive game but when the hands go at his age, they go. What Sullivan and his staff finally found was an intriguing pair of Granlund and Rickard Rakell. Two skilled players that see the ice really well who can possibly give the Penguins a third line for the first time this season that can put the opposition on their heels every once in a while. And for one game, Drew O’Connor shined on left wing with Granlund and Rakell by providing a presence in the dirty areas and the lead forechecker on the line.

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Less could be better for Jeff Carter? Don’t write off Jeff Carter just yet providing a somewhat effective role down the stretch with limited 5 vs 5 minutes, while playing a continued heavy role on the PK and as a net-front presence with the 2nd power play unit. Time will tell but it’s always been the route to go once it became clear months ago that the offensive skills have eroded. 4th line minutes 5 vs 5 in the six-minute range like what transpired Saturday vs the Flyers is a start in the right direction……..Lineup Mysteries: Best 12 always includes Archibald: One of the perplexing lineup decisions is how Josh Archibald always has a regular spot no matter what and will probably still be favored over others the likes of Ryan Poehling, Alex Nylander, and Danton Heinen if this group has a full stable of forwards available by the post-season……….Pierre Olivier Joseph over Jan Rutta? Jan Rutta not Brian Dumoulin is the weakest link among the Penguins regular d-men. Dmitry Kulikov can play the right side, he’s much quicker, efficient to exit the zone and pick his spots much better when pinching in the offensive zone. Not to mention Kulikov’s presence on the penalty kill really makes Rutta obsolete and has opened a window to go the Joseph route. Will it happen? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Ron Hextall touted last Friday of how he believes the Penguins are better equipped to now win in the post-season than they were say two weeks ago. The comments raised a lot of eyebrows from the fan base and local media for a General Manager whose anger and criticism towards is rivaling that of David Littlefield from 15+ years ago.

“I like the way our team’s playing; I like our team and we wanted to enhance our chances and get better. We feel like we did that,” Hextall said during his post-trade deadline media session. a lot of eyebrows among the fan base and local media.

But, is Hextall correct?

Everything starts with Mikael Granlund and was Granlund the right player to add long-term? Probably not but in the short-term he improves Pittsburgh’s top-9 and gives the Penguins a body who’s at least a threat on a game by game basis to create 1-on-1 offense. The subtractions of Kasperi Kapanen and Brock McGinn have opened up a full-time spot for Drew O’Connor who some in the organization look at as a trade deadline addition with how he’s progressed as a younger player and is learning to use his size below the circles. The roster shuffle has also given a more-steady role to Danton Heinen as many seem to forget this was a player who netted 18 goals last season, including 3 goals in seven playoff games. This is a player management has wanted more in the lineup after Heinen fell early into Mike Sullivan’s doghouse. Then there’s Nick Bonino who gives the Penguins more jam to the 4th line than Teddy Blueger was ever going to give them.

After the Edmonton game, the Penguins coaching staff made some tweaks to their defensive zone structure and shocking as it is, the players actually implemented it during stretches of the four-game winning streak. A focus has been on insulating the slot area to improve their defensive play from 35ft in, a source says to play bigger defensively, and the improved defensive play was actually seen in the St. Louis and particularly performances against Tampa Bay.

It all went out the window against the Panthers which is always concerning with this group as if the opposition wants to play wagon hockey, the Penguins often can’t help themselves. But, if the Penguins can consistently play a tighter defensive structure in the middle of the ice that is more equipped for how their d-men are built, especially with the Dmitry Kulikov addition, they have the makings of being an improved hockey club down the stretch.

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Pittsburgh’s deadline pursuit of Mikael Granlund happened really quick as in a matter of 48 hours from when Pittsburgh first made contact with Nashville. And on Wednesday of last week when the trade was made, the Penguins felt they had to make a decision that night or Nashville was moving in another direction to trade Granlund to the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Trade Watch: The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired defenseman Dmitry Kulikov from the Anaheim Ducks. Trade call is expected to happen this hour. Kulikov has been a favorite target of To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Blockbuster Talk Surround Penguins – Canucks Again? Speculation continues to mount around the league the Penguins and Canucks have reignited talks on a multi-player blockbuster deal that could include as many as four teams if the deal were to get done by 3:00 p.m. Top NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported this morning there is certainly “smoke” around the Penguins but cautioned about the complexity of talks. Speculation has been so wild in the past hour teams believe Mikeal To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Analysis: Penguins to Acquire Nick Bonino: The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Nick Bonino from the San Jose Sharks to bolster the center position in the bottom-6. The deal is pending a trade call that is expected to happen after 8:00 am today. Bonino a fan favorite during the 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup runs, has 10 goals and 9 assists in 59 games for the Sharks. Bonino’s defensive metrics are not as strong at this stage of his career as Teddy Blueger’s are, but for a stretch run, Bonino is still a quality defensive player with better intangibles and upgrades the Penguins with more offense and particularly more jam that Pittsburgh desperately needed and just weren’t getting from Blueger. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan will have the option of deploying Bonino as the 4th line center or could eventually use him in the third line center spot and move Jeff Carter to wing, a move management prefers. Sullivan, though, has been against such a move as he values Carter’s ability in the right face-off circles.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired 31 year old center To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Penguins General Manager Ron Hextall cited Granlund’s versatility in a released statement by the team. “Mikael is a versatile forward, able to play either wing or center, and contribute offensively, said Hextall. “He has experience on both the power play and penalty kill and can add options to our lineup.”

