Tyler Aaron
A new NHL season has begun, and the Pittsburgh Penguins started hot, winning their first two games for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
With the Penguins missing the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, there aren’t many high hopes this season for the Penguins to make it back into the playoffs, but there are still many other things that Penguins fans can get excited about this season.
The biggest move that Penguins fans can get excited about is the addition of first-year head coach Dan Muse. Looking back at Muse’s coaching career, he was the head coach of the U.S. National Team Development Program from 2020-2023. Muse also has some NHL coaching experience as an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators and the New York Rangers.
Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas brought in Muse as the new head coach after the departure of now New York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan because of the way Muse can develop young players, which is the direction the Penguins want to go in the future with their main core on the brink of retirement.
The development of young players is exactly what Penguins fans should be excited about this season. Penguins 2025 first-round pick Ben Kindel and 2024 second-round pick Harrison Brunicke both made the team and are looking to become full-time players in the NHL. Both of these rookies played on opening night on Oct. 7, the first time since the 2006-07 season that two Penguins rookies made their NHL debuts in the same game. The last time this occurred was when defensemen Kris Letang and forward Jordan Staal began their NHL careers in the first game of the season.
Even with rookies like Kindel and Brunicke, they are not the only young players who made the team. Young forwards Filip Hallander, Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty have all made the team and are looking to make an impact with the Penguins’ core. With the acquisition of goaltender Arturs Silovs in the offseason, it is clear that the Penguins are looking to get younger as fast as they can, so the rebuild process does not take as long.
I’m not saying that with the Penguins starting the season hot that it means that they will make it to the playoffs. It has been since the 2021-22 season that the Penguins made the playoffs, and it doesn’t look like they will make it back soon. A new head coach and a brand-new young cast of players playing in the Penguins’ lineup each game is going to redefine who the Penguins are. My best advice is to just be patient with the process that the Penguins are going through right now and to get excited about what the future holds.
Anthony DiFilippo
Yes, the Pittsburgh Penguins got off to a hot start. Yes, they also look more cohesive as a unit, but let’s not forget where fans’ mindsets were before the season started. I urge people not to drastically raise expectations based on the first couple of games. It’s still the same group.
The offense looks a lot more structured this year, with about 18 to 20 forwards in the organization capable of playing in the NHL. Ben Kindel has been a nice surprise, as has Filip Hallander. I won’t say anything bad about that group, and I think people will continue to see noticeable improvements with the young forward core, and of course, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The Penguins’ defense is an absolute mess. Gone is Ryan Graves, who was sent down to the AHL affiliate, Wilkes-Barre. After the trade of Marcus Pettersson last season, the Penguins have lacked a true defensive defenseman.
Parker Wotherspoon, who’s a fine player, was the biggest acquisition of the offseason on the backend. Wotherspoon has been playing with the $10 million dollar player, Erik Karlsson. That pairing has looked by far the best for Pittsburgh. The top pairing is Kris Letang and Ryan Shea. Letang is obviously well known, a part of the longest tenured trio in North American sports history with Crosby and Malkin. Shea, on the other hand, is a career journeyman, and he’s played parts of the last two seasons with Pittsburgh. The results of his play have been mixed, but not good enough to be stapled with one of the Penguins’ best defensemen.
The third defensemen pair is the messiest of them all. On the right side is rookie Harrison Brunicke, the first South African NHL player. He scored his first big league goal during the home opener on Oct. 9, but his defensive play is indicative of someone who has only played a couple of games at the NHL level. The bigger issue is the three choices for his defensive partner. Ideally, you’d like to see Brunicke with a defenseman who is solid at, you know, defense. Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton are two declining veterans who are making over $7 million dollars combined. Neither of them played in either of the first two games. The third option is Caleb Jones, who’s on his fifth team and has played around 250 games. He played the most games with Chicago, who went 51-91-19 in his two seasons there.
Then there’s the goaltending situation. Tristan Jarry is back for his 10th season with the Penguins. Since signing a five-year, $26.88 million contract extension with Pittsburgh on July 1, 2023, Jarry has a 3.00 goals against average and an .899 save percentage. That includes a stint last season where he was sent down to the AHL. The other option is Arturs Silovs, who’s coming off a Calder Cup championship with Vancouver’s AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. He had a .908 save percentage there last year, but just an .886 career save percentage at the NHL level. While Silovs is only 24 and has qualities of a solid goaltender, it’s not fair to expect him to be an immediate answer. Honestly, the goaltender is the least of the worries for Penguins fans, as Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist are almost NHL-ready.
The Penguins finished out a couple of good regulation wins against division opponents in the early going. Less than four percent of the season has been completed, so I’m not going to start thinking about playoffs or anything yet. Plus, there is that exceptional forward playing for Penn State named Gavin McKenna. While I do admit the Penguins won’t be bad enough to get him, I’ve watched this group before. There are clear issues. Two games at the beginning of the year aren’t enough to move me.