Notebook Buzz: Art Rooney II wielding power that Kenny Pickett will be consensus QB1 in 2024?

*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

Rumors: Two Western Clubs regarded in league circles as having the appetite to pay high premium for Jake Guentzel?

Guentzel Heading West? [hide] Former Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford has himself a potential Stanley Cup contender on his hands in the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks play offense and have the high-end talent resembling the Penguins of many years ago to go with the combination of Thatcher Demko in goal and a game changer on the backend in Quinn Hughes, you have to buy stock in the Vancouver Canucks that they are not likely a mid-season fluke. At Rutherford’s age, he’s not going to let this season go by without making a splash. Everyone in the NHL knows it. [/hide] [hide] As the Canucks were in town Thursday night, a Vancouver 4-3 overtime win, the chatter around the Penguins and

Latest Pens Buzz: Jake Guentzel camp has upper hand; Reilly Smith on way out?

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 [hide] coming together before the trade deadline is considered a major longshot and as unlikely as a trade may seem to those in Pittsburgh, the Guentzel camp is said to be prepared for the distinct possibility of a trade if Pittsburgh explores the market and finds a deal that could help them now and for the future. $9 million a season

Rumors: Penguins have checked in on a favorite trade target of Mike Sullivan’s?

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

Latest Pens Buzz: Viewing Themselves as top-3 team in Division will dictate aggressiveness as a Buyer

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

Rumors: Raiders eye chance to lure Mike Tomlin for $20 Million a season?

With one year left on his contract, there’s one sentiment inside the Pittsburgh Steelers organization, including some among coaches that have believed for months now that head coach Mike Tomlin is ready for the next chapter in his coaching career. Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers storming back from a 10-15% chance three weeks ago of making the playoffs to now making the post-season, Mike Tomlin’s future continues to be fueled by top NFL insiders with Tomlin’s close friend Jay Glazer basically calling it 50-50 whether Tomlin moves on or not and ESPN’s Adam Schefter this past Sunday laying out the possibility of Tomlin making the call to step away. What’s legit is Mike Tomlin’s inner circle is doing nothing to kill

Rumors: Rival Execs tabbing Penguins as ‘The’ dark horse team that adds a seismic shift to the trade market?

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

Latest Pens Buzz: Should a New Voice be tempting to Penguins management?

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

Rumors: Matt Canada left Steelers facility day before he fired believing team was making QB change?

–LATEST STEELERS BUZZ– [hide] A sidebar to the Steelers losing Kenny Pickett for the next couple weeks due to ankle surgery as long-term questions continue to mount surrounding Pickett, is the team seriously contemplated a QB change in the 24 hours after the Steelers 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns that eventually coincided with Matt Canada getting fired last Tuesday morning, a move that shocked the coaching staff based on meetings the day prior. In fact, multiple offensive coaches including Matt Canada left the facility last Monday evening believing Mitch Trubisky was going to be named the starter vs the Bengals. Instead, coaches showed up to work learning Tomlin fired Canada in-person that Tuesday morning. [/hide]

Rumors: Penguins had Zoom Call with Patrick Kane last week?

While regarded as a [hide] long-shot team in the mix, the Pittsburgh Penguins were among nine other teams last week that were granted a zoom call with future Hall-of-Famer Patrick Kane, two industry sources confirmed to Inside Pittsburgh Sports.[/hide] [hide] Kane recovering from off-season hip surgery, has been leaning towards signing with an Eastern Conference team due to the style of play in the conference and the Kane camp led by Pat Brisson and Jim Nice of CAA Sports spoke at length with potential interested clubs last week about role, ect. Kane during the calls asked to speak with the head coach from a number of the clubs involved in the calls. At least three clubs, two from the Eastern