What the move for Granlund certainly doesn’t address by any means is adding a different type of top-9 forward to the mix that has been evident as a major need for the Penguins ahead of the deadline. Granlund has struggled mightily this season in driving even strength offense and has not topped more than 17 goals in a season since 2017-2018 with the Minnesota Wild. This is a risky addition for the Penguins to make for a 31 year old declining player with a $5 million cap hit for two more seasons whose game is built on skill and having to produce. Granlund’s not going to be a player who’s going to come in and excel on the forecheck and do the little things really well if he’s not producing.

Cap wise to make room for Granlund, the Penguins tonight traded Teddy Blueger to the Vegas Golden Knights as expected got value for Blueger in receiving a 2024 third-round pick from the Golden Knights. The wheels have been in motion to trade To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Trade Deadline Chatter & Storylines as the Clock is Ticking —

League Buzz: Hextall enamored with Thatcher Demko: Talk around the league is Penguins General Manager Ron Hextall likes Tristan Jarry but is enamored To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! . “Ron see’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Wild Checked in on Penguins top-6 winger: Over the weekend the Minnesota Wild are said To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Jakob Chychrun Latest: Suitor after suitor continues to move in another direction on the Jakob Chychrun. Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong being a hard line negotiator has lived up to his billing. Few believe he will be pressured to suddenly move Chychrun for the case of moving him. The price in December has remained the same. Elsewhere on the Coyotes front, pending UFA Nick Bjugstad had a frustrating career in Pittsburgh due to injuries, but he left on good terms and was really well liked by players and coaches. Just saying………..

Kapanen popular on waiver wire: When the Penguins waived Kasperi Kapanen they were done with him. That’s not the feeling with Brock McGinn if he clears and is why he played last night vs Nashville. How popular was Kasperi Kapanen on the waiver wire? The no fun league doesn’t send out a list of who had waiver claims like the NFL does, but the Penguins have intel that three teams put claims on Kapanen: St. Louis, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Boeser Chatter a hard read: When Penguins had substantive trade talks with the Vancouver Canucks last season about a John Marino trade, Vancouver pushed for a forward – defenseman swap and Pittsburgh had the opportunity to choose from Brock Boeser and Conor Garland. They balked but at the time the organization and particularly Mike Sullivan were said to have been much more interested in To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Anthony Beauvillier who won over a lot of people in the Penguins organization during the 2019 playoffs is also a better fit for how the Penguins play than Boeser who is slow-footed. Boeser has been a tricky read for the past 24 hours because as mentioned in a previous post, some in the organization like him that while he’s not a heavy player, he can be sneaky good at times in those tough areas, while others just don’t like the fit at all. He’s been one of those on the fence targets for a while now that’s always came back to how much of a cap hit would the Canucks keep.

On the heels of waiving Kasperi Kapanen last week, talk among high-ranking members of the organization for a few days now, is the team was gauging the trade market on Brock McGinn but would not go the waivers route for McGinn unless they were far down the road on a deal and needed to create cap space.

The Penguins are confident that they are heading down that road so here we are with McGinn being placed on waivers today. If McGinn is claimed and Mark Friedman clears waivers, the Penguins could take on close to $6 million in cap hits at the deadline. With two years left on his deal and carrying a $2.75 million cap hit, the Penguins are aware of two clubs that are believed to be considering a waiver claim of McGinn.

So, what is building?

After the Edmonton game, sources say the Penguins trade deadline list for forward targets started to change a bit where they’re no longer just identifying players who they feel can fit Mike Sullivan’s system. They’re targeting a specific type of forward that will make them harder to play against in the dirty areas and below the dots and can scored in those areas.

That’s led to To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! becoming the hot name this afternoon in league circles. Due to questions about his fit in playing a fast-paced game in Mike Sullivan’s system, the Penguins have never been enamored with To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Pittsburgh Penguins scored six goals in the second period, including five goals in a 4:27 span late in the period, en route to a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night. How wild of a night was it for the Penguins? A 4th liner in Drew O’Connor opened the scoring in the first period for the Penguins, ………Teddy Blueger, yes Teddy Blueger scored a goal at 16:20 of the second period, only to have Jeff Carter score a 1:20 later and as the flood gates opened, Brian Dumoulin scored with 5 seconds remaining in the second period to push Pittsburgh’s lead to 7-2. How rare was it to see a Brian Dumoulin goal? It was Dumoulin’s first goal of the season and the last time Dumoulin scored in the regular season was January 21, 2022, a span of 102 games.

