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[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Avalanche Recap: Pens give good effort, but lose third straight game

Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images

A late penalty to Pittsburgh helps send Colorado to a win on Tuesday night

Pregame​

Vladislav Kolyachonok (finally) makes his Penguin debut after being claimed off waivers way back on February 9th, bumping Ryan Graves out of the lineup. Forwards are how they’ve been lately and another first time/long time is Tristan Jarry back in the NHL (as a backup tonight) for his first game in the big leagues since January 14th.

Tonight's lineup in Colorado pic.twitter.com/XtLPBAbF8H

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 5, 2025​

The home Avalanche are using the following lineup, including getting backup goalie Scott Wedgewood in for his first game since February 22nd. Why not use the backup against a last place team?

Lining #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/CPJ8fIZQ7W

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 5, 2025​

First period​

Pittsburgh narrowly avoids giving up the dreaded first shot goal when Valeri Nichushkin splits the defense of Matt Grzelcyk and Erik Karlsson to explode into the net but his shot goes wide.

Sidney Crosby shows pain in the wrist/arm again after getting jammed up, he hunches over on the bench but doesn’t miss a shift and takes the next faceoff.

Pens are in hold on mode, Devon Toews hits a post after a series of nice passes from Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.

Pittsburgh settles in though and, believe it or not tips things the other way. Natural Stat Trick has scoring chances at 13-8 PIT after one. Total shots on goal are 12-8 PIT. Moneypuck has expected goals at 1.56 - 0.7 in favor of the Pens, to which my lying eyes don’t really agree that there was that much dangerous truly accumulated, but hey. Not a bad road period against a superior team. Despite those advanced stat advantages, it’s a 0-0 game though.

Second period​

The Pens keep going for a few more chances, the Avs are pretty loose and figuring it out on the fly. It works. MacKinnon gets the puck behind the net from Makar then passes out for Arturi Lehkonen right in front. Neither Penguin defender are around. 1-0 Colorado with 13:24 to play.

Blink and you'll miss it. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/6otvNnbDCW

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 5, 2025​

The teams trade chances, Colorado hits a post and then Philip Tomasino gets robbed when his deflected puck bounces just barely into the pads of Wedgewood. Later the Pens get the game’s first power play about halfway through the proceedings. The only notable event is Nedeljkovic making a great save on an odd-man rush against to bail himself out after his outlet pass attempt gets picked off.

Pittsburgh earns another power play when Crosby outfoxes Toews. There’s more zone time and shot attempts this time around, but still no red light for the visitors.

That waits for even strength, the Pens’ top line strikes. Crosby enters the zone with control and passes across the ice for Bryan Rust. Rust takes a short beat and passes through a Colorado defender and it’s a tap-in goal for Rickard Rakell to steer into the net for his 29th goal. 1-1 game.

TIC TAC TOE!

That's 29 goals this season for Rickard Rakell pic.twitter.com/lpSHjWKFDJ

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 5, 2025​

Nice job for the Pens to even the score late and keep themselves in the game on the scoreboard.

Third period​

The third period happened with the teams skating around for a while. Colorado finally got their first power play of the night with 5:37 to play when Anthony Beauvillier got called for tripping.

The Pens couldn’t come 55+ minutes to fall away like this, could they? Sadly, they could the PK pair of Vincent Desharnais and Karlsson isn’t exactly a good one. Colorado isolates down low and catches Karlsson on something of a 2-on-1 triangle down low. Karlsson waves his stick at a pass from Nichushkin that has just enough elevation to get through him and Casey Mittelstadt is sitting on the back door ready to slam it in. 2-1 COL.

This pass from Nichushkin #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/FGNkpAXaLG

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 5, 2025​

Pittsburgh pulls Nedeljkovic, doesn’t work. Lehkonen gets his second of the night. 3-1.

With under a minute the Penguins decide to call a timeout for some reason. They pull the goalie again, Jack Drury scores with eight seconds left to rub some salt in the wound. 4-1.

Some thoughts​

• The Bob Grove stat of the night: tonight marked the first time in 10 games for the Pens (since playing Nashville on Feb. 1) that the team did not allow a goal in the first period.
• Maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise — Colorado can be relatively slow starters. Despite being 9th in goals/game, their 52 first period goals only ranks 14th. The Avs get better as the game goes on with 62 goals in the second period and 80 in the third, as the Pens also found out tonight firsthand.
• And as we’ve pointed out before, while Pittsburgh’s first period woes and frequent early goals against stand out as obvious pain points, their scoring differential is even worse this year in the second and third period of games. The Pens are getting outscored 50-64 in the first periods [-14] compared now 62-80 [-18] in the second periods of games. Pittsburgh at least salvaged tonight’s second period with a late goal from Rakell to pull them back to even and saved the bottom dropping out right at the very end.
• That means Pittsburgh has an unbelievably bad record of 4-14-3 in games that are tied after the first period. Perhaps, like tonight, that can be chalked up to the Pens being destined to fall behind once their (usually superior) opposition gets with the program. And, really, the Avs probably had a C or C- game for them, at best- they weren’t sharp or that focused against an out-of-conference bottom dweller. Has to be a defeating feeling for Pittsburgh when even when they do well enough to keep it close at the beginning, it’s bound to catch up with them at some point and happened so many times this winter.
• Even while not at their cleanest, Colorado is a fun team to watch. They play the game with speed above the line of the normal NHL team. MacKinnon and Makar really set the tone and deeper down the lineup they have some guys who try to play to that level. They have bigger needs for the trade deadline (like figuring out center) and limited space but grabbing Brandon Tanev would be a great match for them and their style. Who knows if it’ll happen but that would be a good fit.
• Crosby won the first 11 faceoffs he took tonight, so that was cool. Visions of an even worse stretch run were too real when he winced in pain in the first period to his previously hurt left arm. Luckily after a TV timeout to give him time to recover he didn’t look any worse for wear.
• Breathe on Emil Bemstrom and he’ll loose the puck. That’s analysis probably fitting for any bottom-six Penguin forward (save Kevin Hayes) but was especially noticeable in Bemstrom’s case tonight. He’s a great AHL level player but something about the speed and compete levels at the NHL throw him for a loop.
• Not much to report on the new guy Kolyachonok. He only played 11:26, credited with a pair of shots, a blocked shot and a hit. Didn’t acquit himself poorly and as advertised he flashed to the eye a couple of times with some nice looking skating but wasn’t used enough to get a much of a read.
• Ryan Shea’s not even playing poorly at the moment, but is it fair to already dream of brighter days when he’s not logging 20+ minutes per game? To that end, it’s kinda impressive since being re-inserted into the lineup on Feb. 23 that Shea’s in a big, big role (21:57 tonight, almost 24 minutes last game) but, boy, you’d kinda hope for some more capable blueliners to make that situation not be the case. Plenty of bigger problems than Shea’s play right now but more a commentary on the sad, sad state of the Penguin defense.
• Had a note written up to praise the Pens for staying out of the penalty box and playing an exceptionally clean game to keep up with Colorado’s pace without breaking the rules to do so. Welp, Beauvillier wiped that away late in the game and it tipped the balance. So much for that. Would be a shame if that’s his final memory as Penguin with the trade deadline looming but what can ya do?
• Shame for Nedeljkovic, he played a strong game. That’s been few and far between for Pittsburgh goalies, he deserved a better outcome in this one. Related, the Penguin defense limited the Avs to just 23 shots on goal (before empty nets). That surely had to be far less than most would have guessed, given that Pittsburgh is a bottom-five team in the NHL in shots allowed per game at north of 30. Makes the night a sour one that they generally played good defense, got the stops they needed to be in position to get a result and...came up short by the final horn.
• Pens power play: 0/2. Colorado power play: 1/1. That’s your ball game right there, folks. Each team struck once at even strength and the special teams ended up as the decider.

Well, the Pens do get an A for effort, they hung right there for 55, 56 minutes with a quality team while on the road and out-gunned. Almost impressive but there’s no column in the standing sheet for almost. Road trip rolls on for a few days in Vegas before Friday night’s game.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/4/...give-good-effort-but-lose-third-straight-game

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Wilkes Weekly: WBS hits tough patch

@wbspenguins

Checking in on the minor league team

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have dropped three of their last four games. Last night they suffered a 4-1 loss to Belleville in their first home game in the last seven games. They just couldn’t get enough going.

It was pretty cut and dry/self explanatory tonight with #WBSPens HC Kirk MacDonald.

The Penguins beat themselves tonight. Self inflicted wounds or "free goals" as MacDonald referred to them as with @InsideAHLHockey post-game.

— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) March 5, 2025​

Nick Hart from WBSPenguins.com has the prior three games:

Wednesday, Feb. 26 – PENGUINS 2 at Rochester 5

Three first-period goals by the Americans ultimately provided enough insurance to put down the Penguins. Rutger McGroarty and Boris Katchouk found the back of the net for the Pens.

Friday, Feb. 28 – PENGUINS 2 at Syracuse 0

An epic goalie duel ended with Filip Larsson posting a 31-save shutout. Valtteri Puustinen scored one minute into the game, followed by Atley Calvert’s first AHL goal late in the third.

Saturday, Mar. 1 – PENGUINS 4 at Hershey 5 (OT)

With first place in the division on the line, the Penguins couldn’t hold onto three-goal lead, and fell in overtime. Puustinen scored twice, while rookies McGroarty and Ville Koivunen added the other goals for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The team will put on a brave face but blowing a 3-0 lead against their rival Hershey was a tough one to swallow on Saturday. They didn’t respond that well last night either, so this mini-stretch of adversity will test them as a big weekend looms.

It’s a busy time of year in the AHL, Wilkes has games on Fri-Sat-Sun still to come. Perhaps partially due to that hectic schedule, the team recalled Sergei Murashov from the ECHL yesterday. Murashov served as the backup last night, and Joel Blomqvist (freshly back from the NHL) did not dress. Filip Larsson allowed three goals in the loss last night. Wilkes-Barre’s three goalies, for the moment anyways, lends some intrigue in the days before the trading deadline about what that might mean for the goalies within the organization. Time will tell, but frequent roster movement and re-assignments within the minors can be common place.

Roster movement has been a net-negative recently for WBS - their leading scorer Emil Bemstrom has been up in Pittsburgh for a while. In his place, the Penguins sent Matt Nieto to the AHL. Nieto only has two points (1G+1A) in five AHL games this season. In net, Blomqvist is back and Tristan Jarry departs. Jarry’s AHL stats weren’t eye-popping (6-5-1 record, .908 save% and 2.67 GAA) but he was a veteran and now Blomqvist’s confidence and game will need some rehabbing after he was shellacked in the NHL.

Rutger McGroarty continues to do well, he had a four-game point streak come to an end last night. McGroarty has 10 points (4G+6A) in his previous nine games, showing some offensive touch and production as the year goes along. Similarly, Ville Koivunen saw a four-game point streak (2G+7A) come to an end last night.

Overall the dog days have seen WBS fall a bit in the standings, though by points percentage they still have the second best mark in the division.

The top six teams in the division make playoffs so Wilkes is still in very good shape there. A reminder to more-NHL focused fans might fit in well here that there are 72 games in the AHL regular season, so the AHL Pens have 20 more to go.

Up next, everyone holds their breath to see what may happen by Friday’s NHL trade deadline. The Pittsburgh organization leads the NHL in the number of NHL contracts (maximum of 50, they have 49) so it remains possible that an AHL player may be included in a trade as simple balance of overall contracts, which would be necessary if Pittsburgh wanted to trade a player for multiple players under contract. That might not be in the cards, but almost everyone will be waiting before the deadline passes before exhaling and figuring out what their next steps will be.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/5/...uins-ahl-team-rutger-mcgroarty-ville-koivunen

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Instant React: What the Bunting and Desharnais trades mean for the Penguins

Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The deadline is heating up!

