There just a little over 24 hours before the Pittsburgh Penguins begin their 2026-27 season and the final touches are starting to fall into place as they prepare to head east and take on the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow evening. The official start to the season is today, beginning with the Carolina Hurricanes raising a Stanley Cup banner down in Raleigh along with a few rivalry showdowns between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs as well as the Rangers heading to Beantown to meet the Bruins on opening
night.
Pens Points…
Hockey season returns in full force this week with NHL regular season action beginning on Tuesday. For the Penguins, their season opens on Wednesday in Philadelphia before the home opener scheduled for Saturday evening against Montreal. [Pensburgh]
On Monday afternoon, the Penguins announced their 2026-27 opening night roster that will hit the ice against the Flyers. Notable absences from the roster include Bryan Rust and Ben Kindel, both of whom will begin the new season on the injured list. [Penguins]
There isn’t much room to spare on the Penguins roster at the moment, but it never hurts to take a glance at the waiver wire to see who is available that could potentially help the Penguins. [Pensburgh]
After the opening night roster was announced, Kyle Dubas met with the media and discussed the state of the team heading into the new season. Dubas broke down some roster decisions and touched on some injuries that will effect the Penguins to start the season. [Penguins]
Early injuries are going to force the Penguins to reconfigure some of the lines from what we saw in training camp and the preseason. This presents the perfect opportunity for some younger players who were perhaps on the outside looking in of making the roster to prove themselves. [PPG]
One question surrounding the Penguins this offseason that remains unanswered as they prepare to drop the puck on the new season is the contract status of Sidney Crosby. This will be the final year of his current deal, but the captain isn’t showing too much concern. [NHL]
Former Penguins forward Matt Nieto announced his retirement from hockey on Monday after 12 NHL seasons. Nieto is the second former Penguin to announce he’s hanging up the skates along with Kevin Hayes who shared his news last week. [Yahoo! Sports]
NHL News and Notes…
Nothing like a blockbuster trade on the eve of a new season to get the juices flowing. Following a tense contract impasse with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Kirill Marchenko is headed to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Matthew Knies and other pieces. [NHL]
Early favorites to lift the Stanley Cup include many of the usual suspects, including the defending champions, the team who won it the two years prior, and the reigning President’s Trophy winners from a season ago. [ESPN]
