Party on Fifth Ave.

[JohnStJohn1987]

Congrats on the Cup win! Just got caught up. What's your Salary cap looking for Free Agency?

Appreciate it! We have about $9 million dollar to play with before getting Mantha and Tanev back on the payroll. I think we have room for one or two more pieces out of free agency. But, honestly, we're already kind of set.

Get it!

[Captain Canada]

Pens send backup G Alex Nedeljkovic to Kings for pair of picks, go all-in on Blomqvist

By Josh Yohe
July 5, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins, not known as of late for making crater-like transitions in the off-season, have made a trade to shake up their championship-caliber roster. The trade sends goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to the Los Angeles Kings for a pair of draft picks in next year's draft, specifically a fourth and seventh round pick.

The Penguins do not retain any money on the trade, getting all $2.5 million of Nedeljkovic's contract off the books to create some more room for the team after they spent a good amount of money resigning the likes of forward Brock Boeser. The team still has a hole or two to fill after retaining their sniper, and adding the likes of free agent acquisitions such as Anthony Mantha and Brandon Tanev.

Nedeljkovic, a 29-year-old goaltender, got into 28 games as the primary backup of former goaltender Tristan Jarry and incumbent John Gibson. He won 14 games and sported an impressive .908 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average. He added four shutouts, a career-high for him. Moving on to the Kings marks his fourth move, after stints with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Detroit Red Wings.

The team moves on from Nedeljkovic as they continue to develop young goaltender Joel Blomqvist, who starred for the Penguins' AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Blomqvist played 46 games as the Baby Penguins starting netminder, winning 25 games and accumulating a .921 save percentage.

The Penguins are expected to make one or two more moves this off-season to streamline their roster before heading to training camp in September.

[Captain Canada]

Pittsburgh unloads more cap, sends Acciari to San Jose for picks

By Josh Yohe
July 6, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced their second trade in two days, sending depth forward Noel Acciari to the San Jose Sharks for two draft picks. Dealing Acciari will clear just under $2 million in cap space for the team, spring-boarding their limited cap space to just under $10 million total. It was reported that Acciari had been open to a trade after spending most of the past season as the Penguins' 13th forward, only drawing into the lineup due to injury.

Acciari ended up drawing into 59 games during the regular season, playing mostly fourth line minutes with a mix of different linemates, scoring eight goals 12 points total. He would end up in three games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs when team captain Sidney Crosby went down with an injury. He had two assists in those three games.

He joins a young San Jose Sharks team, led by phenom Macklin Celebrini. He's expected to land a bottom-six role in the Sharks' lineup, providing secondary scoring, solid penalty-killing, and grit to a team known more for their finesse.

The Penguins add two fourth-round pick - one in next year's 2026 NHL Draft and the other the following year in 2027. The 2026 pick belonged originally to the Dallas Stars.

[Sonny]

Trade for Celebrini.

Clearing cap space like this makes me feel like you have a move in line you are preparing for. Is there anyone else in the baby Penguins you might call up?

[Captain Canada]

Trade for Celebrini.

Clearing cap space like this makes me feel like you have a move in line you are preparing for. Is there anyone else in the baby Penguins you might call up?

Nothing immediate on the horizon. But, I always love having flexibility during the season in case I need to make a move or two. The Baby Penguins need another year of growth before feeding the main roster. Owen Pickering, Jack St. Ivany, Rutget McGroarty, and Ville Koivunen were my call-ups last year and paid off. Harrison Bruineke might get a look at some point, but that's about it.

[Captain Canada]

Pittsburgh shore up defensive depth, add Erk Brannstrom with three-year contract

By Josh Yohe
July 18, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced the signing of Swedish defenseman Erik Brannstrom to a three-year contract that will carry an annual cap hit of $1.4 million. The Penguins have long been looking for the replacement in the lineup for departing defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, who recently signed his own free agent deal with the Vancouver Canucks.

Brannstrom, formerly of the Canucks and the Ottawa Senators, has had a challenge of staying in the NHL, teetering between the big league and the AHL throughout most of his career before he fell out of the lineup with the Senators as a prospect.

Brannstrom was originally 15th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft by the Vegas Golden Knights. He was a part of the trade package that ultimately landed the Golde Knights their captain, Mark Stone, and eventually made his way to stints with the New York Rangers and the Buffalo Sabres.

General Manager Kyle Dubas commended Brannstrom's smooth-skating style, adding that he could see him developing into a quarterback for the powerplay. Playing with the likes of Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang, he will have every opportunity to strengthen his skills without the pressure to immediately contribute offensively.