The Pittsburgh Penguins got the wheels in motion for their trade deadline plans on Wednesday night. In two separate trades, the Pens sent Michael Bunting and newly-acquired Vincent Desharnais out the door to Nashville and San Jose, respectively.

In return, the Pens pick up Tommy Novak, Luke Schenn. They also come out virtually even on draft picks, giving up a fourth rounder in 2026 and picking up a fifth rounder in 2028.

The Penguins have acquired defenseman Luke Schenn and forward Tommy Novak from @PredsNHL in exchange for Michael Bunting and a 2026 fourth-round draft pick.

Details: https://t.co/lW7fiPpE9i pic.twitter.com/HQZ66s2Vxs

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 6, 2025​

The Penguins have acquired a 2028 fifth-round draft pick from the @SanJoseSharks in exchange for defenseman Vincent Desharnais. pic.twitter.com/HFiuC9s9ky

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 6, 2025​

To start with the more minor of the deals, Desharnais was a piece of the Marcus Pettersson trade a few weeks ago to balance out salaries and make the deal possible. Desharnais is signed for next season with a $2.0 million cap hit. He didn’t play well in Vancouver to start the year and through 10 games in Pittsburgh did nothing to show much improvement.

Getting a fifth round pick for an NHL caliber player is almost as low as it goes, some teams charge more to retain cap space for a short amount of time to facilitate deals (like Detroit did today picking up a fourth round pick). And it’s due all the way in the 2028 draft. The purpose of the deal was to move along a player who wasn’t in the plans and get onto the next.

Could that next be Luke Schenn? Like Desharnais, it’s a veteran, physical right shot defenseman. Schenn is signed next season as well, at a $2.75 million cap hit. Schenn, 35, has two Stanley Cups (with Tampa in 2020 and 2021). He was acquired by Kyle Dubas in 2023 at the trade deadline for Toronto. Schenn profiles a lot higher than Desharnais as far as value to other teams goes, they probably will be able to get a decent piece back in a trade for him. Whether that’s in the next two days or in the next 12 months remains to be seen, but it is a very interesting addition.

It’s already starting to float out there that Schenn’s stay in Pittsburgh might be even shorter than Desharnais’ was.

There’s a chance the Penguins flip veteran Luke Schenn. See what the market is before Friday. However, Pitt values his character, leadership, toughness and spirit and plans to urgently work to get this team back into contention in the next few seasons.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) March 6, 2025​

The other add, Tommy Novak, is the biggest key to the puzzle for the Penguins. He will join former Predator forwards Philip Tomasino and Cody Glass in Pittsburgh. Novak, 27, carries a $3.5 million cap hit through 2026-27. He’s signed for that long and at a decent amount because he scored 43 points in 51 games with Nashville in 2022-23 and 45 points in 71 games in 2023-24. Like many Predators, it has not been a good season this year (Novak has 13 goals and nine assists in 52 games).

Beyond the boxcar stats, analytically Novak is a player beloved in the advanced stat world for his impacts. Even this year in a down season statistically, his WAR% remains high and he’s played a lot of center. As a career 15.4% center, he’s also a player who has had no problem converting chances into actual goals.

Novak's having a dismal season but there's talent there, especially with quick-striking off the rush. His thing in Nashville was always starting the year slow & then going on a tear in the second half. pic.twitter.com/l3g2OkUaKy

— Corey Sznajder (@ShutdownLine) March 6, 2025​

Here's his microstat card from last year. Pretty unreal stuff. Not expecting anything like this but this is a fun buy-low job here. pic.twitter.com/bylXdOEp0S

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) March 6, 2025​

Bunting had ups and downs this season, settling into a good role and rhythm after a bumpy start to the year that saw him become a healthy scratch at one point. And, for whatever reason (likely related to the metrics of poor in-zone passing and lack of playmaking/assists), Bunting’s style did not mesh with Sidney Crosby at all and the two rarely played together. No sense in keeping a top-six player that didn’t work out with Crosby, so the Pens moved quickly to flip Bunting mainly for Novak.

Here’s what was said on NHL Network shortly after the trade about the potential in Novak as a buy low option.

I like Novak - saw him as an interesting buy low option...
He's headed to Pittsburgh.@NHLNetwork https://t.co/VR2OMnEnmz pic.twitter.com/RROm8wHEsU

— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) March 6, 2025​

After these deals the Pens still have $11 million in cap space, according to Puck Pedia and one salary trade retention spot available.

Overall, at least for now, Pittsburgh has likely marginally improved their right defense by swapping Desharnais for Schenn (with the kicker that Schenn also ought to have much higher trade value) and will hope that Novak can bounce back with a change of scenery to become a capable scorer for them in the middle of the lineup. Tonight’s moves won’t be sweeping changes and can’t be viewed as such but are the latest in what will be a long series of transactions to start shaping their 2025-26 team and beyond.

If Wednesday night proved anything, it’s that the team is certainly wide open for business and willing to flip supporting players around. They still have the big piece left in Rickard Rakell who could be one of the top forwards available on the trade market.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/5/...g-and-desharnais-trades-mean-for-the-penguins

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins have no one on waivers, set course for fringe players on roster

Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

What the waiver inactivity means for Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre

The Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t waive anyone today. Nothing too unusual about that in and of itself since they don’t waive players most days. But the inactivity means a little something special today, given the timing and calendar.

REMINDER: Any player on an NHL roster when Friday's 3pm ET trade deadline passes is ineligible to play in the AHL for the remainder of the 2024-25 season and 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs

Players who need waivers to be loaned to AHL would need to be waived Thursday. @InsideAHLHockey

— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) March 5, 2025​

This mostly has to do with Wilkes-Barre eligibility. Boko Imama won’t be able to play in the AHL again this year as a result of not being on waivers today. The NHL drops the 23-player maximum for the roster after the trade deadline and the Penguins have plenty of cap space so it’s no biggie to carry as many players as they want. Won’t make for a concern for that end of things.

Similarly it means Vladislav Kolyachonok is likely to finish the season out on the NHL roster, if only as a depth player.

The same results doesn’t necessarily apply to Emil Bemstrom and Tristan Jarry...Yet. Both still could be re-assigned by tomorrow to the AHL in order to play in Wilkes-Barre again this season. Both of these players are eligible to be re-assigned without being waived due to having spent less than 30 days on the NHL roster since previously being waived — which means not being on waivers today doesn’t completely close the door on the possibility. Imama is in a different category since he has been on the NHL roster for 30+ days since he was last waived.

The biggest impact with that possibility for Wilkes would be with Bemstrom, considering he was their leading scorer before being recalled with 46 points in 43 AHL games this season. If Bemstrom ends up as ineligible for the AHL for the rest of the season, as it is shaping up as of now to appear, that is a hit to WBS’s stretch run and playoff. Similar could be said for Jarry, but goalies like Filip Larsson and Joel Blomqvist have similar or better AHL stats to minimize that potential loss.

As always, roster movement at this time of year are in flux. The Pens could make trades in the next 24 hours and make a paper move (or real move) to assign Bemstrom back to the AHL tomorrow in time to keep him eligible for playing in that league if they so choose. It’s a minor point worth watching but if the Penguins decide to keep Bemstrom and Jarry on the NHL roster today and tomorrow, they will be shutting them out for playing in the AHL for the rest of the season.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/6/...ivers-set-course-for-fringe-players-on-roster

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Jake Guentzel trade tree has another branch

Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images

Wednesday’s Michael Bunting traded added another branch to the Jake Guentzel trade.

It is not a huge surprise that the Pittsburgh Penguins traded forward Michael Bunting.

That always seemed like a possible outcome from the moment he was acquired as part of the Jake Guentzel trade at the deadline a year ago. The surprise is that they traded him to a Nashville Predators team that is also out of the playoff race, and that they received two veteran players that also have term remaining on their contract in forward Thomas Novak and defenseman Luke Schenn.

It is a surprising trade in the sense that it is two non-playoff teams dealing veteran players that all have term remaining on their contracts.

The other thing it did was add another branch onto the Jake Guentzel trade tree, with the potential to keep growing potentially before Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline if they flip Schenn.

Here is what the trade tree looks like as of Thursday.

The players in yellow are players the Penguins have team control over. That is already six assets into the organization.

Quantity over quality trades don’t really tend to move the needle much, but there is an argument to be made that the Penguins may have gotten a little bit of both out of this deal.

Ponomarev and Koivunen are both having excellent seasons in the American Hockey League, while Brunicke is already one of the top prospects in the organization and looks to have the potential for a real NHL future.

The intrigue comes from the Novak and Schenn additions and what the Penguins do with them.

There is already speculation that Schenn could be flipped before Friday’s deadline, which could potentially add yet another pick into the cupboard.

Novak is also an intriguing add because he is two years younger than Bunting, has a slightly smaller salary cap number ($3.5 million vs. $4.5 million) and has even better underlying numbers even if his boxscore numbers this season have not matched up. It is potentially a nice buy-low addition, whether Novak either bounces back and becomes a quality player for a Penguins team that might bounce back sooner than expected, or becomes another movable trade asset.

It remains to be seen how much the Guentzel trade will move the needle long-term for the Penguins, but he was the biggest asset Dubas had to move a year ago when he kickstarted the Penguins’ rebuild (or re-tooling. Whatever you want to call it). He has certainly given himself a lot of flexibility with it and put a lot of assets into an organization that was lacking them.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/6/24379268/jake-guentzel-trade-tree-has-another-branch

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Looking at what did not happen for Penguins on Trade Deadline day

Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images

Rickard Rakell and some other big names are still Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas continued his re-tooling and rebuilding of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, turning Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass and Luke Schenn into two second-round draft picks, a third-round draft pick and a fourth-round draft pick.

Added in with the Lars Eller, Marcus Pettersson, Drew O’Connor and Michael Bunting trades and they have added to a rapidly growing cupboard of draft picks over the next three years. Nobody in the NHL has more.

In terms of value, they did mostly well, especially given how players like Beauvillier and Glass were originally acquired.

But the equally big news on Friday was not necessarily about what happened for the Penguins in terms of trades, but what did not happen.

Rickard Rakell is still a Penguin.

Erik Karlsson is still a Penguin.

Matt Grzelyck is still a Penguin.

Noel Acciari is still a Penguin.

Let’s start with the latter two names, because those were probably two of the names that might have been expected to be on the way out.

Especially Grzelyck.

Every other major pending UFA the Penguins had this season ended up getting traded at some point, and Grzelyck figured to have some real value given the prices of rental players this week. He can still bring some value to a power play and provide some offense.

It is now likely he walks for nothing in the offseason.

That might be a small missed opportunity, but given how much value the Penguins extracted out of their other offseason short-term additions it is not the end of the world.

I don’t know how much value Acciari would have had, but with the rising cap his contract would not have been a terrible value and he is still a penalty killer.

Then we get to Rakell and Karlsson, the two biggest names potentially on the block going into Friday but also arguably the toughest to move. In Rakell’s case, it was going to be about getting appropriate value. In Karlsson’s care, it was going to be about finding a team that he wanted to go to, could take his salary, and not force the Penguins to retain much on their end.

While there was always a possibility something could happen there with those two names, neither seemed like a given to move as both seem like they are more offseason moves, or even future season moves.

Let’s start with Rakell.

The argument for moving him by Friday was very simple: It is a big-time seller’s market, he is probably having a career year, and those two things meeting at the same point would have made for an intriguing trade asset. I get that. It all makes a lot of sense.

But for as sweeping as this rebuild looks, it still might not be a total, everything-must-go teardown. The Penguins still seem to have some intent on competing again before Sidney Crosby retires, so if you did not get the right offer it makes sense to keep him.

There is also this: What if they just wanted to keep him.

You still need to put a team on the ice. You still need to have good players. Rakell is not only a good player, his contract looks a lot more desirable now than it did 12 months ago. Even if regresses from where he was this season, I am not sure he regresses all the way down to where he was during the 2023-24 season. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle of those two points. And even that is still a very good player at $5 million per season. It is a contract that can still be moved in the future if needed, and it still gives Crosby a top-line talent to play alongside in the short-term.