The Penguins needed a night a like this, and they’ve come out of Thursday’s debacle on home-ice with a 2-for-2 weekend. Talk around the league entering the weekend before the St. Louis game is Pittsburgh had been regarded as being doubtful to go the Capitals route and start selling their UFA’s. As vaunted as the Eastern Conference is, one reason to this point Pittsburgh has not made the likes of Jason Zucker available is Pittsburgh feels they’re best players are playing at a much higher level than Washington’s for example that gives them zero reason to punt on the season like the Capitals are doing.

One league source says Penguins GM Ron Hextall has been operating with a playing with fire strategy that prices will come down closer to the deadline like last year where the Penguins made a shrewd deadline move in the final hour by acquiring Rickard Rakell for a second-round pick.

This might be the season, though, where prices don’t come down whereas a Rakell went for a second rounder in 2022, a Sam Lafferty might go for the same price in 2023.

As the Penguins were in the middle of routing the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bolts struck a trade Sunday night with the Nashville Predators for winger Tanner Jeannot in-exchange for Cal Foote, a 2005 first-round pick, 2024 second-round pick, 2023 third-round pick, 2023 fourth-round pick, and a 2023 fifth-round pick. The return has sent shockwaves through the league.

In a season where the Penguins ceiling no matter what move they make between now and Friday is likely a first-round loss, a burning question will be whether they’re going to miss out on a golden opportunity in a year they could get better than expected value for Jason Zucker or even a Brian Dumoulin as some around the league sense Pittsburgh could get a second rounder for Dumoulin.

Latest Pens Trade Deadline Buzz

— Here’s something Penguins’ management should probably keep in mind. Since December 21st, the Penguins have six regulation wins in a span of 27 games. Those six wins have come against Arizona, Vancouver, Ottawa, Anaheim, San Jose and now Tampa Bay.

— For what the Penguins lack at the forward position, Nino Niederreiter from cost and type of player he is has always stood out as an ideal target dating back to the summer when he was a free agent to now at the deadline before he was traded to Winnipeg over the weekend. The agent never heard from the Penguins once during the summer and doesn’t sound like the Penguins were looking into Niederreiter as a trade deadline target either who went to Winnipeg for a second-round pick. That would have been a smart add to move a second-rounder to get one and half years of Niederreiter.

— Fair to wonder if the Penguins 2-for-2 weekend, has the team circling back to To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— One rumor that won’t go away: The Penguins still kicking around the idea of acquiring To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

–Word out of the organization is two Rental Defensemen are said to be very high on Mike Sullivan’s wish list ahead of Friday’s deadline: To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Was the Penguins 7-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night on home-ice finally the wake-up call for the organization it has needed? The score wasn’t even indicative of how embarrassing of a performance this was for the Penguins as the losing streak reaches four games. What happened against the Oilers has been building for weeks and what it showed again was make the blueprint clear as day.

And that blueprint for the Penguins is sale you’re pending UFA’s, namely Jason Zucker, Brian Dumoulin and Teddy Blueger, then gauge the market for role players with term like Brock McGinn and Jan Rutta who league executives say have some value on the market. It’s not working in Pittsburgh for those two but teams like both players who have cap hits under $3 million.

The Penguins are not one player away, they’re four to five players away. Ron Hextall deserves some credit for the obvious of there being zero reason to go all-in for this club. In a copycat league the Penguins need to be following the Capitals suit on this front. You’re not tearing things down for a full rebuild but what you’re doing is accumulating picks to eventually put back into the roster this summer via trades.

Rival teams see Jason Zucker and yes Brian Dumoulin as Pittsburgh’s biggest trade assets among the pending UFA’s. Yet, the feeling around the league is if Pittsburgh is trending this direction, they better make both full available now. It’s management malpractice to wake up the day of the deadline and say Jason Zucker is now available.

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Next Phase: Whether the Penguins take the proper course of action remains to be seen. The core issue moving forward is whether this management team and coaching staff are right people for the next phase of this organization. And we’re at that next phase of trying to retool on the fly. The General Manager has given zero confidence he’s the right guy moving forward, and Mike Sullivan’s pitfalls have been large especially this season. We’re truly finally at the stage where you have to wonder if the greatest coach in the organization has reached his expiration date? The easiest fix of all is a coaching change. The lack of system changes to not enforce a more structured defensive game play away from the puck to off-set roster limitations has been stunning along with the insanity not to break up the top-6 to spread out the lineup. Then there’s the issue of not being someone that’s going to embrace an influx of younger players into the lineup.

