Inspired by nhl.com’s piece about three questions surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins right now, we would turn attention to seek the answers to these questions.
#1: When is the other shoe going to drop on trades?
This is a rhetorical question, since the answer is whenever a team calls Kyle Dubas and makes him an offer he likes to move on from Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust and Erik Karlsson. But when will that be? Will Dubas need to adjust his ask, or should he be looking to accept less at this point? Where will Karlsson want to go, and who will want him?
What will the Penguins get back in return?
Many expected the answers to at least some of these questions by this point in the summer, but here we still are. For about two months now we’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it hasn’t happened. Is it going to before the season? Can it happen at the deadline? Will this limbo continue into next summer? No one can really say what the answer is at this point in time, but the question is there for the pondering just the same.
#2: What’s going to happen with the team’s ownership?
Many outlets like the Post-Gazette and The Athletic are giving off the vibes that it’s a matter of when — and not if — Fenway Sports Group sells the Penguins to the the Hoffmann family. There’s still all the special qualifiers of “could” and “seems” and “feels” getting generously tossed out there due to the sensitive and private nature of a massive 10-figure negotiation, but all indications are that the Hoffmann’s and FSG are in deep discussion and advancing towards an announcement, possibly sooner than later.
Naturally, questions will turn to how the new ownership group will put their stamp on the franchise, if and when it gets to that point. Will they be OK with the significant off-ice investments that FSG has made in allowing Kyle Dubas to come on board and flesh out the organization? Or what about the slow and uncertain process of a rebuild that the team is only just in the opening stages? Lots of uncertainty, but at least the club is locked into its lease for 15 more years and the NHL has always been bound to wanting a healthy and thriving franchise in Pittsburgh.
#3: How much are the Pens going to get from young faces in the lineup?
As far as the Penguins go, in six or eight months from now one of the biggest things I want to know is how did it go for the young players? Did Harrison Brunicke get a 9-game NHL stint then go dominate at World Juniors? Has Rutger McGroarty solidified himself as an NHL option? Are Brunicke and Ben Kindel gearing up to join Wilkes for an AHL playoff run? Are we going to get to see Ville Koivunen put up 50 points this year and become something of a Calder trophy candidate? Is Owen Pickering going to step up and become the team’s first legit homegrown defenseman in…way too long? Are we going to see NHL debuts for guys like Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes? How are things going to go for Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov heading into 2026-27?
It’s always going to be a Crosby/Malkin/Letang-centric team as long as the Big Three remain in town, but there are so many good little storylines and questions around the newer and younger faces that will be fascinating to see play out.