Karlsson, meanwhile, always seemed like a long-shot to be moved just because of the money involved. It was either going to take a contender with immense salary cap space (not many), the Penguins retaining a big portion of his salary (not something they should have done unless a major return was coming back their way), or getting another team somehow involved (possible, but complicated).

Even then you would still have to find a team that he would accept and could give you a compensation package that was acceptable. That was just too many moving parts for an in-season move, especially leading up to the deadline.

Karlsson has not worked out as expected here, and he does still have a lot of defensive issues in his game, but there is still value there and he still does contribute a lot offensively. He is not necessarily a negative player to have on the roster.

It is very apparent that Dubas is going to be busy again this summer. Not only in terms of continuing to reshape the roster, but perhaps flipping some of these draft picks he has accumulated for additional players. He certainly has a lot of options to work with.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/7/...not-happen-for-penguins-on-trade-deadline-day

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Golden Knights Recap: Pens fold in Las Vegas

Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images

Not a good night for the Penguins against the Golden Knights

Pregame​

It’s an all hands on deck situation for the Penguins after all the trades today. Emil Bemstrom on the second line (with no news of a transaction to the AHL today)? Sure! Boko Imama is back in, Kevin Hayes is on the second line, Tommy Novak makes his Pittsburgh debut.

Here's a look at the lines tonight against the Knights. pic.twitter.com/w6mGKGfhXa

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 8, 2025​

First period​

Evgeni Malkin takes a penalty in the first minute, Pittsburgh’s PK holds.

Ryan Shea is the next to the penalty box but the Pens put up another kill.

After a few Ilya Samsonov saves, Vegas recovers and scores. Mark Stone makes a really nice pass to Tanner Pearson who finds himself unmarked from a prime area. Pearson converts and it’s a 1-0 lead for the home team.

Tap-in for Tanner!! pic.twitter.com/zycOlbctzf

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 8, 2025​

Kris Letang becomes the third Penguin to take a minor penalty in the period, the well-practiced PK group keeps Vegas off the board until the horn sounds for intermission.

Shots are 9-6 PIT, who didn’t play poorly and forced Samsonov to make a few scrambling stops. He did and the difference was the breakdown in front of Pittsburgh’s net.

Second period​

The Pens kill off the 10 seconds of carryover PK time but about five minutes in they give up a goal. Ivan Barbashev has all the room in the world to walk in after a cross-ice pass and picks a corner on Nedeljkovic. 2-0.

"Pulls and shoots — score! Ivan Barbashev!"

"2-0 Golden Knights!"

@Dan_DUva

Barbashev adds an insurance marker for Vegas early in the middle frame. pic.twitter.com/6OE5xO9xND

— Golden Knights Radio (@VGKRadioNetwork) March 8, 2025​

The rest of the period cycles through without any further goals or penalties. Shots in the second are nine a piece.

Third period​

Bryan Rust left the game briefly in the second after blocking a shot but is back for the third.

Brandon Saad scores early in the period, Graves closes in on Tomas Hertl but can’t stop the bump pass over. Absurd shot to the top corner from Saad. 3-0.

NICE JOB BRANDON pic.twitter.com/99wcp3cFiQ

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 8, 2025​

Less than a minute later, the Golden Knights add another. Again it stems from a cross-ice pass and Mark Stone loses Kolyachonok completely going to the net. A forehand deke later and it looks easy. 4-0.

Headline: Local Vegas Man Does Cool Thing pic.twitter.com/IdPuoKYb0r

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 8, 2025​

It’s not for a lack of trying by Vegas but there’s no further goals. Penguins get shutout in this one.

Some thoughts​

• Pens players on the ice for the first goal against: Tomasino, Heinen, Novak, Kolyachonok and Graves. Not exactly a lot of regulars or long-tenured players, which is what is going to happen now down the stretch. It looked like Graves was out to lunch (shocker) away from the net and Kolyachonok moved over to body up the net-front player. That left the weak side player in Pearson wide open. Whoops.
• A very bizarre first period with three Pittsburgh penalties helped to create a situation where Sidney Crosby only took one single faceoff in the first 20 minutes (the opening draw of the game). You won’t see a one faceoff period for Crosby very often, if ever. Does that really mean anything? No. Is it interesting on a late night? A little.
• Due to wheeling and dealing, the Pens didn’t end up assigning Bemstrom to the Wilkes-Barre yesterday to recall after being on the AHL roster at 3pm and let him be in the NHL. Similarly, the team used an “emergency” recall on Jack St. Ivany today after the deadline, even though they had six defensemen and didn’t need him for tonight’s game. Teams only get four normal recalls from now until the end of the season but unless someone was quietly questionable today with an injury or illness it was a questionable designation. If they would have needed St. Ivany to play it would have been an emergency, so that’s all well and good but just a stray observation on the strange roster movement that did and didn’t happen.
• And it’s worse because Bemstrom is such a zilch at the NHL level. Just a guy in a uniform making no impact. Might as well have him in the AHL where he’s a difference maker but only Dubas and Spezza can answer to that.
• Malkin became only the second Penguin to get to 1,200 games played with the team tonight. 1,200 games is 14.6 full seasons and he’s in his 19th year with the team to show what kind of time has been missed due to injury, lockout, pandemic, etc over the years. Malkin is the 134th player in NHL history to make it to 1,200 and with some luck he might even find a way to crack an NHL top 100 list of some sorts if he makes it to 1,258! With good attendance this season and next, Malkin could make a run at his mentor Sergei Gonchar’s mark of 1,301 games in 74th place which would be a fitting place to end up.
• Forget the goals, Nedeljkovic was rickety with decisions to play the puck, causing a few turnovers and close calls against on self-inflicted mistakes. It’s looking like he could use a game off, but will the Pens turn back to Tristan Jarry to play? They’re going to have to at some point.
• Not that much to report on new player Novak. Didn’t get into the flow of the game early due to all the Pittsburgh PKs, had five shot attempts (two on net), lost all 3/5 faceoffs he took, one blocked shot, a giveaway and a takeaway in 14:01 of work. Novak only had one morning skate today with the team so no conclusions can be drawn but as far as first impressions go, it was a forgettable one. Had one good look on a rush in the third period and snapped the puck wide of the net.
• Pens and Knights rematch on Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Hopefully the visitors will be jetlagged, wouldn’t count on it though.

The next game is Sunday afternoon, the final leg of the road trip. It’ll be a special one too since it’s the last time the Pens will be facing Marc-Andre Fleury.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/8/24379182/penguins-golden-knights-recap-pens-fold-in-las-vegas

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pittsburgh Penguins Draft Picks: Full accounting after trades

Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images

Where the Pens stands in the upcoming drafts

It’s been difficult to keep up with the positions of the Penguins’ picks in the upcoming drafts after the many, many trades that they have made lately to stock up with future selections.

Here’s the Puck Pedia outlook for the visual learners among us:

Here’s the details of the picks and who they originally belonged to.

2025​

First Round (2): Pittsburgh, and New York Rangers* (conditional, top-13 protected)
Second (1): Washington
Third (3): Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Minnesota
Fourth (1): Pittsburgh
Fifth (2): Chicago, NYR
Sixth (1): Pittsburgh
Seventh (1): Pittsburgh

—The Rangers’ first round pick was acquired from Vancouver via the deal that sent Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor to the Canucks...The Washington second rounder was from the trade that sent Anthony Beauvillier to the Capitals...The Pens ended up with the Ottawa third rounder via Nashville for taking Cody Glass and the Minnesota third by way of STL for taking on Kevin Hayes...The Chicago fifth rounder is via Washington in the Lars Eller tade, the NYR fifth was dealt to Pittsburgh as part of the Reilly Smith transaction.

(Note: PuckPedia points Philadelphia’s fourth rounder to Pittsburgh via Toronto, but that pick actually was acquired by Boston today...Both black and gold team, long day for us all)

2026​

First round (1*): Pittsburgh, but if NYR keeps their 2025 first then Pittsburgh gets the unprotected Rangers’ pick this year
Second (3): Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, St. Louis
Third: (2): Pittsburgh, San Jose
Fourth: none
Fifth: none
Sixth (1): Nashville
Seventh (1): Pittsburgh

—The Pens got Winnipeg’s second rounder in exchange for Luke Schenn and St. Louis’ second in the Hayes trade...SJ’s third is the final piece of the Erik Karlsson trade...Nashville’s sixth was a part of the Glass deal

2027​

First round (1): Pittsburgh
Second (2): Pittsburgh, NYR
Third: (3): Pittsburgh, Washington,
Fourth (2): Pittsburgh, Winnipeg
Fifth (1): Pittsburgh
Sixth (1): Pittsburgh
Seventh (1): Pittsburgh

—The Pens get the NYR second to complete the Smith trade...Pittsburgh gets Washington’s third to complete the Eller deal and an extra fourth from Winnipeg comes via the Schenn trade.

—

It’s quite the collection of trades that has ended up with one extra first rounder, three additional second and five more third round picks in the next three years. Include their own picks and that makes for 18 picks in the first three rounds over the next three drafts. All of those picks will be in the top-100.

By contrast, the Pens have made 19 top-100 picks in the last 11 drafts from 2014-24.

While they may use some picks as trade bait, Pittsburgh is now positioned incredibly well in their sell off to build back up through the draft with a large quantity of important picks. Accumulating the selections is step one, now the tricky part will be in the execution of the scouting, drafting and developing to turn said picks into future NHL players for the years to come.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/8/...uins-draft-picks-full-accounting-after-trades

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Minnesota Wild 3/9/2025

Photo by Nick Wosika/Getty Images

Conor Timmins and Connor Dewar are set to make their Penguins debuts, while Marc-Andre Fleury could be making his final start against his former team.

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (24-31-10, 58 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division) @ Minnesota Wild (36-23-4, 76 points, 4th place Central Division)

When: 3:30 p.m. ET

How to Watch: SN-PIT and TVAS for local markets, national on TNT, truTV and MAX

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins return to Pittsburgh after this one for a weeklong homestand at PPG Paints Arena. Next up is the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, followed by meetings with the St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Opponent Track: The Wild, previously the third team in the Central, slipped down to a Wild Card spot after losing four of their last six games. Most recently, Minnesota dropped a 3-1 decision to the Canucks in Vancouver after former Penguin Teddy Blueger put the dagger into the empty net.

Season Series: The Penguins led early, but allowed four unanswered Wild goals in a 5-3 loss at home on Oct. 29.

Hidden Stat: The Penguins hold 30 total draft picks in the next three drafts, including an NHL-high 18 picks in the first three rounds, per Pens PR and team reporter Michelle Crechiolo.

Getting to know the Wild​

Projected lines (from Friday’s game)

FORWARDS

Marcus Johansson - Frederick Gaudreau - Mats Zuccarello

Gustav Nyquist - Ryan Hartman - Matt Boldy

Marcus Foligno - Marco Rossi - Vinnie Hinostroza

Yakov Trenin - Devin Shore - Justin Brazeau

DEFENSEMEN

Jacob Middleton / Brock Faber

Declan Chisholm / Jared Spurgeon

Jon Merrill / Zach Bogosian

Goalies: Filip Gustavsson, Marc-Andre Fleury

Scratches: Brendan Gaunce, David Jircek, Jonas Brodin (injured)

IR: Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek

• Geurin said last week that Brodin is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He left last Sunday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche after blocking a shot by Martin Necas.
• The Wild indicated Saturday that Kirill Kaprizov could return before the end of the regular season, but he’ll likely be out for today.
• Joel Eriksson Ek was placed on IR with a lower-body injury on Feb. 25. The Wild described his status as “week-to-week.”
• Ryan Hartman recently returned to the lineup after serving out an eight-game suspension for hitting Tim Stutzle’s head into the ice.