Chychrun Talk: Rob Rossi of The Athletic reporting Mike Sullivan seeks a trade for Jakob Chychrun not a surprise. Of course, it’s also not surprising in Rob’s reporting that Ron Hextall has a different view on Chychrun. The Penguins coaching staff has been pushing for over a month in scouting meetings of the biggest need being a long-term impact left-handed defenseman.

Hextall balked in December of trading Kapanen to division rival: As Ron Hextall sent out an email Sunday to all General Managers that Kasperi Kapanen was available, the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Penguins Sought quick action to move Kapanen to move on Schenn Deal: Word is the Penguins sought quick action on Kapanen earlier this week to close a deal on Schenn. Now it appears To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Frustration in Rutta Camp? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Luke Schenn to Pittsburgh? As the Vancouver Canucks have opted to healthy scratch defenseman Luke Schenn in anticipation of a trade, Canucks management in the last 24 hours began focusing on three specific teams in trade talks surrounding the coveted depth right-handed defenseman.

AmongTo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Managements pivot To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Canucks have been seeking a lofty price of a second-round pick for Schenn or a third-round pick+ another asset for Schenn. They’ve also discussed packaged deals for Schenn and Brock Boeser with a few clubs as the two share the same agent.

Schenn, 33, has 3 goals and 18 assists on the season and carries an $850,000 cap hit.

Pittsburgh’s 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils should be another reality check for the organization of how big of a gap there is between the Penguins and the top-6 teams in the Eastern Conference.

The 2014-2015 season was the last time the Penguins were this late into a season where the roster and style of play gave a bleak feeling where they had little chance to win a round or be competitive. At least then the core was in their late 20’s and Marc Ande Fleury was the netminder and there was always some hope.

Stacked against the true six Eastern Conference Contenders, Boston, Carolina, New Jersey, Toronto, New York Rangers and Tampa Bay, this team inspires no hope and there’s a mountain to climb where you’re poorly constructed and can’t believe I’m saying this with Mike Sullivan at the helm, the Penguins are badly coached right now. There continues to be no urgency or desire to change the way they play from implementing system changes. It’s maddening.

For the Penguins to win four out of seven times against any hypothetical first-round matchup, they would need a miracle as in getting .940 type save percentage and just completely lights out special teams play game in and game out. If that gives you confidence in managing a team to go all-in at the deadline, go right ahead.

Will Hextall toe the line of Buyer-Seller?

Of course, Pittsburgh’s actions this summer was one of going All-In. They signed Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin into their 40’s, they went into uncomfortable range in term to resign Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell. Then there’s the gamble the Penguins took of trading for 35 year old defenseman Jeff Petry whose best days are behind him. Pittsburgh got fooled by some computer telling them they should have been a three round team last post-season.

This is a lost season when it comes to truly competing for a Stanley Cup.

So what should Hextall do?

The right move looks to be to toe the line of buyer-seller. Many around the league believe in a sense that’s where Hextall’s head has been for weeks. On the rental market he’s been looking at some change of scenery type additions that could be added at a low cost and any type of aggressiveness on the market from Hextall has been more towards players with term, an area the Penguins have to make sure it’s the right fit and not get burned. Is there a way for the Penguins to move out 3-4 players, some with value, still make the playoffs by default and get stomped in round 1 like they will with or without these specific players? That’s the route to go.

Short-Term Moves to ponder between now and the Trade Deadline

Goaltending: This team is not worth it to trade your 2023 first round pick just to lose in five games in Round 1 anyways. What Hextall does owe this club is do something at the goaltending position and as in this week.

Jason Zucker: The Penguins need about three or four more Jason Zuckers but a decision needs to be made between now and the deadline on whether he’s part of the long-term plans or not. Zucker’s agent Eustance King rTo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Stars remain interested in Jeff Petry? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Gauge Brian Dumoulin’s Value: General Manager’s can get duped based on a players’ past performances and one name scouts feel would still hold value on the market is Brian Dumoulin. A league executive went as far to say he believes Pittsburgh could get a third-round pick for Dumoulin.

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Due to games in hand, FOR NOW the math is still good regarding the Penguins prospects for a wild card spot but what a crushing loss to the New York Islanders Friday night.

In a 5-4 loss where the Penguins held leads of 3-1, 4-2, and 4-3, everything keeps coming back to this team taking shortcut after shortcut with their play away from the puck.

You’re not the Boston Bruins with 80+ points where you can coast the rest of the way and take some nights off. This team keeps talking that a Stanley Cup is the goal, blah, blah. Yet, there continues to be too many moments where members of this team, especially core players are just going for a skate.

And the No. 1 player in this category is Evgeni Malkin. Somebody has to say it…….

Malkin is not a good enough offensive force 5 VS 5 at this stage of his career, to off-set the liability and really lack of care mindset he plays with on a nightly basis. It’s killing the Penguins in critical situations like it did last night. Malkin’s lets go for a ‘public skate’ play on the Parise goal is happening every game.

