\u201cEverybody on this team, all the players, staff, they invested a lot. When it\u2019s over, it hurts a lot,\u201d Muse said after Game 6 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The problem is that the Penguins were carried almost exclusively by players on the back nine of their NHL careers.<\/p>\n
At times, the season felt more like a retirement farewell \u2014 a successful one, at least \u2014 instead of groundwork for the future. By mid-August, Sidney Crosby will be 39, Evgeni Malkin will be 40, Kris Letang will be 39 and Erik Karlsson will be 36. This season was like seeing the Rolling Stones in 2026: The Penguins were still a thrill, and fans got their money\u2019s worth, but it wasn\u2019t the 1971 Rolling Stones.<\/p>\n
Those four future Hall of Famers weren\u2019t the only performers on the wrong side of 30. Anthony Mantha, the team\u2019s leading goal scorer this season, will be 32. Like Malkin, he\u2019s a pending unrestricted free agent and no sure thing<\/a> to return next season. And as with Malkin, there is hardly a groundswell of support in the organization for his return, even though he put up outstanding numbers.<\/p>\n After last season, Dubas was already touting the idea of being younger as the Penguins\u2019 best chance to thrive.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we are slightly better positioned moving forward because of some of the younger players we\u2019ve been able to add,\u201d Dubas said before this season.<\/p>\n And now, his veterans are even older.<\/p>\n \n Kris Letang, right, who turned 39 last week, scored two goals in the series against the Flyers and averaged 23:50 of time on ice. (Photo by Emilee Chinn\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n So far, the decision to go young has been a mixed bag. Over the past year, though, some of Dubas\u2019 decisions have led to some legitimate optimism:<\/p>\n \u2022 Center Ben Kindel, who just turned 19, wrapped up a wildly successful rookie campaign and seems destined to become a Penguins mainstay.<\/p>\n \u2022 Egor Chinakhov has emerged as a gifted, top-six winger, despite a tough playoff series. He\u2019s only 25.<\/p>\n \u2022 Elmer S\u00f6derblom, a disappointment in Detroit, is only 24 and has looked like an important bottom-six player since coming to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n \u2022 Forward Avery Hayes did some good things in the NHL this season and figures to see more time with the Penguins next season. He\u2019s 23.<\/p>\n \u2022 The Penguins\u2019 2025 draft class routinely receives praise. Bill Zonnon and Will Horcoff project to be good NHL players, and other prospects in the draft have Pittsburgh\u2019s front office brimming with excitement.<\/p>\n \u2022 Goaltenders Sergei Murashov, 22, and Joel Blomqvist, 24, were in the organization before Dubas arrived, are just about NHL-ready and, especially in Murashov\u2019s case, have the potential to be special.<\/p>\n Then there are the concerns, of course:<\/p>\n \u2022 Forward Rutger McGroarty, considered perhaps the best prospect in the organization since he was acquired from Winnipeg in August 2024, has managed only four goals in 32 NHL games. His skating has been an issue. The 22-year-old hasn\u2019t looked bad or even out of place, but he also hasn\u2019t made the impact the Penguins were expecting.<\/p>\n \u2022 Forward Ville Koivunen, one of the crown jewels of the 2024 Jake Guentzel trade, has two goals in 47 NHL games and was extremely disappointing this season. He turns 23 in June.<\/p>\n \u2022 Defenseman Harrison Brunicke, who turns 20 in May, looked like a sensation in training camp again, but his play fell off a cliff after his first few NHL games. The Penguins didn\u2019t handle him well this season, but he seems to have taken a step backward.<\/p>\n The Penguins have reached a pivotal time in their rebuild, which began with the Guentzel trade two-plus years ago. The team doesn\u2019t call it a rebuild because it hasn\u2019t been a sudden sell-off. Even if he wanted to, Dubas couldn\u2019t simply eliminate some of the older players from his roster. It takes time to get younger. But make no mistake, a rebuild is happening, it\u2019s just in the background while the older players begin to fade.<\/p>\n Malkin is no sure thing to return to Pittsburgh next season, despite his strong showing over the past few months. Letang, who struggled mightily for most of the season, has two years remaining on his contract<\/a>. His situation is tricky \u2014 because he was 35<\/a> when he signed the deal, the Penguins won\u2019t receive any cap relief if they buy out the contract. Three other players who are 30 or older \u2014 Kevin Hayes, Noel Acciari and Connor Clifton \u2014 almost certainly won\u2019t be back next season.<\/p>\n Dubas has long wanted to take some big swings for talented, young players in the summer of 2026. He took an early cut halfway through this season by trading for Chinakhov, who has star potential, but this summer has the makings of a significant offseason.<\/p>\n The free-agent market doesn\u2019t look all that strong. Dubas will spend some money there \u2014 the Penguins figure to have around $45 million in cap space, though they aren\u2019t expected to use all of it \u2014 but much of that will likely go toward potential trades.<\/p>\n The Penguins have interest in 26-year-old Stars winger Jason Robertson, who remains unsigned to a long-term deal in Dallas. If other big names, preferably on the younger side, become available this summer, Dubas won\u2019t hesitate to make offers. He is eager to turn the Penguins into a winner \u2014 a sustained winner \u2014 sooner rather than later. He has a glut of draft picks and older veterans for trade bait, he has money to spend, and, more than anything, he has the Penguins-Flyers series fresh in his mind as proof that his team needs to get younger immediately.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we got everyone playing up to their full potential all year. Then, come this time of the year, you\u2019re going to need a little bit more, and we just couldn\u2019t reach that level, unfortunately,\u201d Karlsson said after Game 6. \u201cWe just couldn\u2019t find that extra gear that is needed this time of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n \n The Penguins\u2019 season, by all measures a success compared to expectations, still ended in heartbreak. (Emilee Chinn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Despite the way it ended, this season was huge for the Penguins. They matter in Pittsburgh again in a way that they haven\u2019t in many years. Their season-ticket base should get a boost. Muse has brought positive energy that has connected well with the dressing room. He\u2019s clearly a good NHL coach and was a smart, under-the-radar hire last offseason.<\/p>\n In many ways, the Penguins are trending upward. Goal prevention is their biggest issue, but Murashov could make a difference as early as next season. Their blue line is pretty shaky, but their financial flexibility could help Dubas land reinforcements.<\/p>\n The flip side is that the Penguins desperately need young star power, and finding it is an enormous challenge. The one problem with this surprise season is that the Penguins won\u2019t be picking high in the talent-rich 2026 draft. It\u2019s not the end of the world, and Dubas has done a nice job maintaining his army of draft picks and prospects.<\/p>\n Overall, things are looking up. But until a young wave of talent comes along \u2014 not just a Kindel here or a Chinakhov there, but a complete wave of hungry, electric young talent \u2014 the Penguins will be stuck in the mushy middle.<\/p>\n Dubas has done fine work over the past year, but he\u2019ll need to sustain his hot streak a while longer.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish things could have ended differently,\u201d Kindel said Wednesday night. \u201cIt\u2019s been such an amazing thing to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins spent nearly seven months blurring the line between nostalgia tour and legitimate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4843,73,75,74,1067],"class_list":["post-182187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-penguins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Lizotte](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2273794077-scaled.jpg\")
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