Player stats​

(via hockeydb)

• This could be the last time the Pens are facing an old friend in Marc-Andre Fleury, who is expected to start tonight for the Wild, per NHL.com’s Kevin Woodley. Fleury has previously said he will retire at the end of his 21st NHL season this spring.

“It’s always still weird when I play against them. Obviously I like to win against them to get a little bit of bragging rights, but they’ve been such great teammates and good friends and so it’s fun to cross paths.”

“You see guys every day for 12-14 years and then you don’t see them anymore pretty much, so it’s hard. It’s hard when that happens, right? But still, I always keep such a good memory and when we see each other, it feels like no time has passed, so it’s like back to our time there together.” —Fleury on Thursday about his final game against the Penguins, per Woodley

Trade deadline recap​

It was a quiet trade deadline for the Wild.

After claiming Vinnie Hinostroza off waivers last month, the Wild added Gustav Nyquist and Justin Brazeau at the deadline.

The team meanwhile parted ways with Marat Khusnutdinov, Jakub Lauko and two 2026 picks draft picks.

Given that Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek are on the long-term injured reserve, the Wild had more than $9 million in LTIR space to make a move at the deadline.

But general manager Bill Guerin noted at the deadline that the Wild are at a “different stage” than the Dallas Stars or Colorado Avalanche.

He also indicated the Wild are hoping to use the cap space on Kaprizov if the winger is able to return before the end of the regular season.

Here are some of Guerin’s comments about the Wild’s deadline moves, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo:

“Yeah, you want to be involved, but you know what? We’re just at a different stage than those teams. We’ll have our day, but it was the same thing this summer when you’re watching other teams load up. For some reason we still have to play the games. If we’re going by that, we might as well just pack our s— and go home. But I think we’ll show up and play the games and see how it checks out.”

“Did you see the prices on guys? I’m not here — and I’m not being a wiseass — I’m not here to make your trade deadline better. I’m running a business. I’m running a team. We have assets. Our time will come. This is not so you guys can write great stuff on trade deadline day and have an exciting day. We’ve had a plan going for four years. And I’m not going to screw that up just being shortsighted. That’s where I am.”

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines (from Saturday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Kevin Hayes - Evgeni Malkin - Emil Bemstrom

Connor Dewar - Tommy Novak - Philip Tomasino

Boko Imama - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Matt Grzelcyk / Erik Karlsson

Vladislav Kolyachonok / Connor Timmins / Ryan Graves

Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic, Tristan Jarry

Potential Scratches: Connor Timmins or Ryan Graves (?), Danton Heinen (?)

Injured Reserve: P.O. Joseph (upper-body injury)

• Trade deadline recap: the Pens parted ways with Michael Bunting, Vincent Desharnais, Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass and Jonathan Gruden, as well as briefly acquired and then flipped Luke Schenn. Into the roster comes winger Conor Timmins and defenseman Connor Dewar. Forwards Chase Stilman and Max Graham are off to the minors.
• Kyle Dubas said there was “lots of interest” in Rickard Rakell at the deadline, but the Pens ultimately decided keeping the their leading goalscorer was in the team’s “best interest.”
• It sounds like Rakell wasn’t so sure he was staying in Pittsburgh. He said Saturday that it had been a “stressful” last 24 hours, per Pens Inside Scoop’s Michelle Crechiolo.
• Nickname update from Crechiolo:

The Con(n)ors' nicknames:
Timmy/Timmer
Dewy
Which means, adding Tomasino and Novak into the mix, the Penguins now have a Timmy/Timmer, Tommer and Tommy... which might be more confusing than multiple Con(n)ors tbh

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) March 8, 2025​

• Mike Sullivan is one win away from No. 400 in his career. Rakell is one goal away from No. 30 on the season.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/9/24380949/game-preview-pittsburgh-penguins-minnesota-wild-3-9-2025

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Wild Recap: Crosby and Malkin take final bragging rights against Fleury

Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images

The Pens break a four-game losing streak, Crosby and Malkin provide the offense needed to down Fleury and Minnesota

Pregame​

The Penguins get residual trade deadline adds by seeing Conor Timmons and Connor Dewar making their debuts for the team. Ryan Graves and Danton Heinen slide out of the lineup to accommodate them. Tristan Jarry gets the nod for his first NHL game in almost two months.

Today's lineup in Minnesota.#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/fOOUg8S6Jc

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 9, 2025​

The Wild give Marc-Andre Fleury a start in his final game playing against the Penguins.

Our starters this afternoon: pic.twitter.com/CmCtXkoIyo

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 9, 2025​

First period​

It turns into a goalie duel to start things off. Jarry looks pretty strong, Fleury is good on his end. No goals, the Pens take one penalty late but kill it off and then see it neutralized by a Minnesota penalty.

Second period​

The second starts much like the first, good goaltending and plenty of Wild power plays. The Wild get four minutes for a double-minor to Vlad Kolyachonok but fan frustration rises as zone time leads to nothing but passes around the perimeter and no shots on goal or dangerous looks.

Deep into the second, the Pens break the cycle of the game and (finally) open up the scoring. Evgeni Malkin does the trick, beating his old bud Fleury on a second attempt from down near the net on the power play. 1-0 Pittsburgh.

A PPG FOR PGH pic.twitter.com/fLNR0QKxs2

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 9, 2025​

It’s not much for breathing room but the Pens take a lead into the final intermission for the first time since Feb. 7th.

Third period​

Pittsburgh finds some space with another goal. Sidney Crosby follows up on a rebound from a shot by Erik Karlsson and Fleury over-slides and can only watch the puck flutter by him. 2-0 Pens.

Goal 20 on the season for the captain pic.twitter.com/UIDkijPONK

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 9, 2025​

Minnesota’s Marcus Johansson cleans out Timmons almost the same way that Malkin got penalized on earlier in the period, but the refs take mercy on the trailing home team and don’t call it. That leads to Ryan Hartman getting in alone and his shot beats Jarry to get the Wild on the board. 2-1 with 5:06 to go.

#38 gets us within one #EasyToCelebrate x @budlight pic.twitter.com/AvTDSPlqtz

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 9, 2025​

The Wild don’t get any closer though. They lift Fleury for an extra attacker and Crosby is able to poke a puck into the empty net. 3-1.

Some thoughts​

• It’s only too perfect that Malkin and Crosby were the goalscorers against Fleury in the last time they will see him in a competitive game. There haven’t been too many storybook moments for the Pens lately but that’s a nice memory to make.
• Nice to see the Penguins break a four-game losing streak. Yeah, yeah for draft purposes it’s not a bad thing to drop games, but they’re not going to lose 20 straight to end the season. Gotta win some just from the competitive law of averages and this was a nice one to get against Fleury.
• Jarry’s taken enough heat and deservedly so but his return to the NHL couldn’t have gone much better. And the team in front of him blocked a season-high 26 shots, solid effort by them and more evidence that no one has checked out and is still invested in trying to play the complete game.
• New guy reports: Timmons only played 11:49 but looked pretty good to the eye. One shot on goal and four hits. He moves well and positionally looks like a real life NHL defenseman, and the Penguins certainly can use more players that fit the bill in that department for this season and beyond.
• Dewar was less noticeable, but he did have two hits, a blocked shot and a takeaway. Not a bad little debut but his upside doesn’t look super-high at this point. He’s got 16 more games to make a case for being in the plans for next season so we’ll see how it goes.
• The Pens had a good game on the penalty kill, going a perfect 6/6. Today that meant more about Minnesota being terribly ineffective in that department rather than Pittsburgh dominating, but results are results.
• Tommy Novak left the game with a lower body injury and didn’t return. That’s a bummer if it costs him any time just as soon as he’s been settling in and getting to know the team and his teammates.

The Pens return to Pittsburgh and get back to action on Tuesday night, against a Vegas team that made it look easy on Friday night.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/9/...kin-take-final-bragging-rights-against-fleury

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Mike Sullivan gets 400th win as Penguins head coach

Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images

Sullivan is the only American-born head coach to win 400 games with a single franchise.

Mike Sullivan has reached another career milestone and has won his 400th game behind the bench of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Sullivan’s 400th win with the Penguins came on Sunday when the Penguins defeated the Minnesota Wild, snapping a 4-game losing streak the team had been on.

Congratulations to Mike Sullivan on becoming the 14th head coach in NHL history - and ninth fastest - to win 400 games with a single franchise

Sullivan is the only American-born head coach to accomplish the feat. pic.twitter.com/pi9vTjKcxR

— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) March 9, 2025​

In addition to the 400 wins with the Penguins, Sullivan also won 70 games as the head coach of the Boston Bruins across two seasons in the mid-2000s.

Sullivan’s 400 wins with the Penguins make him the 14th coach in NHL history to reach that achievement with a single franchise and the ninth fastest to do so (737 games.)

Sullivan is the only American-born head coach to win 400 games with a single franchise.

With 470 career wins total, Sullivan ranks 33rd on the NHL’s all time wins list.

Sullivan has been at the helm behind the bench for the Penguins since December 2015 when he took over for Mike Johnston and quickly turned things around for the team, leading them to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017.

He is under contract with the Penguins through the end of the 2026-27 season.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/10/24381953/mike-sullivan-gets-400th-win-as-penguins-head-coach

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins sign pair of draft picks

Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

Pittsburgh signs some young defensemen for next season

The Penguins have started the process of filling out the organization for next season by signing some draft picks as we get to the point in the year where college hockey seasons begin to end for some of them out there.

Yesterday, defenseman Chase Pietila was signed.

The Penguins have signed defenseman Chase Pietila to a three-year entry-level contract.

In 36 games, with Michigan Tech, Pietila posted an NCAA career-high seven goals and tied his career-high point total of 22 (7G-15A).

Details: https://t.co/T1i91ESQPw pic.twitter.com/8TQsPjBfhY

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 9, 2025​

A defender with some snarl, Pietila’s season was summed up by his team like this:

Pietila, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound defenseman, was named to the coaches and the media’s Preseason All-CCHA Team before his sophomore season. As an alternate captain this season, Pietila skated in all 36 games and tallied 22 points with seven goals and 15 assists. He scored the game-winning goal against Alaska (Oct. 12) and had three power-play goals. He registered 68 shots on goal and blocked 32 shots defensively. Pietila led the CCHA in penalties (21) and penalty minutes (50) during the regular season.

Pietila, now 21, was drafted as an overage player last summer by the Penguins in the fourth round of the 2024 NHL entry draft. They liked him a lot to jump up and grab him in that spot, and now they’ll bring him pro. Pietila ranked 21st in last summer’s Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25, and honestly it’s going to be an uphill battle for him to keep a spot in the top-25 as more and more young talent continues to be added to the organization. Pietila could be something of a fan favorite in the minors, he’s a “rough around the edges player” that has no problem mixing it up — as his penalty minutes note from this year.

That said, as something of more of a long shot, Pietila has played a mean game and at least has generated some offense while in the NCAA ranks. He’s not going to be known for his offensive abilities going up the ranks, but it’s nice to see that he is capable as a player to have some of that element to his game. Another player that doesn’t have that, Daniel Laatsch, got signed by the Pens today.

The Penguins have signed defenseman Daniel Laatsch to a two-year entry-level contract.

Laatsch has spent the 2024.25 season as an alternate captain for the University of Wisconsin Badgers.

Details: https://t.co/jfOfWeAfFx pic.twitter.com/igJ4JgnW5B

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 10, 2025​

While Pietila scored 22 points for Michigan Tech in 2024-25, Laatsch generated just 26 total points over a full four seasons with the Badgers. Laatsch was an honorable mention in the T25U25 series last summer.

Laatsch was drafted back in the seventh round of the 2021 draft, and despite all the changes in the Pittsburgh front office, scouting and player development areas in the last four years, the current administrations saw enough potential to give him a pro deal. That in and of itself is fairly impressive, since no one would have blinked at a new GM and scouting crew opting not to sign a seventh round pick of the previous regimes.