If the Penguins words are true that the goal is to compete for a Stanley Cup, somebody in the organization needs to be having some tough discussions with the fact that you can’t be playing winning hockey when you’re No. 2 center doesn’t give a damn about playing in his own end. Casey DeSmith is of course getting crushed for the loss……

The loss to me is on Evgeni Malkin in why the Penguins didn’t at least get a point. Play basic center support defense and Brock Nelson has no shot to make the cross-ice feed to Parise.

On the Parise Goal, Pittsburgh of course loses a puck-battle when they had a 2-to-1 advantage. Jason Zucker is guilty of over-pursuing and not giving adequate space for puck support as the puck becomes loose……

Then the next line of defense being the CENTER on the line, Evgeni Malkin just decides to take a twirl, turning his back to the play while heading up ice. Just awful awareness in that moment of the game …

Not that anyone in the organization will do this, but what the message to Malkin should be, ‘if this is how you want to play for the rest of your career which appears to be case’, you’re now a full-time right winger.

There’s no bigger need for the Penguins between now and the summer in finding a 200 ft 2nd line center for next summer.

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For Anyone wondering — The Penguins were not in the mix for Ryan O’Reilly who was traded Friday night to the Toronto Maple Leafs. O’Reilly’s taken a step back from a pace standpoint, but it’s a big move for the Maple Leafs who had no choice but to go-all in at the deadline. Speaking of O’Reilly, he came awfully close to becoming a Penguin just prior to the 2015 draft. He was Jim Rutherford’s No. 1 target that summer, even over Phil Kessel and at one point Pittsburgh thought they had a deal for O’Reilly that would have taken Pittsburgh out of the mix for Kessel.

Seattle continues to be linked to Blueger? Teddy Blueger’s name continues to surface in trade talks with Pittsburgh said to be exploring 1-for-1 type deals surrounding Blueger if they were to move him while still holding a wildcard spot between now and the deadline. One trade scenario that’s been discussed is Blueger for To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Count on 3-4 moves? As the heat continues to turn up on GM Ron Hextall locally and while don’t expect anything big, one high ranking source says don’t be surprised to see a 3-4 player turnover To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Penguins To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! could need a fusion surgery cleanup this summer for JTo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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*Tristan Jarry’s latest injury has not changed the Penguins long-term view of him, multiple team sources say. GM To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

*Rumors of Jim Rutherford wanting to step down as President of the Canucks and running away when things are bad certainly doesn’t shock former Penguin officials. The ending of his first year with the Penguins in 2014-2015 saw Rutherford unable to take the criticism and breaking down as he offered to quit at seasons end and had to be talked out of it by former Team President David Morehouse. After Pittsburgh’s first-round exit to the Rangers in 2015, there were serious discussions about Rutherford stepping down and Tom Fitzgerald a favorite of Mario Lemieux’s being elevated to GM. Will Rick Tocchet regret taking the Canucks job? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Penguins continue to embark on a West Coast swing tonight against the San Jose Sharks who two weeks ago dealt the Penguins an embarrassing 6-4 loss just before the All-Star Break. With the deadline inching closer, Penguins General Manager Ron Hextall has said he’s looking for better results from a group he really likes on paper.

Pittsburgh has come out of the break accumulating four out of a possible six points thus far with a come from behind win against the Avalanche and routing the lowly Ducks. Hextall should be operating with the mindset that this will be a playoff team. Good news is while Pittsburgh is only playing at a 96-point pace, the threshold for the final playoff spot could fall as low to the 89–90-point range.

Entering today, Washington is playing at a 92-point pace. The Islanders, Sabres, and Red Wings 88-point pace, while the suddenly surging Panthers are currently at an 87-point pace. The whole group including the Penguins have been so inconsistent this season and playing at a +8-point pace over the 9th-12th placed teams is a sizeable cushion at this time of the season. Maybe one of those teams trailing the Penguins really goes on a run but two of them just seems unlikely.

But the reality of the situation for the Penguins is that while things continue to trend that they’ll be a playoff team, games against the Avalanche should have been another wake-up call for management that this group is so far away from being a true contender in the East. There are too many holes and a system problem that the trade deadline isn’t going to fix.

Pittsburgh’s thrilling overtime win against the Avalanche showed great resiliency and fight to stick with things. If there’s ever going to be a fluke win it was that night. What the game should have showed Hextall is how many passengers the Penguins have when matched up against an elite talented group and one thing I keep coming back to is how the Penguins systematic play is getting steamrolled against quality level teams. They have evolved into one of the bottom-10 teams in how they defend the neutral zone and Pittsburgh’s approach of trying to beat quicker more talented teams with stretch pass after stretch pass got so exposed in the Avalanche game.

