The 2026-27 Pittsburgh Penguins did not waste any time when it comes to accumulating injuries. The regular season has not even started yet and the team is already looking at the prospect of playing games without Ben Kindel, Bryan Rust, Blake Lizotte, and Justin Brazeu. Andrei Kuzmenko is also not here at the moment for non-injury related reasons, and it would not be a surprise if he did not return for quite some time given the circumstances.
Not exactly a great way to open a season that has a wide
range of potential outcomes in the standings.
If Sergei Murashov is good and a few players take big steps forward, this could be a playoff team again. Potentially a good playoff team.
If Murashov is not good, and if a few players regress instead of progress, you might be looking at that high lottery pick.
It is also the first 84-game season in the NHL since the early 1990s, adding a couple of more games onto the schedule.
It all begins on Wednesday night, in Philadelphia, with a rematch of their 2025-26 first-round playoff series with the Flyers.
The Flyers are a bit of an unknown this season because, like the Penguins, they are coming off an unexpected playoff campaign. They have a really good young core of talent that is led by Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone, and a solid supporting cast around them. But while there is a good core of players in place, it’s still kind of tough to get a read on what their expectations should be for this season.
They have been one of the league’s best defensive teams for a couple of years now, but the offensive upside is still something that has to be determined. The development of players like Martone and Michkov will be key in determining where that goes.
How much of a step will Martone take after his late-season debut and emergence in the playoffs? Is he a franchise player? Just a strong building block? What does a full season of him look like at 19?
Will Michkov be able to not only bounce back from a disappointing sophomore season, but also build on it? How does his relationship with head coach Rick Tocchet evolve?
Those are two of the big questions the Flyers need answered.
There are more concerns and questions beyond the development of Martone and Michkov.
The first is related to whether or not starting goalie Dan Vladar repeats his 2025-26 performance? He had a career year for the Flyers and was not only a big part of the team’s return to the playoffs, he was a major part of their ability to beat the Penguins in the first round and advance. It was an objectively great year for him, but it was also by far the best season of his career and a complete 180 from what we have seen from him in the past.
He was injured late in the preseason, leaving his status for Wednesday somewhat up in the air, but he does seem on track to play.
If he isn’t ready, or if he simply regresses this season in terms of his production, one of their big offseason additions was Joseph Woll in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Woll is a little different than Vladar because he has been a strong performer in the early stages of his career, but is coming off a down year in Toronto. He is an interesting backup option and safety net, and depending on what Vladar does could end up being an important player for them.
The second concern is that outside of Woll, as well as the addition of former Penguins forward Noel Accairi, it was a mostly quiet offseason for the Flyers in terms of new faces.
They did take a massive swing by trying to add Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson on a restricted free agent offer sheet, but the Ducks matched the offer and kept him on the west coast. Had Philadelphia managed to pull that off it would have been a potential franchise-changer by giving them a bonafide, young No. 1 center just starting to enter his prime years. But they didn’t pull it off, and all they did instead was help reset the market for salaries across the NHL.
The Penguins and Flyers differ a little in their makeup, but both teams are wild-cards that have a wide range of outcomes that are dependent on a few X-factors going a particular way.
The Penguins 2-0-2 against the Flyers in the regular season a year ago, before losing the playoff series in six games, 4-2. That is a 4-4-2 record overall.
After playing in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the Penguins return home for their home-opener on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
Montreal is coming off its second consecutive trip to the playoffs, this time having advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
It is largely the same roster coming back, with the one notable exception being the addition of veteran forward Chris Kreider.
Kreider is a strong pickup for the price tag, and does give the Canadiens a much-needed veteran winger for its top-nine.
While it was a quiet offseason in terms of additions, Montreal has one of the league’s best young cores built around Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, Lane Hutson, and Noah Dobson. All of them are signed long-term to team-friendly deals that are going to give management all of the cap flexibility they need to add a supporting cast around them. Their window is just now starting to open, and it should be open for a while.
As good as the Canadiens were, and as good as the young core looks, it was not a team that really excelled during 5-on-5 play, or in terms of its overall defensive play. They finished the 2025-26 season 26th in the league in expected goals against per 60 minutes, and 23rd in expected goal share. Both numbers were also among the worst when it comes to playoff teams.
You might be able to tilt the ice on them a little bit.
But it does not mean that is going to translate into goals for you, or keeping them off the scoreboard.
The big issue for the Penguins at the start is going to be the reality of playing two playoff teams, both of which advanced to the second round, without an extensive list of forwards. The entire potential third line that showed so much promise in training camp and its brief time together in the preseason is going to be out. A couple of potential fourth-line options are out. It is going to open the door for some young players at the start, but it might not be what the Penguins wanted to be at full strength to open the season.
I am curious to see how the goalie rotation between Murashov and Arturs Silovs plays out, and how they handle the line combinations. Specifically as it relates to dealing with the third-line absences, where Nicholas Robertson plays and if he gets a chance on Sidney Crosby’s line, and who plays alongside defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Splitting these two games and coming away with at least two points would be a fair start given all of the circumstances.