Entry level deals are automatically configured based on the age of the player signing and Laatsch, 23, gets a two-year deal (one year shorter than the majority of ELC terms, due to players usually being younger than 23).

It’s easy to see what the Pens hope Laatsch can bring: he’s 6’5” (though just 190 pounds). They’ll hope he can play in the style of a Marcus Pettersson or Rob Scuderi type of responsible defender that can use reach to block shots and shutdown the defensive zone to make his mark on the game.

Both of these signings are long-term projects for the NHL level with high chances to fail to amount to much of an impact at the top level, but they will add some depth to the minor leagues in the seasons to come and a franchise needs that. As rebuilders/retoolers/whatever you want to call it, player development is a key for the Pittsburgh organization. Ideally they need to turn some of these young prospects into success stories to fuel their organization down the line. It remains to be seen when or if either of these two will get there, but they’ll get their shot and that will start with the 2025-26 season to see where they’re at and how much they develop down the line.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/10/24382786/penguins-sign-pair-of-draft-picks

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: Steel City Welcomes Sin City

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Pens Points has all the latest Penguins news from Monday as they prepare to welcome the Golden Knights to Pittsburgh.

Just four days removed from getting thumped in Las Vegas, the Pittsburgh Penguins welcome to the Vegas Golden Knights to Pittsburgh for their annual visit. The Penguins put up little fight on Friday night as the Golden Knights cruised to a 4-0 victory on home ice. Now the Penguins get a chance to return the favor back home in a game that marks the beginning of a five-game homestand that runs through next week.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh.

Pens Points...​

Last summer, Kyle Dubas made a number of moves that were all signaling his plans months in advance. To help rebuild the Penguins on the fly, Dubas knew what he had to do execute his plan and he did exactly that with his work at the deadline. [Pensburgh]

One big move that Dubas did not make at the deadline was trading Rickard Rakell. There was plenty of speculation surrounding Rakell, and several teams did inquire, but no one was willing to meet the sky high asking price Dubas set. [The Athletic $$]

Regardless of how it ends whenever it does, Mike Sullivan will go down as the greatest head coach in franchise history. Sunday marked his 400th win as head coach of the Penguins, the most ever by an American with a single team. [Pensburgh]

Coming off a successful college career that saw him win a National Championship, Tristan Broz is thriving in his first full pro season. Broz has played a major role in Wilkes-Barre success this season as his game continues to develop. [Trib Live]

While most of the moves the Penguins made at the deadline were sending pieces out, they did bring a pair of former Maple Leafs into the fold. Conor Timmins and Connor Dewar are both pending RFAs who are out to prove themselves for a new contract. [Post-Gazette]

Over two decades since the relationship first began, Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins wrote their final chapter on Sunday in Minnesota with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scoring on their former teammate in one last matchup. [HockeyBuzz]

NHL News and Notes...​

Out of hockey since leaving the Chicago Blackhawks in 2023, three-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Toews is ready return to the ice. Although its been two years away from the game, Toews believes he still has something left to give. [NHL]

As the 2024-25 season enters its final stretch, there are only eight teams (3 East, 5 West) who are out of the playoff picture. Everyone else is varying degrees of alive which should make the stretch run full of excitement. [TSN]

Just before the trade deadline hit on Friday afternoon, the Boston Bruins did the unthinkable, trading captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers. While it closed a chapter for the Bruins, it opened a new one for Marchand. [Sportsnet]

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/11...n-timmins-dewar-broz-crosby-malkin-fleury-nhl

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Golden Knights Recap: Pens need OT but win again

Photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Sidney Crosby scores twice and Erik Karlsson adds an OT goal to keep Pittsburgh in the winning column

Pregame​

Fresh off a win, the Penguins stick with Tristan Jarry in net. Ryan Shea is out for a while (since the Pens can’t have even remotely nicely things on the back-end for very long) which pushes the new guy Vladislav Kolyachonok up in the lineup. Tommy Novak is out with injury too so Danton Heinen is back. Despite the listing on the graphic, the coaches come to their senses and don’t actually play Connor Dewar (he of 0 goals in 32 games this season) is on Evgeni Malkin’s wing.

Tonight's lineup vs. the Golden Knights pic.twitter.com/CDryvtC7Ts

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 11, 2025​

First period​

Nice enough start for Pittsburgh, they get some early saves from Jarry and an early power play. Notable perhaps, since they didn’t get any PP opportunities in Vegas on Friday night. Doesn’t score.

Pittsburgh gets a power play and this time they score. Kevin Hayes holds the puck almost literally forever, skating all around the zone, behind the net and out the other side. When Vegas finally pressures Hayes, he bumps a pass over for Rickard Rakell. Rakell quickly fires a beautiful pass down to Sidney Crosby in front of the net and it’s an easy one for the captain to steer into the net for his 21st goal of the season. 1-0 Pens with 2:12 to play in the period.

SID FROM ONE KNEE

Vintage Crosby... pic.twitter.com/LLgtGYkQ0U

— NHL (@NHL) March 11, 2025​

Pittsburgh takes a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. They’re being outshot 9-5.

Second period​

The Pens start the second period out well too, Malkin jumps the opening draw with the puck and is taken down to send Pittsburgh to a third straight power play. They don’t score on it, but a little later Crosby notches his second goal of the game. Crosby wins a draw in the offensive zone and eventually gets the puck back. There’s plenty of room for him to walk up in the zone and he wires a hard shot low by Ilya Samsonov to extend the lead to 2-0 just 3:02 into the second.

CROSBY SCORES HIS SECOND OF THE NIGHT pic.twitter.com/HbEMdBYFKs

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) March 12, 2025​

Vegas gets a power play and they score on it. Jarry had a great start but gets beaten five-hole cleanly from a far shot. There he is. 2-1 game.

IT'S A PAVEL-PLAY GOAL!!! pic.twitter.com/RbE2kUKAF3

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 12, 2025​

Pittsburgh keeps up the fight, Hayes sets Malkin up but he flubs the shot on a hard pass. Kolyachonok has a look from in tight but his shot somehow rings off the crossbar and stays out of the net.

It’s a 2-1 game at the end of 40 minutes, shots 18-12 Vegas overall.

Third period​

It’s a goalie-heavy start to the period, each netminder does well on wraparound attempts..Later Jarry stops a nice one through traffic and shuts down a Vegas breakaway (including a scramble to keep the loose puck out).

The Knights are putting on full pressure to tie. Goalie is pulled in crunch time. Crosby makes a few nice defensive plays and Jarry makes a big save on Jack Eichel.

Vegas takes timeout with 20 seconds to go. Coach Bruce Cassidy is animated and angrily shrugging at his team as they claw to try and tie the game before the clock ends.

They find it. Noah Hanifin blasts one that Noel Acciari can’t block and it sails into the short-side on Jarry with traffic in front. 2-2 tie with only 6.0 seconds to go.

HANIFIN TIES IT WITH SIX SECONDS LEFT!! pic.twitter.com/wh3U7aDDZa

— NHL (@NHL) March 12, 2025​

Shots in the third were 19-4. That didn’t seem like the Penguins going in a shell so much as Vegas simply taking over and trying to beat the clock to not lose in regulation.

Overtime​

Crosby-Rust-Letang start the proceedings, Pittsburgh wins the faceoff and gets the all-important puck control. They never let Vegas touch it, one line change later and Erik Karlsson wins the game 49 seconds into OT with a shot on the rush down the right side.

ERIK KARLSSON IN OVERTIME! PENGUINS WIN!#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/pNPAKkexdd

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) March 12, 2025​

Some thoughts​

• This spot has been harsh about Hayes on the top power play over Malkin, so credit where it’s due for his heady and great play on said power play in this game. Nice job by Hayes, he doesn’t have the legs to feature as a good player in the league any longer, with 9G+9A in 50 games he’s been OK enough. He’s certainly not as useless as many who play on a nightly basis. (That was meant to sound slightly less backhanded than it read).
• Crosby recorded his 15th season of 70+ points, only four players (Howe, Francis, Gretzky, Dionne) have more.
• Crosby missed two games, he’ll max out with 80 games this season. That means he only needs 10 more points over the team’s last 15 games to ensure a point/game season and break Wayne Gretzky’s mark for most seasons in that category.
• Beastly performance by Crosby, this was one of those games he dragged the team along to get a result. Two goals on seven shot attempts, winner of 60% of his faceoffs and was a force all over the ice.
• The “most under-rated” talk is always mildly annoying, especially for players like Sasha Barkov (second overall pick in his draft, in the Selke conversation since 2016, All-Star at 22) where anyone paying attention has understood it’s a very elite player that might not get much attention aside from the seemingly endless talk of being not talked about. That being said, is Pavel Dorofeyev up there now? Perhaps more of an unknown player have a great year, at least when it comes to being an under-the-radar power play weapon (he scored his 11th PPG tonight, only six players in the NHL have more). Doubt many casuals or even astute observers have much of a file on him.
• Does anyone else see some Jeff Petry in Conor Timmons? They’re the exact same size (6’3”, 210ish), both right hand shots, decent skaters. The way Timmons carries himself on the ice brought the style comparison to mind. If you want to be hopeful, Petry didn’t really breakout in his career until about age-27 when he changed teams to Montreal in the mid 2010’s. Timmons is 26 now. There’s no guarantee of similar emergence to grow into being more than a bottom-pair player but that would be a nice turn of events for the Pens if there ends up being anything there.
• Jarry now 2-0 since returning from AHL banishment. Aside from the ramifications of playing well when the season is decided, it would be a good thing if his form reverts back into being a playable goalie down the stretch. The first goal was a head scratcher to give up but he more than made up for it with great play over the course of the rest of the game.
• While that redemption story is at least in the early stages of being written, the same can’t be said for Ryan Graves. He only played 10:28, the guy they plucked off waivers got almost 22 minutes of ice time. Couldn’t be more clear this team has nothing for Graves right now, they don’t dress him unless necessary and then they don’t play him much even when they do. Tough to see a way out of that with three years still left on his deal.

It’s a modest two-game winning streak for the Pens, and they have four more in a row at home. St. Louis comes to town on Thursday.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/11...ens-need-ot-but-win-again-sidney-crosby-goals

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

2025 NHL Draft: Mock draft szn has begun

Photo by Dale Preston/Getty Images

When you’re in last place, it’s never too early to turn to mock drafts

Mock drafts by their very nature don’t hold a ton of value, but when mired in last place it’s never too early to look ahead for brighter days.

The 2025 NHL draft has been characterized, perhaps misunderstandingly, as a weak draft, as if it was heard once or twice and is now repeated as a fact on the internet. To be sure, there is no Sidney Crosby/Connor McDavid/Auston Matthews type of franchise-changing first overall pick that is an obvious future contender for Rocket Richard and Art Ross trophies and there are certain weaknesses perceived in this draft.

Bob McKenzie at TSN had some thoughts from scouts in his January mid-season rankings that give the lay of the land a little better. The overall depth of the draft as a whole is not seen as impressive, but that does not mean there isn’t talent — particularly at the top of the draft.

Like pretty much every year, the scouts are enamored of the 2025 crop of talent available in the top 10. Actually, make that the top 15. Beyond that, though, the consensus seems to be that the class of 2025 lacks depth of talent.

“As good as the top guys are this year,” one scout said, “I’d be surprised if anyone from this draft plays in the NHL next season.”

“Nos. 1 to 8 are quite strong, but there’s a bit of a drop off after eight and then again a bigger drop off between 15 and 20,” said another scout.

One scout went so far as to say a lot of the players who will be drafted in the bottom half of the first round would in prior years be better suited to being second-round picks.

“It’s all relative of course,” the scout said, “but I’d say the second rounders this year would be third rounders in previous years where there was greater depth.”

In more detail, several in the scouting community really like the top-four prospects, then have a drop at that point before another drop after the eighth pick, as mentioned above.

