The Baby Penguins’ magical season came to an abrupt and disappointing end last night at Mohegan Arena in Game Six of their Calder Cup Eastern Conference Final series against the more seasoned Toronto Marlies.

Ex-Baby Pen and Penguin forward Alex Nylander inserted the dagger against his former team, beating Sergei Murashov (37 saves) at 13:44 of overtime to vanquish our kids by a 2-1 margin.

The Baby Pens snagged the early lead on a power-play goal by Aidan McDonough at 6:26 of the first period, but were unable to pad their advantage against Toronto goalie Artur Akhtyamov, who made 39 saves and was exceptional throughout the six-game set. Easton Cowen knotted the score for the Marlies at 9:11 of the second frame, setting the stage for Nylander’s game- and series-winner.

Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now attended the game and wrote an excellent summary of the proceedings, including insightful reviews of many of the Baby Pens I’d highlighted in yesterday’s PP article. Here’s a link to Dan’s recap, “It’s Over. What We Learned from Penguins Prospects’ Playoff Run.”

Well worth the read.

Continue reading Baby Penguins Fall to Marlies in Game Six at Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog.

Recently, I’ve written about some of the changes to the Penguins’ roster that are likely to occur as we head into summer. I thought I’d delve a little deeper and define exactly what those changes are likely to be, and which of our kids have a legitimate shot to step up.

FORWARDS

I’ll begin my review of possible opportunities among the forwards with the assumption that our top line of Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust will remain intact, at least to open the season. (Of course, we all know the old adage about assuming.)

It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Kyle Dubas will lock down RFA sniper Egor Chinakhov to a new deal while allowing pending UFAs Noel Acciari and Anthony Mantha to depart. On the surface, that would seem to create two openings up front, one on the third line and another on the fourth.

But hold the phone.

Hulking trade deadline acquisition Elmer Söderblom appears to have the inside track on one of those slots, paring the number of openings to one.

Continue reading Penguins Prospects Update: Which Kids Actually Have a Chance to Make the Team? at Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog.

Back in 2022-23, their second season of existence, the Seattle Kraken were arguably the surprise team of the NHL.

Thanks to some adroit selections at the 2021 expansion draft and a bevy of savvy, low-profile additions by then-GM Ron Francis, including former Pens Justin Schultz and Daniel Sprong, Oliver Bjorkstrand, André Burakovsky and Eeli Tolvanen, the Kraken executed a 40-point jump from their inaugural season. Good for 100 points and a fourth-place finish in the Pacific Division.

Boasting six 20-goal scorers, including the aforementioned Bjorkstand and Sprong and 40-goal man Jared McCann, yet another former Pen, the Kraken finished fourth in the league in scoring with 289 goals. Seven other players notched double-figures in goals, providing enviable offensive depth and balance. Although lacking a true superstar, the Kraken essentially possessed four second lines. Nearly everyone thrived.

The Kraken proceeded to stun the high-powered defending Cup champion Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs, then extended the Stars to seven hard-fought games before succumbing in the second round.

The future looked extremely bright, right?

Continue reading Are the Penguins the Next Kraken? at Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog.

I was visiting one of my favorite Penguins sites this morning when I received a bit of a surprise. Namely, a writer who I personally have great respect and regard for suggested a rather off-the-wall option for replacing 33-goal man Anthony Mantha, who is almost sure to depart via free agency.

His suggestion? Canadiens forward Patrik Laine, like Mantha a pending UFA.

To digress, Laine entered the NHL as an 18-year-old rookie and No. 2 overall pick of the Jets to great fanfare and promptly set the league on its ear.

Think Ben Kindel’s 17-goal, 35-point season was special? Try Laine’s 36 goals and 74 points on for size. A sterling performance that earned him runner-up status to Toronto’s Auston Matthews in the Calder Trophy voting.

He was even better as a sophomore, ripping home 44 goals, including a league-best 20 on the power play. The sky truly seemed to be the limit for the Tampere, Finland, native.

Then Laine began a gradual fade, dipping to 30 goals in 2018-19 and 28 in the Covid-shortened ’19-20 campaign. Still plenty good, but not quite up to his early meteoric pace.

Continue reading Which UFA Forward Should the Penguins Sign (If Any)? at Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog.

Back in September 2024, I announced my semi-retirement from blogging. No sooner did I click on the Publish button than I experienced a change of heart. I continued to post game recaps and opinion pieces on PenguinPoop throughout the remainder of the ’24-25 season and on through this past one.

As they say, what goes around comes around. I’m once again announcing my semi-retirement from blogging. This time I think it’ll stick.

The naked truth is, at 69 years young I just don’t have the same passion for covering the Penguins that I once did, especially the game recaps. Nor do I feel like I have as much in the way of valuable insights to contribute.

When that happens, it’s time to hang up the keyboard.

Ironically, I really like our current team. They played with so much spirit, grit and passion. This past season was easily the most entertaining and enjoyable since the back-to-back Cup seasons. Win, lose or shootout loss, they were so much fun to watch. Sid and Geno were still a Two-Headed Monster, remarkably so given their advanced ages. Newcomers like Egor Chinakhov, Anthony Mantha and Parker Wotherspoon were most pleasant surprises, as was 18-year-old rookie Ben Kindel.

Continue reading Announcing My Semi-Retirement from PenguinPoop (Part II) at Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog.

The Penguins have signed franchise icon Evgeni Malkin to an extension for the 2026-27 season. The deal calls for $5.5 million in base salary, plus incentives.

Since I was literally in transit to my job when I learned of this and have no time to write a more personalized summary, I’m going to pull news of the announcement from the Penguins’ web site. But needless to say, I’m thrilled. I’ll even go as far to say, “It’s A Great Day for (Penguins) Hockey.”

From the team:

“The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed forward Evgeni Malkin to a one-year contract extension, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.

The deal runs through the 2026-27 campaign and carries an average annual value of $5.5 million.

A three-time Stanley Cup Champion (2009, ’16, ’17), Malkin has played all 20 of his NHL seasons with the Penguins, where he ranks in the top-three in team history in all major statistical categories including games played (1,269, 2nd), goals (533, 3rd), assists (874, 3rd), points (1,407, 3rd), power-play goals (187, 3rd), game-winning goals (89, 2nd) and overtime goals (14, 2nd).

Continue reading Penguins Extend Evgeni Malkin at Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog.