The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the hunt for playoff discussion again after making them last season under rookie coach Dan Muse.
The offense changed beyond Crosby, Geno, and Rust. Andrei Kuzmenko was signed as Mantha headed to Newark. Nick Robertson was acquired via trade from Toronto. Hendrix Lapierre was acquired via trade from Washington. Pittsburgh also has a full 84 game season of Egor Chinakov and Elmer Soderblom as Crosby, Malkin, Brazeau, and Kuzmenko are their pending UFAs.
The defense also has swapped defensive pieces. Wotherspoon was dealt to Vegas for Korzak. Carlile and TvR were also added. Girard enters his first full season in the Eastern Conference after many years with Nashville and Colorado with the possibility of being deadline fodder again. This is also the final year of Karlsson’s contract.
The goaltending also got younger as they march forward with Silovs and Murashov.
Is this the final march of the Penguins? Or did we see the final postseason appearance of the trio of Crosby, Malkin, and Letang?