The best case for the Pens for the draft would be to lock in a top-four pick. Matthew Schaefer is projecting as a potential No. 1 defenseman who has risen by most estimations to be the top overall pick. Forwards James Hagens, Michael Misa and Porter Martone round out the very top of the class, the order for No’s 2-4 varying in just about every combination possible depending on which day and which source you ask. Still, if a team has a top-four pick, they’re probably spending it on one of those four players in whatever order still to be determined.

The next level of the No. 5-8 picks are forwards Anton Frundell, Caleb Desnoyers, Roger McQueen and Victor Eklund. You’ll seldom see any of these players sliding below that point before the draft opens up to the next level of prospects.

The takeaway for an extremely forward-looking Penguin fan is that you probably want Pittsburgh to get top-four pick this year. If not, a top-8 pick still should make for adding great prospect, albeit one with more questions.

With that in mind, as of now, the Pens’ spot is 6th according to Tankathon. That number will fluctuate based on end of season results and, of course, has to be shaken out by a draft lottery that often does not seed teams exactly to their draft pick. There would be a 7.5% chance today that Pittsburgh would win the lottery draft and move up to No. 1. However, there’s a 23% chance that a team in the 8-11 slot wins the draft and Pittsburgh moves down to pick No. 7.

The drop in quality of players available between 15-20 picks referenced above is worth remembering for the Rangers’ first round pick. A loss last night dipped the NYR pick back to the 12th draft slot today, which puts them in position to hang onto the pick. If they pull things together and manage to qualify for the playoffs there pick will be 17+ and be more of a projection pick and less of a sure thing.

It’s nothing that can be controlled, but a little something to keep in mind. The best case for the Pens remains that the Rangers finish with as close to the 14th pick as possible (the highest spot where they would transfer it), if they don’t go on a losing streak and end up keeping it themselves with a high pick so that Pittsburgh can get an unprotected 2026 first rounder next year.

That exposition preamble out of the way, here’s one recent mock draft to consider.

Let's have fun.

It's time for a 2025 NHL Mock Draft.

The San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks have the top two spots again (for now), but there's been plenty of change in the standings in recent days.

Top 32 following the trade deadline:https://t.co/KcDk4VMPhP #NHLDraft

— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) March 11, 2025​

6. Pittsburgh Penguins: Caleb Desnoyers, C (Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL)

The Penguins need any depth they can get – and after moving Brayden Yager in the Rutger McGroarty [trade], snagging Desnoyers will help bolster their center position. I like his physical play, even though he’s not huge. I think he’s a great playmaker and he’s one of the smarter centers in this draft. He might not be the flashiest, but at the very least, Desnoyers is going to be a middle-six center because he does so many great things away from the puck. Desnoyers is a guy you can [win] with – something Hockey Canada knows quite well after watching him win at the U-17 and U-18 level already.

McKenzie’s writeup on Desnoyers, also his sixth overall prospect in the January update, went like this:

No. 6: Caleb Desnoyers. The Moncton Wildcat is viewed as perhaps the most complete two-way centre in the draft who projects in the NHL as a second-line centre or, worst case scenario, an elite third-line shutdown centre.

“Think a Phil Danault-style player,” said one scout.

Desnoyers was ranked as high as No. 5 by one scout and no lower than No. 10. He’s viewed as a safe and secure pick. If you believe his offence will pop at the pro level, he’s a top five consideration.

Obviously with the season results still pending, nothing is set in stone until the lottery results are known but that is the type of prospect that Pittsburgh will need to heavily scout in order to figure out if they want to bank on his offensive potential at the next level.

Here was the Rangers’ pick, based on it being in the 15th spot as it was days ago:

15. Pittsburgh Penguins (via New York Rangers): Blake Fiddler, RHD (Edmonton Oil Kings, WHL)

The Penguins have a weak pipeline, with Harrison Brunicke being the team’s most intriguing defenseman. So I could see them looking for a safe pick in Fiddler, who has emerged as one of the top blueliners in this class., Standing tall at 6-foo-4, he is a big-bodied defender who clears forwards away from his net and pushes opponents to the perimeter. Fiddler is averaging around 22 minutes a night this year and already looks good with the puck.

Mock drafts will take more shape in a month when the standings are locked in and later when the draft is set, so consider this a very early look at how the class is shaping up and what the picture could develop in.

The good news for Pittsburgh is that their tough season on the ice is trending to lead to their best draft pick since 2012 (Derrick Pouliot, eighth overall) and maybe even 2006 (Jordan Staal at second overall). The franchise has only had two top-10 picks in going on the last 20 drafts but that is about to change. As such, pre-scouting the top names of the draft is already becoming more important in Pittsburgh than it has been in a long, long time.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/12...burgh-penguins-first-round-pick-possibilities

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Building Tristan Jarry’s trade value should be late season priority

Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images

Whatever you have to do to keep him playing well and boosting his numbers, you have to do it.

Tristan Jarry returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins starting lineup this week after nearly two-months in the American Hockey League. The result was two of the best games he has played all season in helping the Penguins win back-to-back games against two very good opponents in the Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights.

He was especially strong in Tuesday’s game against Vegas, stopping 35 out of 37 shots in a game where the Penguins were doubled up in shots, scoring chances and expected goals.

If we are being honest, they did not deserve a win.

It was the type of game we have not seen enough from him — or any Penguins goalie recently — as he not only gave his team a chance to win, he pretty much stole it.

From a big picture perspective neither win means anything. The Penguins are not going to the playoffs this season, and any winning they do from here on out is likely to be a case of way too little, way too late. Maybe you want to see them keep losing for draft lottery positioning, but given the lottery odds and the lack of a franchise-altering prize at the top of this year’s class I am not going to stress too much about that.

They can still be positioned for a top-10 or top-five pick.

I am also not going to turn down Jarry playing well the rest of the way, mainly because trying to boost his trade value as much as possible over the next month should be a pretty big priority.

Maybe the biggest priority since the young guys are likely to stay in the American Hockey League for a playoff push there.

When I say boost his trade value, I am not necessarily talking about getting him to the point where you can get a haul for him. Or even any kind of a return. But just get him to the point where you can find somebody that is willing to take on his contract, or maybe give you another reclamation project back in return.

Basically: Can you get him to the point where you can find your Darcy Kuemper for Pierre-Luc Dubois swap?

Or something similar to that.

Something in that ballpark at least.

Speaking from a Penguins perspective, there is not anything I can or will see from Jarry over the next month that is going to change my opinion on him as the Penguins’ long-term (or short-term) goalie option. We have seen the highs and lows of his career. We have seen the brief moments of strong play that can go on as long as half of a season and send him to an All-Star, only to watch them crumble in the second half or in the playoffs.

The Penguins need to be thinking about Joel Blomqvist and, ideally, Sergei Murashov as their long-term goalie options. Or somebody else not currently in the organization.

If you can get a strong finish out of Jarry, maybe you can sell another team on him. I know the contract is not ideal, but under a rising salary cap in the coming seasons it is not as ugly as it was coming into this season.

A $5.5 million salary cap number on next year’s $95.5 million salary cap would be the equivalent of a $4.7 million cap hit at the start of last season when Jarry signed the contract. On the $104 million salary cap in 2026-27, it would be the equivalent of a $4.3 million cap hit in 2023-24. Still not great, but certainly not cap-crushing. Especially given the market rate for mid-level (or below mid-level) goalies across the league right now. Karel Vejmelka is 28 years old and has literally had one season with a save percentage over .900 and just signed for $23.8 million over five years.

Even the mid guys are getting expensive.

The free agent market for goalies is barren.

The trade market is probably limited to John Gibson and guys like Cam Talbot.

Maybe there is a window to move him this offseason. I would not be expecting much, and maybe you have to flip one of those draft picks you have accumulated to sweeten the pot, but just creating more salary cap relief for yourself over the next few years, or getting somebody that you might be able to squeeze more out of for a similar salary cap number, would be a very nice benefit.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/12...ys-trade-value-should-be-late-season-priority

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: St. Louis Blues @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3/13/2025

Photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Pens and Blues gear up tonight for a very important game, as far as St. Louis is concerned..

Who: St. Louis Blues (31-27-7, 69 points, 5th place Central Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (26-31-10, 62 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Sportsnet Pittsburgh and FanDuel Sports Network Midwest for local markets, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The schedule is friendly to the Penguins in the coming days. They stay at home to meet the Devils on Saturday afternoon (3:30 start) then get two days off before hosting the Islanders next Tuesday, then get two more days off before Columbus comes to town on Friday March 21st.

Opponent Track: This is STL’s fifth road game in a row, but they’ve had four days off since their last game in Los Angeles back on Saturday (a 2-1 OT loss). That break allowed them to stop at home and host their annual charity casino night in St. Louis on Tuesday before flying to Pittsburgh. The Blues are 3-1-1 in the month of March, and oddly enough played against the Kings three times between March 1-8.

Season Series: We’re late in the season but this is the first PIT/STL game of the year. The two teams will rematch on April 3rd in St. Louis.

Hidden Stat: Per Pens PR, the Penguins have wins in four-straight home games against the Blues, and are 5-2-1 in their last eight games against them at home.

Hidden Stat II: Also from the PR department, goaltender Tristan Jarry has played in seven career games versus St. Louis going 6-1-0 with a 1.85 goals-against average, .929 save percentage and one shutout. He’s undefeated against them here at PPG Paints Arena, going 4-0-0 with a 1.17 goals-against average and .958 save percentage.

Getting to know the Blues​

Projected lines (from yesterday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Jake Neighbours - Robert Thomas - Pavel Buchnevich

Dylan Holloway - Brayden Schenn - Jordan Kyrou

Mathieu Joseph - Oskar Sundqvist - Zach Bolduc

Alexei Toropchenko - Radek Faksa - Nathan Walker

DEFENSEMEN

Cam Fowler / Nick Leddy

Philip Broberg / Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter / Tyler Tucker

Goalies: Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer

Scratches: Alex Texier, Matt “no relation” Kessel, Colton Parakyo (knee injury, out for regular season)

IR: Torey Krug

—Schenn, the team captain, had a bit of “will they, won’t they” trade drama going on leading up to the deadline. He owns a full no trade clause and ended up not being moved. That’s good for STL’s short-term playoff push (Schenn has eight points in the last nine games), possibly bad for the longer outlook with him still on the books for a $6.5 million cap hit through 2027-28.

—However, the loss of Parayko (out since March 5th) looms large. The right side of the defense is a lot less imposing without the Team Canada member. It hasn’t tripped the Blues up yet but that absence could be felt in the weeks to come in the stretch run.

—The Blues ended up making no moves at the deadline, they’re in a tough spot since they still have hope to make a run for the playoffs but also weren’t in a position to add to their team.

Player stats​

(via hockeydb)

—The Blues’ aggressive management to poach two Edmonton RFA’s last summer has to be deemed a success, and possibly a success of eventual large magnitude. Broberg has been averaging 20 minutes per game and been a steady player on the back-end. Even better, for the cost of just a third round pick STL picked up Holloway. The young forward has built on his impressive 2024 postseason to become a 20G/50 point very solid middle-six player this year. NHL teams have been very reluctant to weaponize going after other team’s restricted free agents, the Blues made a major move outside the norms and it paid off. Now the question looms if that strategy will be emulated elsewhere this summer and beyond.

—Bolduc is a good young player to watch, also perhaps the hottest Blue going with 3G+1A in the last five to lead them in goals and be tied for the lead in points in this five-game stretch. Bolduc got to the NHL a little quicker than a Rutger McGroarty (25 games played last year for Bolduc in his first pro season, compared to three for McGroarty this year) but offers an example of a similar path of a mid-first round pick developing fairly quickly into a decent NHL player. Both are similar in that they didn’t have elite AHL scoring (25 points in 50 games last season in that league for Bolduc). Fast forward to a year from now and the Pens would have to be very pleased if McGroarty is playing as an NHL regular on the third line with double digit goals and points in his second pro season, and starting to shine as one of the better players on the ice at times, as Bolduc has been lately.

