Pittsburgh Penguins’ Bryan Rust (17) celebrates with Sidney Crosby (87) after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
It is a new day at Pittsburgh Hockey Now as our website got its first makeover since its inception. For the Pittsburgh Penguins, a former defenseman retired, and we strongly opined that it’s time for Team USA to show some love for Penguins winger Bryan Rust. Elsewhere, the Philadelphia Flyers won their dispute with Ryan Johansen, whose contract they terminated. NHL teams fell over themselves to tweet about Taylor Swift’s new album. Some young defensemen are making waves, and our colleague Bob Duff absolutely smacked down the Erik Karlsson to the Detroit trade rumors.
I did receive one email from a PHN+ subscriber. His account just sort of disappeared as our new tech folks redid the website. Most of you know my email address or the site’s contact email (and a copy of all emails gets automatically forwarded to me), so if there’s a problem, just yell!
The new site is less newspaper layout, which I’m not crazy about, but it’s faster … much, much faster, which is the name of the game in internet publishing. Our comments section is temporarily down. Don’t worry, we’ll be able to yell at each other shortly.
Please accept my apologies for the lack of PHN+ content this summer. We haven’t had much since the draft, and it’s just been a slow summer for the behind-the-scenes or more in-depth content. We paid a national analyst to do some prospect stories with us, but he sort of … vanished. Not cool, but we moved on. Fortunately, you still get the ad-lite experience and, quite frankly, you can smile knowing you’re the backbone of this operation.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: A former Penguins defenseman hung up the skates 13 years after making his NHL debut. Chad Ruhwedel was an undrafted D-man who carved a nice career for himself and won a Stanley Cup in 2017. Fare thee well, Chad Ruhwedel.
OK, Canada overcame the Round Robin loss in the Four Nations tourney to beat Team USA. Ultimately, Canada was deeper, better. There is a player who could help Team USA in the Olympics, and he’s not generally regarded as elite, but maybe he should be. Hey, Billy G, invite Bryan Rust.
Steelers Now: It took a few years, but as the Latrobe portion of camp comes to a close, the Steelers are finally … FINALLY … unlocking hulking tight end, Darnell Washington.
I don’t care if they make him a tackle or throw him 100 passes, but when you get a physical specimen like that, it doesn’t take Nikola Tesla to figure out, use him!
Pittsburgh Baseball Now: Tell me again why the Pirates did not trade Andrew Heaney? The decision looks worse by the day. Of course, don’t most Pirates decisions? Instead, they discarded Bailey Falter. Uh, yeah. Danny Demilio took GM Ben Cherington to the woodshed. Why didn’t the Pirates trade Heaney?!
NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now
Detroit Hockey Now: Bob Duff didn’t do a full column, which waded up the Karlsson trade talk. He did it succinctly in a few paragraphs. Here’s why he believes it’s a hard no for the Karlsson to Red Wings trade talk.
ESPN: Oh my gawd, can you believe Taylor Swift has a new album (Why do we still call it an album when 99% of the sales will not be vinyl?). While I yawn, it seems NHL teams couldn’t wait to tweet about it.
The line that made me roll my eyes almost to the point of losing them was, “The pop star is no stranger to the hockey scene. Swift and Kelce attended Game 4 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final…”
Well, aren’t we just the recipients of a thousand blessings?
Philly Hockey Now: The Flyers acquired Ryan Johansen in an awkward trade at the 2023 NHL trade deadline. Philly received a first-round pick and Johansen for defenseman Sean Walker, but Johansen arrived in Philly and claimed an injury despite playing all previous games with Colorado. So, Philadelphia terminated his contract and Johansen filed a grievance. A decision was finally rendered, and it has some fallout. Here’s the Flyers win.
NHL.com: Moritz Seider and Brandt Clarke are a couple of exciting young defensemen. As the NHL looked at the top blue liners, there is a new influx of the youngsters.
Sportsnet: There is growing hype at the top of the 2026 NHL Draft. Sure, everyone knows Gavin McKenna, but there’s a prospect catching him. Another franchise cornerstone? Can Keaton Verhoeff chase down McKenna?
And, if I had to see this, you do, too. Scrolling for hockey content, I think I found the outer edge of the internet.
Tags: nhl news nhl rumors Pittsburgh Penguins
Categorized:Links NHL Trade Rumors Penguins Pittsburgh Penguins