[Captain Canada]

Marner heads to Disney, Burns heads home, the free agency recap

By Josh Yohe
July 1, 2025

The biggest storyline of the off-season was what the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to do after yet another disappointing season that did not even see them make the playoffs. A team supposed to be an absolute contender with former MVP Auston Matthews, perennial 40-goal scorers in Mitch Marner and William Nylander, and former first overall pick forward John Tavares is supposed to be challenging for Stanley Cups. Yet another off-season left going back to the drawing board.

Except this time, there would be a mammoth change. Marner's contract was up and after a disappointing season, it became a foregone conclusion that a member of the Maple Leafs' nucleus would be taking his talents elsewhere.

The band was breaking up.

After trying to trade his rights to the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes, reportedly, Marner hit free agency on July 1st and waited a few days before announcing a 6-year deal worth $112.2 million, carrying the highest cap hit in NHL history with the Anaheim Ducks. There, Marner joins a young nucleus with players such as Leo Carlsson, Olen Zellwegger, and Mason McTavish to take the Ducks back to contender status after falling on hard times since their 2007 Stanley Cup championship.

Headlined by Marner, the San Jose Sharks also made an intriguing move, bringing back franchise defenseman Brent Burns back on a one-year deal that will pay him $13 million. Brad Marchand signed a two-year deal worth $18.6 million total to sign with the up and coming Columbus Blue Jackets looking to make noise in a stacked Metropolitan Division.

Notably, the restricted free agent class struggled to get paid like they thought they would. Evan Bouchard, Noah Dobson, and K'Andre Miller will all return to their teams on one-year deals after striking out during arbitration. The only significant restricted free agent signing was former New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes choosing to leave his brother Jack for Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks, signing a four-year contract that will have a cap hit of $5.1 million per season.

Forwards
Mitch Marner » Anaheim Ducks (6 years - $18.7M per)
Brad Marchand » Columbus Blue Jackets (2 years - $9.3M per)
Matt Duchene » Washington Capitals (2 years - $7.1M per)
Mikael Granlund » Winnipeg Jets (4 years - $7.4M per)
J.J. Peterka » Buffalo Sabres (1 year - $6.95M per)
Kyle Palmieri » Philadelphia Flyers (2 years - $4.1M per)
Reilly Smith » San Jose Sharks (2 years - $4.4M per)
Jonathan Drouin » Chicago Blackhawks (3 years - $7.5M per)
Gustav Nyquist » Calgary Flames - $3.7M per)
Pius Suter » Nashville Predators (2 years - $3.4M per)

Defensemen
Evan Bouchard » Edmonton Oilers (1 year - $5.2M per)
Noah Dobson » New York Islanders (1 year - $4.2M per)
Luke Hughes » Chicago Blackhawks (4 years - $5.1M per)
Brent Burns » San Jose Sharks (1 year - $13M per)
Matt Grzelcyk » Vancouver Canucks (4 years - $8.1M per)
Ethan Bear » Chicago Blackhawks (5 years - $4.5M)
Ryker Evans » Seattle Kraken (1 year - $2.4M per)
K'Andre Miller » New York Rangers (1 year - $2.2M per)
Ryan Lindgren » Columbus Blue Jackets (5 years - $5.2M per)
Nate Schmidt » Toronto Maple Leafs (3 years - $3.7M per)

Goaltenders
Frederik Andersen » Philadelphia Flyers (2 years - $8.7M per)
Carter Hart » Chicago Blackhawks (2 years - $5.4M per)
Jake Allen » Carolina Hurricanes (1 year - $1.8M per)
Devon Levi » Buffalo Sabres (1 year - $1.5M per)
Ilya Samsonov » Calgary Flames (2 years - $1.5M per)
Chris Driedger » Montreal Canadiens (1 year - $2.1M per)
Martin Jones » Free Agent
Vitek Vanecek » San Jose Sharks (1 year - $1M per)
Anton Forsberg » Florida Panthers (1 year - $775k per)
Malcolm Subban - Vegas Golden Knights (1 year - $775k per)

[Captain Canada]

Crosby almost managed a 50-goal season last year while Malkin pushed for 40, can they do it again this year a whole year older?

Can Defending Champion Penguins Keep Good Times Going?

PITTSBURGH, PA -- Could you believe that the Pittsburgh Penguins last year were forecasted to finish outside of the playoff picture? That they were thought to be too old to compete? Evgeni Malkin had fallen off a cliff. Sidney Crosby was finally feeling his age. Erik Karlsson was a one-trick pony that had lost a step.

It's laughable now. The old guard maintained and shocked the world, knocking off the Edmonton Oilers to be the last team standing and winning the franchise's sixth Stanley Cup.