And games like the 6-0 loss to the Kings, not surprisingly just like the 6-4 loss to the Sharks prior to the break, has to start pointing the picture at the coaching staff in how NO disciplinary style defensively is being implemented or enforced. It’s a do what you want system…….

Constant puck watching and players running out of their lanes is popping up game after game against a quality opponent.

On the Kings opening goal of the game, Kris Letang decides he’s playing left D and chases by taking himself out of position……… Pittsburgh then has both wingers deep on the strong side of the puck with Evgeni Malkin in no-man’s land and who of course never picks up his man. And most in-excusable, the Kings only had four players on the ice and the Penguins still got burnt defensively.

Later in the game, Pittsburgh’s inability to defend the neutral zone off the rush was on display again.

Here the Penguins have a 3 vs 3 situation with numbers as a back checker is closing to give them +1 advantage. Yet, the entire group gets lost with the center drive.

Goal off the rush for the Kings to make it 4-0 and its game over early in the second period.

Beyond questions of whether the Penguins are playing the right style that’s tailored to the roster, at some point the lack of intelligent play of away from the puck has to start falling on the coaching staff for having no authority to getting the team to change in this critical area that the Penguins really need to be elite at to off-set holes in the roster.

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Penguins GM Ron Hextall struck a deal with the Anaheim Ducks for Rickard Rakell in the waning minutes of the 2022 deadline. Will Pittsburgh and Anaheim be a dance partner for the second consecutive year?

Talk around the league is once again connecting the Penguins and Ducks in trade talks ahead of the deadline. And the Ducks are being pegged as a team that Pittsburgh views as an option to knock out two stones in one trade.

As much of the focus is on Pittsburgh’s dreadful third line play and the need to revamp the bottom-6 group of forwards, the coaching staff via sources identified in recent pro scouting meetings that they see the biggest need being an upgrade on the leTo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Anaheim’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Ron Hextall when hired by in February 2021 received a To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! contract from the Lemieux Group. Despite appeasing the new ownership by what many looked at as going All-In signing Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin into their 40’s, Hextall has not operated in trade talks like a General Manager who wants or is willing to mortgage any of the future (top assets) for a run this year. Elsewhere, some in the local media have criticized Hextall for not being around at times this season. There are reasons for that, especially of late. Hextall is invested in the 2023 draft class.

Taking a page of how he managed in Philadelphia, Hextall been heavily scouting 2023 draft eligible prospects, team sources said last week, an area General Manager’s don’t normally go out of their way to do in the middle of the NHL season. But, as one source said of Hextall, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

FIRST ROUND PICK NOT IN PLAY

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“My job is to look at this team today, tomorrow, and a few years from now,” said Hextall.

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Better Team on Paper than Results? Hextall today claimed he really likes this team on paper but not the results. “We would like to get better,” said Hextall. “Sometimes getting better is making a move that is a better fit than what we have. When I look at our team on paper, I like our team. What I look at some of the games and the results, I don’t like it as much.”

Hextall’s Not Jim Rutherford: Jim Rutherford traded Carl Hagelin, who was one of Sidney Crosby’s closest friends from the pure standpoint of shaking up the room back in 2018 just to piss players off in that room. Rutherford would later regret it that season by trying to re-acquire Hagelin before someone with the Kings had to relay the message to the Penguins that league rules didn’t allow Pittsburgh to re-acquire Hagelin since the Penguins were retaining a portion of the cap hit. That’s just not how Hextall operates so anyone hoping for a shakeup move just for the sake of shaking up the roster as the Penguins have returned from the break will be waiting a while. “It’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Tidbits: Hextall touted the obvious for much of the presser that the team as a whole need’s better consistency. He cited the likes of Casey DeSmith and the bottom-six, saying “it’s fair to say the chemistry hasn’t been what we need,” of Pittsburgh’s bottom-6 forwards……….Hextall on Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan: To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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The Pittsburgh Penguins plain and simple have a system problem that right now falls on the shoulders of the coaching staff. Mike Sullivan does not believe in having a heavy style of play at the forward position but Sullivan along with management prioritized over the summer of getting heavier on the backend. Yet, Sullivan and his staff are still running a system like they have six Mike Matheson’s who have the green light at every instance to pinch and think join the play, join the play at all costs. When you’re flawed personnel wise in some areas like the Penguins are right now, simple can better, yet, none of the power players in the organization from the coaches to the core players see it that way. Hence, the Penguins have a system problem combined with a lack of believing they need to change or want to change from the top players on the team on down.

Newsflash to the coaches and players, you don’t have the horses on the backend to run the system like the Penguins are still trying to do like it’s 2016 with Kris Letang, Justin Schultz, Trevor Daley who excelled at joining the rush in waves.

Mike Sullivan’s system is all about pushing the pace with three players attacking and pinching the walls when possessing in the offensive zone. It’s a heavy emphasis on d-men joining the neutral zone rush from the weakside. And this way of thinking is absolutely killing the Penguins play away from the puck. Pittsburgh has a major problem with too many playing disinterested hockey when the pucks not on their stick, but this coaching staff has been their own worst enemy in not adjusting to the personnel.