Playing spoiler​

Here is the Western Conference Wild Card race as of yesterday morning:

Last night saw two important games (CGY-VAN and UTAH-ANA) that will have implications.

Minnesota looks OK for now, the race is coming down to four teams (CGY, VAN, STL, UTAH) fighting over the final playoff spot in the West. The Flames had a very narrow inside track as of yesterday with fewer games played and the highest points and regulation wins, but the outlook would shift with a few losses by them paired with wins by others.

That means it goes without saying but there are heavy implications in this game for St. Louis. Via Moneypuck:

Their playoffs have basically already begun with the fight just to make it into the postseason. The Penguins will need to be ready to match that type of intensity tonight against what should be a very motivated opponent desperate to get a result. Pittsburgh doesn’t have much to play for at this point aside from the role of a spoiler and put a big dent in STL’s chances by defeating them in regulation (and make some temporary fans in Calgary and Vancouver tonight along the way).

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Danton Heinen - Evgeni Malkin - Philip Tomasino

Connor Dewar - Kevin Hayes - Emil Bemstrom

Boko Imama - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Vladislav Kolyachonok / Kris Letang

Matt Grzelcyk / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Connor Timmins

Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic, Tristan Jarry

Potential Scratches: Ryan Shea (week-to-week injury), Tommy Novak (day-to-day injury)

Injured Reserve: P.O. Joseph (upper-body injury)

—Novak didn’t practice yesterday so it looks like he’ll miss his second straight game with an undisclosed lower body injury.

—All the injuries have put a spotlight on Kolyachonok and so far there’s been more and more to like as he’s gotten this opportunity. The young defender played almost 22 minutes on Tuesday against Vegas and nearly scored with a great look in front of the net that hit the cross-bar. The team is desperate for NHL-caliber defensemen right now and this is an amazing opportunity for Kolyachonok to start carving out a niche in the NHL. He is signed for 2025-26, the better he plays the more likely he is to insert himself in the organization’s plans for next season with the NHL club. While the season outcome won’t matter for the whole team, little individual plots like Kolyachonok’s level of play will have great meaning for what other roster moves may or may not need to be prioritized in the off-season.

—The new Jarry: 2-0-0, .955 save percentage, 1.49 GAA coming in the last two games. In the topsy turvy world of Penguin goaltending Jarry now, remarkably, finds himself back in the top seat. Of course, that status comes with no grace or built up equity at this point but tonight ought to be another opportunity to see how long he can stay in this kind of form.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/13...-st-louis-blues-pittsburgh-penguins-3-13-2025

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/St. Louis Recap: Jarry red hot against the Blues

Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images

Tristan Jarry makes 33 saves, Pens win third straight game

Pregame​

Tristan Jarry is in the net for the third straight game. The Penguins flip some bottom-six forwards around but they’re all over the place for utilization in games anyways.

How we're lining up vs. the Blues pic.twitter.com/BroDcdiSV2

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 13, 2025​

First period​

Pittsburgh scores on the first shot of the game and it’s....Ryan Graves?!? Anything can happen in the last month of the season. Graves’ point shot gets through the traffic and Jordan Binnington can’t catch up to it, which makes for the defender’s first goal in the 2024-25 season.

It's all gravy baby pic.twitter.com/ZUp2D20B7Y

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 13, 2025​

That’s all the scoring for the period, St. Louis gets more of the territorial play and can prove it with a 16-5 shot advantage. But they can’t beat the suddenly Vezina-worthy Jarry, who is playing a confident and excellent game.

Yep, this period the Pens’ best/most notable players were Jarry and Graves. That has to be a first.

Second period​

Graves scored 2:17 into the first period and the Pens ran it back by having another defender score 2:20 into the second period. This time it was Conor Timmons, also recording his first goal as a Penguin this season. It’s only his third game though. Timmons pulls the puck off the wall, shows some good patience when realizing he’s got enough time to pick a spot and let ‘er rip and does exactly that. 2-0 Pens.

THE NEW GUY JUST BOUGHT EVERYBODY BIG MACS!

Here's how to cash in your @McDonalds offer: https://t.co/QH7j1DPz1i pic.twitter.com/eDIP02SBzn

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 14, 2025​

The Jarry show continues with several more great saves but then the Pens take the first penalty of the evening and the Blues are able to get on the board during the man advantage. It’s Zac Bolduc on a play that starts behind the net and his quick shot finally has a St. Louis player get something past Jarry on their 24th shot.

BANG! pic.twitter.com/TwFKe2JCPP

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 14, 2025​

Pittsburgh keeps at it and the other new Con(n)or from the Toronto trade gets his name on the board too. This time it’s Connor Dewar translating some good old fashioned hard work into his first as a Penguin. Nothing fancy, just go to the net and keep your stick on the ice, and Blake Lizotte makes a great play on the setup.

Welcome to Pittsburgh, Connor Dewar! pic.twitter.com/HtRKdBlrbh

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 14, 2025​

Jarry makes another great stop late in the period and Kris Letang cross-checks a guy in front of the net too hard trying to help out, giving STL the second power play of the game.

Shots overall are 28-17 STL. Moneypuck has expected goals at 3.06 - 1.02 STL but the real score is reversed to show Pittsburgh up 3-1. When hot goaltending meets opportunistic finishing it’s a beautiful thing that’s been seldom seen for the Pens this season.

Third period​

The early goals in the period continue, the Blues claw back within one goal on the carryover time of the power play. Dylan Holloway blasts one from the right side. 3-2 game and there’s still 18:34 to play.

"Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one, too?" #stlblues pic.twitter.com/fumbwhDP11

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 14, 2025​

The Penguins get their two-goal cushion back and chase Binnington from the game. Bryan Rust gets a redirect off Rickard Rakell’s shot from the slot and it’s a 4-2 Pittsburgh lead. They go back and forth on the official goal call between Rust and Rakell but either way it’s a goal.

30 GOALS FOR TRICKY RICKY pic.twitter.com/sF66yYGshA

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 14, 2025​

Backup Joel Hofer is in the net.

The game is wide open now, St. Louis strikes on the rush. Alexei Torpochenko gets a head of steam and carries the puck all the way up the ice. The Pens’ defense waves at him as he drives to the net and deftly shoots back against the grain to handcuff Jarry. 4-3 game, 11:04 to go.

OHHH MY GAWWWWD #stlblues pic.twitter.com/ep5klvPDLp

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 14, 2025​

The Blues pull the goalie with 2:30 to play. STL puts a push on but can’t find a tying goal. Rakell finds a goal that he definitely scores this time into the empty net with six seconds left. 5-3 win.

Some thoughts​

• The Pens might have found something with their current third line. And given that the team has scored only Goals/60 with Noel Acciari on the ice (fifth worst in the NHL for forwards playing 300+ minutes this season), we know it’s not him. Dewar and Blake Lizotte might be a nice little combination to build on. Dewar didn’t get an assist on the Pens’ first goal but his wall play helped contribute to the sequence. Lizotte had two assists on the night. Bottom line players get hot for a bit then fade away, so let’s not get too crazy beyond acknowledging a very nice game for them, nice to see a little chemistry being built between mid-20’s players who conceivably could form part of a fourth line next season.
• NHL goaltending continues to be the wildest and weirdest phenomenon. To make matters more strange, Jarry wasn’t even excelling in his second and most recent stint in the AHL in Jan/Feb (he was very strong the first time in the minors in Oct/Nov). So to see him come back up without any narrative of being “fixed” or demonstrable evidence that he sorted through his rough patch of NHL play and then dominate these past few games is, well what can you say? It’s been one inexplicable turn of events after another with him this season, with each twist in the road becoming more surprising as the journey has gone along. Where does that lead from here? Who the hell can say with any real conviction. It can’t be bad that he’s re-found his game, aside from the obvious and appropriate question to wonder just how long the lightning in the bottle will retain its spark.
• The goal Timmons scored tonight was very similar (transposed to the opposite side of the ice) to the goal he scored just 11 days ago in PPG Paints Arena, albeit back then as a member of the Maple Leafs. Timmons only has three total goals all season between the two teams. No substance to this thought just a fun coincidence on the timing and style of both goals. Surely the Pens won’t be mad if he can continue to score a goal per week at PPG Paints going forward.
• Nice touch by John Kelly the STL television play-by-play broadcaster to give an homage to Mike Lange. Kelly added the classic “buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too” line to his call of the Holloway goal.
• Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it: the Pens are six points out of the final playoff spot at the final buzzer of their game. Of course, they’re also behind seven teams and have played more games than all of them which means six points might as well be 60. They won’t make the playoffs this year but a three-game winning streak has them starting to point up from the absolute depths of the league and gives the home fans something to cheer about. Sure beats where they were at a couple of weeks ago (and still could end up when this momentum runs out).

The Pens keep it moving and host the Devils on Saturday afternoon, can they continue the hot run down the stretch?

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/13...recap-tristan-jarry-red-hot-against-the-blues

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Random Penguins thoughts: Crosby’s record chase, lottery watch and Rickard Rakell

Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images

Sidney Crosby gets closer to another record, why I do not care about the NHL Draft Lottery odds for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, and more thoughts on Rickard Rakell.

Consider this a Pittsburgh Penguins notebook of random thoughts rolling around in my head that may not be enough to turn into a full-length article.

Let’s go!

Sidney Crosby’s point-per-game pace is looking promising​

This is one of the biggest things to be watching for the duration of the regular season. After collecting a couple of points in the Penguins 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, Crosby is up to 72 points in 66 games and remains on track to break Wayne Gretzky’s record of most point-per-game seasons. He is eight points away (because he missed two games and would only need 80 points) from securing what would be his 20th season averaging at least a point-per-game.

I know this record is not as glamour as the all-time goals record, or an overall scoring record, or a raw number counting record, but it still an incredible accomplishment that not only highlights Crosby’s remarkably high level of play, but also his incredible consistency.

Especially when you consider the eras both he and Gretzky played in.

While Gretzky played the bulk of his career in the highest-scoring era in NHL history, Crosby spent a significant chunk of his career playing in one of the lowest-scoring eras in NHL history.

Since the start of Crosby’s career during the 2005-06 season only 23 players have played in at least 100 games in the NHL and averaged more than one point per game in the NHL.

Between 2008-09 and 2018-19, a solid decade-long stretch, there were only eight players that topped the point-per-game mark.

Keep in mind that includes an especially low-scoring era between the 2010-11 and 2015-16 seasons were only four players in the entire NHL that played more than 100 games and averaged more than a point-per-game: Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Kane and Steven Stamkos. That was it.

Throughout Gretzky’s career there were 51 players that averaged more than a point-per-game, and 47 during his peak era between the 1980-81 and 1990-91 seasons.

Doing what Crosby has done in this era is insane. It is incredible.

Not worried about the NHL Draft Lottery odds​

Look, I understand the situation the Penguins are in this season and with their rebuild. The farm system has improved pretty dramatically in one year and they also have a cupboard full of draft picks over the next three years. There is pretty clearly a plan in place, and you do not need to squint too much to see it working. The one thing they are missing is the truly high-end prospect. The superstar prospect. The prospect that can change the franchise.

The best way to get that is at the very top of the draft. Most likely with the No. 1 overall pick, or at least something in the top two-or-three. With each game the Penguins win down the stretch, they lower their odds of getting such a pick this season.

I might be in the minority with this, but I am mostly okay with that. I am not going to get frustrated with them winning or Tristan Jarry playing well down the stretch.

Most championship winning teams have a top-pick somewhere on their roster, but the important thing is just simply having high-end talent no matter how you get it.

So I am not stressing this.

For one, watching other rebuilds around the NHL I am becoming more and more convinced that bottoming out and gutting your team is not the way to do it. You put yourself too far down in a hole and it becomes too much to dig yourself out of it even if you have the right player. The right player helps. It is not a cure-all, however. At least not in the short-term.

