Recent Posts

Penguins Grades: Crosby Carries Team; Pens Have Rough 24 Hours

CHICAGO — There are low event games, and then there are D’oh event games. The Pittsburgh Penguins have endured a bruising 24 hours, from losing at home to the Florida Panthers in a game that felt like a curtain closer, and in the process, lost primary scoring winger Jake Guentzel for at least the next […]

Kingerski: Penguins’ Inaction Was the Problem; What Exactly Was the Plan?

The Pittsburgh Penguins this season have been a flawed team from the beginning. Since November, they’ve been figuratively crying out for help, but none was forthcoming. The team’s flaws have been exposed. They lack enough emotional leaders. The third pairing has been a problem child all season. With respect to Chad Ruhwedel, his place in […]

Penguins Wrap: Malkin’s Big Admission; Honoring Jagr’s Greatness

The Pittsburgh Penguins are celebrating their past this weekend, honoring Jaromir Jagr for his many achievements during 11 seasons with the franchise. Good idea, because there’s not much to celebrate about their present. They snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory in Chicago Thursday, but remain well behind the Eastern Conference playoff field […]

Penguins Report Card: Malkin Rises, but Pens’ Ship is Sinking Fast

A power play terrified to shoot and gives up a breakaway goal at its conclusion. A team that can’t muster the fear or urgency to win games on home ice with their season on the line. Last season, it took until Game 81 for the Pittsburgh Penguins to be eliminated from playoff contention. The impatient […]

Former NHLer Kypreos Rips Dubas’ Work as GM in Toronto

Dubas, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ president of hockey operations and general manager, earned mixed reviews for his work as GM in Toronto. It’s not hard to figure the camp in which Nick Kypreos, a former NHL player and “contributing columnist” for the Toronto Star, resides. Kypreos offered a assessment of Dubas’ performance in Thursday’s editions of […]

Penguins Pushing Erik Karlsson, Time for ‘Difference-Maker’ to Let Loose

CRANBERRY — Erik Karlsson was the prized get on the NHL trade market last summer. One by one, teams that had visions of adding the Norris Trophy winner who can skate with the elegance of the Russians and the speed of the wind dropped out until two remained. And then one, as the Pittsburgh Penguins […]

Reilly Smith Fires Back on Rumors, ‘Totally Baseless’

CALGARY, Alberta — The rumors have grown so loud and so widely accepted as to become common knowledge, if not fact. You’ve heard the chatter that has been widespread for a couple of months: Pittsburgh Penguins winger Reilly Smith is unhappy in Pittsburgh. Perhaps the only person who hasn’t heard that talk is the player […]

Dubas Presser: Guentzel’s Future, Shakeup Trade, and the Rebuild Plans

CRANBERRY — Pittsburgh Penguins president Kyle Dubas had the same thought as many of us. The team needed a shakeup and needed a trade. Dubas addressed that possibility as well as Jake Guentzel’s future, Mike Sullivan’s requests, and why you should not expect to see a tear it down, burn it down, rebuild. Guentzel’s future […]

Penguins Grades: Letang Meltdown, Late Collapse Rocks Team

CALGARY, Alberta — The Pittsburgh Penguins got a pair of bottom-six goals. They scored a power-play goal in the second period and led 3-1 with 10 minutes remaining. Yet the Penguins remain the most self-destructive team in the NHL. Calgary scored two goals 32 seconds apart in the middle of the third period and another […]

Penguins Game 57 vs. Kraken: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

It’s Leap Day, and while the Pittsburgh Penguins will need more than one win to jump ahead of some of the teams ahead of them, they will get a chance Thursday to continue an important road trip on a positive note when they meet the Kraken in Seattle. The Penguins (27-21-8) play the second of […]

UPDATED: Bryan Rust Not on Road Trip With Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins, who are in Vancouver to begin a four-game western trip, practiced Monday without top-line right winger Bryan Rust, and coach Mike Sullivan told reporters afterward that the team is still awaiting word on the extent of Rust’s injury. “(Rust) is at home right now; he did not make the trip with us,” […]

Penguins Postgame: Backstory to Loss; Now the Trade Deadline (+)

EDMONTON, Alberta — The Pittsburgh Penguins were no match for themselves or the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night. Edmonton steamrolled the Penguins 6-1 at Rogers Place, marking both the beginning and end of multiple Penguins storylines. The Penguins locker room must continue to believe they are in the playoff chase. President of hockey operations/GM Dubas is […]

Dubas: Major Makeover for Penguins Likely Coming This Summer

CRANBERRY — It’s not that the Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t have assets to move as the NHL trade deadline approached. After all, they entered final day leading up to the deadline Friday with no fewer than five players with expiring contracts on their major-league roster. And that’s not counting guys with time left on their deals […]

Penguins Trade Grade: 2nd-Tier Hurricanes, Pens’ Loss Deeper than Guentzel

The Pittsburgh Penguins did not get the top prospects, nor a top-six NHL player from the Carolina Hurricanes as Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas zipped Sidney Crosby’s longtime sidecar Jake Guentzel to Carolina for three prospects, a conditional second-rounder that could become a first, and Dubas-acquainted winger Michael Bunting. Bunting will plug a […]

Penguins Game 51 vs. Blackhawks: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Whew boy. The Pittsburgh Penguins have dug a deep hole as they head into a road game Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Penguins (23-20-7) have a quick turnaround following a 5-2 loss Wednesday at home against the Florida Panthers that had fans booing at times. It was their third straight loss. The Blackhawks (14-36-3) […]

Penguins’ Dubas Will Get Lots of Calls, But How Many Matter?

There will be innumerable breathless reports across North America between now and the NHL trade deadline next Friday at 3 p.m. about general managers, including Kyle Dubas of the Pittsburgh Penguins, fielding calls inquiring about particular players, and which scouts have requested a press-box seat at which games. Many, if not all, of those reports […]