Piggy backing off yesterday’s article here
about how the Penguins got younger last season in 2025-26, how could that move forward a year?The early projected and certainly subject to change 2026-27 roster, with ages as of opening day.
Rickard Rakell (33) – Sidney Crosby (39) – Bryan Rust (34)
Egor Chinakhov (25) – Ben Kindel (19) – open spot we sure hope is Evgeni Malkin (40)
Elmer Soderblom (25) – Tommy Novak (29) – Justin Brazeau (28)
Connor Dewar (27) – Blake Lizotte (28) – open spot
Parker Wotherspoon
(29) / Erik Karlsson (36) Sam Girard (28) / Kris Letang (39) Ilya Solovyov (26) / open spot
That’s an average age of 28.7 (not counting Malkin) for the forwards, and 31.6 for the defensemen, and 29.7 all together. That’s the roughest possible version, other factors that include the months will push the limits higher up towards or even past 30. That would make the Pens one of the older teams around – especially if they sign Malkin for next year and increase the average.
In that line of thinking, for average age, the Penguins are always going to be on the older side for a team that has multiple versions of the very oldest players in the entire league. Letang is currently the oldest active player under contract for 2026-27 across the whole NHL — though if any of Brent Burns, Corey Perry, Alex Ovechkin, Ryan Reaves or Malkin decide to return to play again, they would take that crown from Letang. Crosby, who is only a few months younger than Letang. will be in or very close to the top-5 oldest active players next season. It might take reading this paragraph a few times to sink in!
While knowing that, Malkin is a year older than both and would also be in the top-5 oldest next season if he returned. Add in players like Rust, Rakell and Karlsson that are no spring chickens. and based on average alone the Penguins are bound to math out to the aged side based on so having many outliers all on the same team.
Which could shift the focus to the median age of players as something to attack. Of the 44 players (including goalies) to play at least one game for the Penguins last year, that median was right in the 27/28 split, meaning half the players to suit up were 28 years old or older and the other half were 27 or younger.
This is probably the key area to address as far as getting younger, and the good news is some of the holes in the roster could reasonably be filled by just such younger options. Avery Hayes (23) is right on the cusp of joining the NHL full-time. For the Pens’ sake, they better hope Rutger McGroarty (22) is too. Ville Koivunen (23) will be a possibility. If two of those players make it, the average age in years of the forwards (pre-Malkin) drops to 27.6 just like that, and would feature five players 25 or younger and a few more fleet-footed skaters like Dewar and Lizotte who will help the cause to look faster and younger.
The other area to consider is what is going out the door. Of the 15 Penguins players that were 30+ plus last season, the majority are either out the door already (Matt Dumba, Brett Kulak, Tristan Jarry, Danton Heinen), have had their role largely minimized (Ryan Graves), or possibly/probably already played their final game as Penguins (Noel Acciari, Kevin Hayes, Connor Clifton, Anthony Mantha). Replacing a player like Acciari (currently 34) with a player a decade+ younger one like McGroarty or A. Hayes makes the team that much younger in that one localized spot. Do that enough to give other roles of other veterans who spent the whole season on the roster (Mantha, Clifton, K Hayes) with likely younger replacements and the movement will continue.
Even free agency could keep the team relatively young, Connor Dewar (27) and Ilya Solovyov (26) re-signed yesterday and both are well on the right side of 30. The team could also attempt to bring back Ryan Shea, who at 29 isn’t particularly young in the context of an NHL player but isn’t old either. Target a few more younger free agents, ala the next versions of Brazeau and Wotherspoon from last summer, and the team will get younger as a result.
There’s also some long-shot young hopes. Harrison Brunicke and Bill Zonnon, both 20 at the start of next season, could potentially make training camp moves. It would take tremendous showings that can’t be penciled in at this moment but after seeing Ben Kindel last year it’s clear the door is open from the team for the players that are ready to step up and prove that they belong. Easier said than done, but the club would like nothing more than to see a Jake Livanavage or Owen Pickering (both 22) force their way into the NHL picture with solid play.
The real youth movement could happen in net, it’s very possible the Pens open up the season with Arturs Silovs (25) and Sergei Murashov (22) as their goalies. That would be one of the youngest tandems in team recent memory with only 63 career NHL appearances between the two.
The Penguins’ true youth movement can’t and won’t really begin in earnest until the team parts ways with Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Karlsson. While the jury is still out if that process will begin at all this offseason, overall Pittsburgh can and still will continue to set themselves up for the next era by acquiring young talent. 2025-26 was huge at getting players like Kindel and Chinakhov up and running, 2026-27 would be considered a success if that process rolls on with just how many names like Brunicke, McGroarty, Koivunen, Livanavage, Pickering and Hayes can carve out their own spots for next season and beyond.