The Pittsburgh Penguins enter the 2025-26 season returning most of the Stanley Cup championship roster, continuing to circle around their aging but still dynamic core. The team managed to resign star winger Brock Boeser after a fantastic postseason, citing building around him as the team's core going into the future. General Manager Kyle Dubas made it clear that the Penguins will continue to compete for Stanley Cups while 87/71/65/58 (Kris Letang) remain on the roster, but it would be irresponsible to not build the youth under the wings of their four Hall of Famers.

The team added depth pieces in Brandon Tanev, Anthony Mantha, and Erik Brannstrom in free agency, while allowing Matt Grzelcyk to walk in free agenct while moving pieces like Noel Acciari and Alex Nedeljkovic to free up some cap space. The Penguins are intent on relying on cheap pieces to get depth scoring, which separated the team from the pack last season.

"We can't continue to rely on Sidney [Crosby] and Evgeni [Malkin] to save us for the rest of their careers," commented head coach Mike Sullivan. "Expecting to get 20-goal scorers from our bottom six isn't realistic, but we expect a full-team effort going forward. We got a lot younger and faster this off-season, and it has to show on the ice."

The team is expected to start young forwards like Ville Koivunen and Jack St. Ivany in the American Hockey League as the team tries to find the correct lineups to start things out, while Owen Pickering is projected to get a significant role in the NHL after a solid performance in the playoffs last year. Goaltender Joel Blomqvist will be backing up John Gibson after a star-studded effort last season in the minors.

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Season Outlook

We learned from last season to underestimate any team that Sidney Crosby is playing on, so we're not going to do that again. However, he is 38-years-old and his counterpart in Evgeni Malkin is a year older. The expectation that they are going to get the offense generated from their bottom six forward corps like they did from the likes of Thomas Novak, Emil Bemstrom, and Philip Tomasino last year feels like a recipe for disaster. They'll make the playoffs, but it feels like the window might be tight to get Crosby/Malkin/Letang a fifth Stanley Cup in their careers.

[Captain Canada]

2025/26 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS OPENING NIGHT ROSTER

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2025/26 Lineup

11, Trevor Zegras, F	87, Sidney Crosby, F [C]	17, Bryan Rust, F
6, Brock Boeser, F	71 Evgeni Malkin, F [A]	67, Rickard Rakell, F
13, Brandon Tanev, F	18, Boone Jenner, F	39, Anthony Mantha, F
53, Philip Tomasino, F	2, Rutger McGroarty, F	52, Emil Bemstrom, F
9, Ivan Provorov, D	65, Erik Karlsson, D
38, Owen Pickering, D	58, Kris Letang, D [A]
23, Vladislav Kolyachonok, D	26, Erik Brannstrom, D
36, John Gibson, G
30, Joel Blomqvist, G

HEALTHY SCRATCHES
#46 Blake Lizotte, F | #22 Samuel Poulin, F

[/center]

[Captain Canada]

2 vs. 1 October 14, 2025 || PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA Vatrano scores in dying seconds, Ducks spoil banner night GAME SUMMARY The Pittsburgh Penguins raised the banner on last year's Stanley Cup championship in front of a raucous crowd, looking to start their season off on a high in their Cup defense. They will have to try again another night, as the Anaheim Ducks managed to sneak away with 2 points after a 2-1 victory. This comes as a thanks from forward Frank Vatrano's snapshot sneaking past goaltender (and former Anaheim Duck) John Gibson with 26 seconds remaining. The Penguins almost managed to tie things up after forward Brandon Tanev got sprung on a breakaway, but the shot attempt was kicked aside by goalie Lukas Dostal. Gibson managed to keep the Penguins in the game with 30 saves as the offense came to a slow start from puck drop, only managing four shots of their own in the first period. They spent most of the first 40 minutes on their heels, taking multiple penalties consecutively (Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Trevor Zegras all took penalties). Alex Killorn eventually made the Penguins pay for their lack of discipline with a powerplay goal. The Penguins' lone goal came from former Anaheim Duck Trevor Zegras, hammering home a one-timer thanks to a perfect set-up pass from captain Sidney Crosby. The team will return to action on October 17th to take on the Vancouver Canucks. SCORING SUMMARY 1st Period NO SCORING 2nd Period 10:02 - Trevor Zegras (1) Assisted by: Sidney Crosby & Anthony Mantha [PP] 13:35 - Alex Killorn (2) Assisted by: Ryan Strome [PP] 3rd Period 19:34 - Frank Vatrano (1) Assisted by: None Goaltending Matchup vs. Lukas Dostal - 28 saves on 29 shots | John Gibson - 30 saves on 32 shots