Nothing exposed this more than the Penguins 6-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. Pittsburgh was outscored 5-1 during 5-vs-5 play against a bottom feeder team on an east coast trip that was playing the second night of a back-to-back.

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It’s all coming back to the system and a lack of not wanting to change. It’s not the third pair and bottom-level forwards just playing pond hockey. It’s pretty much a collective team issue right. Pittsburgh’s at the point of the season where every point is monumental. Here the team is four minutes from getting to overtime, a neutral zone turnover with all three forwards at the Sharks blueline in no man’s land leads to the puck in the back of the Penguins net. Forwards providing poor puck support has also been a continued theme.

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More Defensive Gaffes with multiple players doing who knows what. The Gregor goal illustrated how soft this roster is. Clear 2-to-1 numbers advantage Pittsburgh has and Couture blows right through Rakell and Petry with ease.

The lead up to the goal showed two poor decisions from Evgeni Malkin with the puck and more of the questionable use with Pittsburgh’s system on their d-men. Jeff Petry has a good shot, good hockey awareness, puck skills. But, if you want to try to rekindle Montreal Jeff Petry from two years ago, trying to make him play like Kris Letang isn’t going to be it. His strength’s are more of being a methodical puck moving defenseman than try to play fast. You want to wear out a 36 year old defenseman? Play Mike Sullivan’s system.

Petry’s first instinct in this system is to join the rush as he does here, Evgeni Malkin makes a low percentage cross-ice pass to Petry that’s easily broken up and seconds later, Petry looks gassed in trying to defend Couture on the Gregor goal.

And what about that defensive prowess of the Penguins on the Erik Karlsson goal to close out . All five players puck watching on the strong side of the puck. Don’t account for the best offensive player on the ice in the final seconds of a period is just laziness.

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The Penguins over-pursuing to the strong side of the puck and others puck watching has been a collaborate team issue for much of the season. The team has no structure to its defensive play when defending below the goal line. The structure seems to be everyone follow the puck!

With a 10-12 second stretch of defending like it was a pickup game, it’s not a shock the Penguins looked as bad as they could on the Eyssimont goal. Somehow they basically allowed a 2-0 in the net-front area.

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If Pittsburgh makes the postseason, you’ll be able to look back to this five game stretch (1/16 – 1/24) as a reason why. It hasn’t been pretty by any means, but the Penguins have been able to stack eight out of a possible ten points, while some notable teams around or just below them have had some really bad stretches.

The New York Islanders in particular have fallen off a cliff. The Isles are winless in their last six and 1-7-3 over their last 11 games. In a heightened scoring season leaguewide, New York can’t put the puck in the net and look finished. Meanwhile, the once surging Washington Capitals got healthier of late and it’s had a reversed impact as they’re 3-6 in their last nine games. Pittsburgh has three games in hand on the Capitals and the way things have broke in the last 7-10 days, there’s a lot more pressure on the Capitals tonight to take care of business at home.

EAST STANDINGS BASED ON POINTS %

1. Boston – .851%
2. Carolina – .723%
3. NJD – .702%
4. Toronto – .694%
5. Tampa Bay – .663%
6. NYR – .625%
7. Pittsburgh – .596%
8. Buffalo – .564%
9. Washington – .560%
10. Detroit – .522%

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$6 Million a year price tag still stands? There is more and more evidence Tristan Jarry is just one of those goaltenders who likely can’t physically shoulder a 60 + game workload per season after season. We’re past the stage of Jarry just going through a bad injury luck season. This is who he is but To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Could DeSmith hit waivers? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

High Ranking Team Source: ‘The East is a coin flip after Boston’: To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Rumblings: Penguins explored non-rental move for Flyers forward? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Penguins overwhelmed in 1-on-1 battles in loss to Canes: The scoreboard made the game close, a Penguins 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night and if they want the Penguins again can hang their hat on, they were missing the likes of Kris Letang, Jeff Petry and Marcus Pettersson. The Penguins, though, still iced quite a talented group upfront and the takeaway from the loss is a Carolina team just being on a different level when it comes to winning 1-on-1 battles and systematic play. Pittsburgh was blown out of the rink in that area. Time will tell if Carolina can get it done in the post-season but that’s a team with few passengers that attacks the opposition with speed, physicality and strong system play. It’s a game the Penguins just can’t match and don’t want to some nights.

Good News on the Schedule front? Home vs the lowly Anaheim Ducks Tuesday night, followed by a home and home series vs the Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh has to take advantage of a weak schedule this coming week and come out of those games at worst 2-1.