Yeah, Chicago has Connor Bedard ... but it is not even remotely close to contention. It’s going to be years before that team is even in the playoff hunt, let alone competing for a championship.

Yeah, San Jose has Macklin Celebrini ... but that organization is still in the “we are gutting our roster” stage of the rebuild.

When the Penguins had Sidney Crosby early in his career they were in the playoffs in year two, in the Stanley Cup Final in year three and winning the whole damn thing in year four.

If Chicago or San Jose make the playoffs by year four of Bedard or Celebrini I will be mildly surprised.

With a 32-team league, with the draft lottery odds and draft lottery process being what it is now (with two different lotteries and more teams being in play for the No. 1 overall pick) it is harder to bank on simply being bad to get you that No. 1 pick in the right year.

When Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin were entering the NHL in 2004 there was a real benefit to being unspeakably bad. The worst team in the league was guaranteed no worse than the No. 2 overall pick. Same thing when Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel were entering the NHL.

But now? The worst-record has a higher chance of picking third (55 percent) than it does of picking in the top-two. The second-worst team has a higher chance to pick fourth than it does to pick in the top-two.

You can finish with the 11th worst record in the league and, in theory, still win the No. 1 pick.

It used to be that you had to finish bottom-five of the standings.

There has been so much movement at the top of the draft lottery in recent years that you almost just have to take your chances on the lottery balls falling your way.

There is also no true prize at the top of this year’s class.

Plus, I just think it is really hard to erase the stink that comes with accepting losing. The players and coaches are not actively tanking and trying to lose. But when losing becomes acceptable to the fans and executives, for any reason, the whole vibe changes. You do not want to become Buffalo.

Keeping Rickard Rakell was the right move​

There was perhaps no Penguins player on the roster debated more at the NHL Trade Deadline than Rickard Rakell. Trade him? Keep him? Sell high? Keep him long-term? There were compelling arguments on both sides, and while I understand the desire for a rebuilding team to aggressively shop a 31-year-old winger having a career year I do still think the Penguins made the right move in not moving him unless they were absolutely wowed with a trade offer.

Is there a chance that Rakell regresses next season from his 17.6 shooting percentage and does not score the 30-40 goals he is on pace for this season? You better believe there is. In fact, I would say it is probably very likely. But I also do not think he regresses so much that he drops down to his 2023-24 level of production, because that season is starting to look like more of an outlier. At least based on what he has done recently. He has scored at a 25-goal pace per 82 games in three of the past four seasons.

Even if you do not intend on keeping him long-term, he is still going to be in a position this offseason where he is going to have a robust trade market. You also might have more teams involved that are able (or willing) to make a push for him given their salary cap situations or their intentions for the 2025-26 season. Teams that might have been sellers at the deadline (or stand pat teams) might look to add in the summer. Maybe a contender has a better salary cap situation than it did in early March.

Small sample size alert​

He has only appeared in five of the games during this stretch, but the player on the roster with the highest-expected goals share over the past 10 games is Vladislav Kolyachonok.

It is good that Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Owen Pickering, Vasily Ponomarev, Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov are playing playoff style games together in the American Hockey League right now. That will probably benefit them more in the long-term than playing 14 meaningless games at the end of this NHL season. Keep them there for the season and let them taste some winning and success. But you have to find out if Kolyachonok can hang as long as he is here.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/14...record-chase-lottery-watch-and-rickard-rakell

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Wilkes Weekly: Dubas gives thoughts on possible impending call ups to the NHL

Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images

Are we about to see Vasily Ponomarev in the NHL again?

Pittsburgh GM/President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas had a lot to say on his radio show on March 12th. All eyes are on the future for the Penguins, they have a crop of young talent in Wilkes-Barre performing well that they hope will be on the horizon to make the leap to the big league. Which pairs nicely to tie to our weekly update on the AHL Penguins.

GM Show co-host Josh Getzoff asked Dubas if the Pens would consider calling up some of the younger players to the NHL down the stretch or if the team would opt to let them keep building as they embark upon their successful AHL season.

“What we really want to do,” Dubas said, “is we want those guys to form a bond so that they feel like they’re winning together, they’re building something together, they’re growing together with Wilkes. They do come up with a wave together, they arrive together...They’re arriving and staying.”

The performance of the NHL club might alter plans too. Should the team continue to play well in Pittsburgh and provide the right competitive atmosphere, then the management team might be more inclined to use their four available recalls to bring young players up for a stretch of NHL games if it’s deemed beneficial.

However, Dubas cautioned for folks to not get too excited or expect that there will be drastic personnel moves simply to get youngsters into the NHL level this season.

“I’m not so worried about breaking up the mojo [in Wilkes]...That’s part of the [AHL] level, you’re going to have a different team every night at this time of the year,” was Dubas’ thoughts about shuffling top AHL players up to the NHL for a late-season stint.

“I would say it’s a very case by case basis, we’ll evaluate it here each week and layout what we have ahead. I know people are clamoring for it, but we don’t want to bring players up just to give them a test run or appease the fans or media. We have to do what’s right for their development and we’ll continue to do that over the coming weeks.”

Regarding some of those cases, Dubas also pointed out that there are players approaching restricted free agency where it would make sense to give them a run in the NHL to see how it would inform the team about what next steps should be for them in the future.

Dubas didn’t name any specific names during this portion of his comments, but a check of PuckPedia shows the only major prospect that fits into this category as an impending RFA is Vasily Ponomarev. Filip Kral and Mac Hollowell are approaching unrestricted free agency, but the majority of the top NHL prospects in the AHL are under contract for next season.

There’s no 23-player maximum in the NHL any longer, just the salary cap to be adhered to (which Pittsburgh has plenty of space). So if the Pens want to call up Ponomarev to replace someone like Emil Bemstrom or Boko Imama in the NHL lineup, the path is wide open for it. Based on Dubas’ comments that might be coming down the line soon, but no one should expect a mass exodus of AHL players flooding the NHL ranks in the final games either.

—

The newest Penguin signee is a familiar face. Avery Hayes has been with the organization since the start of the 2023-24 season. He’s parlayed an excellent 2024-25 campaign with Wilkes into an NHL contract that will start next season.

The Penguins have signed forward Avery Hayes to a two-year entry-level contract.

Hayes has spent the 2024.25 season with the @WBSPenguins. Through 44 games, he has recorded 17 goals, 18 assists, and 35 points.

Details: https://t.co/JEe6n7jyUb pic.twitter.com/LyC1Qs7PRQ

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 13, 2025​

Hayes, 22, hasn’t taken a dis-similar path that Conor Sheary did a decade ago as an undersized player that had to prove himself and fight his way up the ranks. We’ll see how the story goes but it’s been a nice one for the organization so far.

—

As far as the team itself, the WBS Penguins have gone 3-2 since our last update. Here’s Nick Hart with recaps of the first four games:

Tuesday, Mar. 4 – PENGUINS 1 vs. Belleville 4

Atley Calvert put Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on the board first, but Belleville took the lead before the first intermission. Senators goalie Leevi Meriläinen ultimately stonewalled the Pens with 35 saves.

Friday, Mar. 7 – PENGUINS 7 at Hartford 1

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton improved to 5-0-0-0 in its season series against Hartford by thumping the Wold Pack with seven different goal-scorers. Nikolai Knyzhov posted a career-high three points by gathering a trio of assists.

Saturday, Mar. 8 – PENGUINS 8 vs. Belleville 3

The offense kept rolling at home, as the Pens avenged their loss to the Sens from earlier in the week. Ville Koiuvnen snatched up three points (1G-2A), while Sam Poulin completed at natural hat trick in the third period.

Sunday, Mar. 9 – PENGUINS 1 vs. Syracuse 5

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fell short of a perfect three-in-three weekend, surrendering five unanswered goals to the Crunch. Mathias Laferrière scored three minutes into the game.

The Pens were on fire with 15 total goals in blowout wins on Friday and Saturday, sandwiched around losses. WBS bounced back with a 5-4 shootout win over Hershey in the ninth (!!) matchup between the two PA rivals this season.

Some notable highlights and stats over these last five games:

• Rutger McGroarty: 3G+3A: McGroarty has been on a roll and seemed to figure out how to generate offense at the AHL level after a very slow start. McGroarty has 16 points (7G+9A) in his last 13 games since Feb. 13th and hit the scoresheet in 10/13 games. Considering AHL scoring rates lag behind the NHL level, this is very exciting stuff for him as of late. Based on Dubas’ comments, it doesn’t look like Pittsburgh is in a hurry to change up what has been working lately which could have the 20-year old finish out the year in Wilkes.
• Ville Koivunen: 3G+3A: Koivunen is up to third in the AHL scoring race with his 54 points in 56 games this season and is the league’s highest scoring rookie by eight points. It’s been all systems go for him since the start of the season. Similar to McGroarty, there might not be much use in bringing Koivunen up to the NHL at this point in the season but if circumstances align it’s not completely out of the question either. He’s played well enough to merit a call-up but is also in a great groove and spot where he is for the time being.
• Vasily Ponomarev: 2G+2A: Three of his points came in the same game last week. The comments from above hinted without directly saying that the Penguins plan to call Ponomarev up to the NHL soon. Dubas has touted Ponomarev as close to NHL ready from the time they traded for him 12 months ago, but he’s only played four NHL games with Pittsburgh. Now 23 years old, it’s getting close to go time to figure out what they have with him.
• Valtteri Puustinen: 1G+5A: Hey, remember him? Puustinen is under contract for next season but his status and place within the organization remains unknown after being waived. He’s doing well lately and if nothing else provides Wilkes with an excellent depth piece.
• Sam Poulin: 3G+2A: All five of Poulin’s points came in the same game. Similar to Puustinen as now something of an older prospect (24), Poulin is under contract next season but the team’s plans for his future remain cloudy after giving him a quick look in the NHL and waiving him. Not a great place to be, but Poulin is capable of being one of the top players on the AHL rink from time to time.
• Tristan Broz: 1G+2A: Two of Broz’s points this week came in the same game. He’s not standing out or looking near-NHL ready but as a pro rookie that’s not unexpected. Simply be an adequate piece of the AHL team this year has become his niche. A potential long playoff run this spring would be a great thing for many players and Broz has to be high on the list.
• Joel Blomqvist: no games. Blomqvist hasn’t played in Wilkes since being returned to the AHL two weeks ago. He reportedly has been dealing with an injury that HC Kirk MacDonald says wasn’t serious. Blomqvist was seen at the Pittsburgh practice rink yesterday, which isn’t uncommon for injured AHL players to get some NHL medical attention. (As a side note, playing with or through an injury might also give context to the conclusion of Blomqvist’s poor NHL performance).
• Sergei Murashov: Blomqvist’s injury has been Murashov’s gain to open the door for AHL playing time. Murashov has played and won two AHL games in March, though he did give up seven total goals in those two games. But earning a win against Hershey is meaningful just the same. At 20 and a first year North American pro, Murashov is still very, very green but all signs for his talent and development have been encouraging for the future- look no further than the 8-0 overall record he has in Wilkes this season. Ideally Murashov is on track to graduate to full-time AHL usage next season to continue his development. The Pens are aware they have something potentially special with his ability but the process won’t be immediate.

Wilkes has lost a couple of players lately. Long-time forward Jonathan Gruden was moved in the Cody Glass trade that saw Chase Stillman enter the organization. Veteran defender Nikolai Knyzhov (on an AHL contract) was traded away to Grand Rapids.

—

WBS has two games coming up on Friday and Sunday, both against Lehigh Valley. These will be important games in the playoff race, keeping in mind the top two seeds in the division earn a bye from the three-game opening round series of the Calder Cup playoffs. Anything can happen in such a short series, Wilkes staying above two teams hot on their heels (Charlotte and Providence) will be critical to set themselves up for the playoffs by working towards as high of a finish as they can muster in the regular season.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/3/14...s-talks-pittsburgh-prospects-vasily-ponomarev