Next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks will be Rick Tocchet or Mike Vellucci? A coaching change is eventually coming in Vancouver and there’s Pittsburgh connections to whether an in-season move happens or the Canucks wait to make a coaching change in the summer. Multiple NHL sources say the ideal situation with former Penguins GM Jim Rutherford had been to let Bruce Boudreau coach the season out to appease his owner with Penguins assistant coach Mike Vellucci a strong favorite to get the job next season. Vellucci who came close to getting the Blue Jackets job and the Coyotes job the last two seasons is a rising candidate around the league that has very close ties to Rutherford. The Canucks situation, though, has accelerated To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Amidst a six game winless streak, the schedule broke in the Penguins advantage and the team put together back to back victories after wins against the Arizona Coyotes Sunday night, followed by a come from behind 5-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night on home-ice. The Penguins love a wide open game no matter how many puck moving defensemen might be out of the lineup like the case is right now with Kris Letang, Jeff Petry out, and one thing the aging stars remain great at that they can still take advantage of clubs that play with no structure to their game.

Hello Vancouver Canucks, who are just a mess of a talented hockey club that plays a style of game that brings out the best in likes of Evgeni Malkin who starred in the win. The back-to-back wins were important in the short-term but Friday night’s loss, against the Jets was more of a reality check. Chalk up absences on the blueline and who was in goal all you want, but anyone can see this forward group is so easy to play against and it’s a group that lacks those hard to play against glue guys that compete and compete night in and night out when the aging stars don’t have their A-games going.

People can say all they want that Jared McCann didn’t score in the post-season and wouldn’t be putting up the numbers here like he is in Seattle, but Pittsburgh’s decision making in the expansion draft has become front office malpractice and the domino effect it’s had. 18 months later it’s truly set the organization back in not having a good enough forward group to be a serious contender.

McCann has scored 60 goals since the start of 2021-2022 season. 60 Goals is 60 goals. You just can’t let talent out the door like Pittsburgh did when you’re a top-heavy team. Others during that span who are dead weight some nights.

• Kasperi Kapanen 28 Goals
• Brock McGinn 30 Goals
• Teddy Blueger 18 Goals

Not breaking news here, but the Penguins are scouring the trade market for a pest like a Brandon Tanev and two-way scoring forward like Jared McCann. Management is chasing their own tail……..

Source: One prominent player inner circle applying pressure for truly impact move

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In a feel good story, former Pirates great Andrew McCutchen is returning to Pittsburgh, agreeing to a one year, $5 million contract with the club on Friday. The Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey first reported the reunion between the Pirates and McCutchen. The signing was orchestrated by McCutchen’s desire to finish his career in Pittsburgh and a conversation initiated by McCutchen to owner Bob Nutting put things in motions.

Last year, McCutchen batted .237 for Milwaukee, hitting 17 home runs and 69 RBIs. McCutchen has hit below .240 in back-to-back seasons, hitting a career low .222 in 2021 with the Phillies. The 36 year old, though, has shown some power ability with 44 home runs over his last two seasons.  Some milestones will be within reach for McCutchen as he needs 13 more homers to reach 300 career home runs. He also needs 52 more hits to reach 2,000 hits in his career and is closing in on 400 career doubles.

McCutchen has been promised a starting role to open the season. Will McCutchen share the outfield with the key prospect at the time he was traded for back in January 2018? Pirates star center fielder Bryan Reynolds continues to push for a trade behind the scenes with the Pirates having most significant discussions of late with the Texas Rangers and To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!.

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Tidbits from Mike Tomlin’s End of the Season Press Conference

Matt Canada to return in 2023? That will be among the most pressing off-season questions. Canada has To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! and a growing sense in the organization for about a month now is that Canada has ATo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Browns request permission to interview Brian Flores? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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• The Steelers won’t head into 2023 with uncertainty at the QB position unlike last offseason. Tomlin in the presser, though, would not be baited in calling Kenny Pickett a ‘franchise quarterback’ yet. Tomlin later added he has no regrets in waiting until week 4 to play Pickett.
• Clock is ticking on Devon Bush who played 10 snaps over the final two games. Pittsburgh is expected to prioritize resigning Robert Spillane.
• Tight end Pat Freiermuth avoided a major knee injury and has what Tomlin described as an MCL knee sprain.

Latest on Bryan Dumoulin: From the coaching staff to members of the front office, the organization has been patient for the most part that Brian Dumoulin’s significant drop in play this play was fixable. The coaching staff in particular felt they could build Dumoulin back up by reducing his deployment against top lines with the ultimate goal that a reset over a couple weeks To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

As the calendar has now hit 2023, the organization is reaching the point where they are starting to feel that Dumoulin’s days as not just a No. 1 pairing defenseman are completely, but the organization is losing faith that Dumoulin can find his game to even give the team No. 2 pairing level play. It’s become a major focus point in pro scouting meetings that are set to intensify this month as Pittsburgh maps out of their trade deadline plans. Suddenly a big focus among personnel and scouts is To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!