Ladies and Gents, Your 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins

With all the recent player movement, I thought it might be a good idea to publish the Penguins’ depth chart ahead of Tuesday’s season opener with Mike Sullivan’s Rangers.

Coach Dan Muse’s select 23 include 13 forwards, 8 defensemen and 2 goalies. Forwards Kevin Hayes, Rutger McGroarty and Bryan Rust, along with goalie Joel Blomqvist, start the season on IR.

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Rakell	Crosby	Koivunen
Mantha	Malkin	Brazeau
Novak	Kindel	Tomasino
Dewar	Lizotte	Acciari
	Hållander
Left Defense	Right Def.	Goal
Wotherspoon	Karlsson	Jarry
Shea	Letang	Silovs
Dumba	Brunicke
Jones	Clifton

 

The defensive pairings are still a bit up in the air. Caleb Jones partnered with Kris Letang and Connor Clifton manned the portside next to rookie Harrison Brunicke in the preseason finale. I think Ryan Shea and Matt Dumba, both of whom performed well in the preseason, will man those posts before all is said and done, with Jones and Clifton in reserve.

Speaking of our defense, Dan Kingerski on Pittsburgh Hockey Now does an excellent job of laying out the options for Ryan Graves should he clear waivers, including a potential buyout next summer. A great read.

Likewise, Jim Rixner (aka Hooks Orpik) shares some interesting (and unsettling) thoughts regarding former first-round pick Owen Pickering on Pensburgh. He makes a strong argument that if a young defenseman isn’t NHL-ready by his draft-year + four, he’s never going to be.

Hooks sights numerous examples in the comments section of his article, including former Pen Pierre-Olivier Joseph. I’ll add another ex-Pen, former eighth-overall pick Derrick Pouliot.

Eddie Shore…Olde Time Hockey?

In the first preseason meeting between the Lightning and Panthers on Thursday night, the physically imposing defending Cup champs flexed their considerable muscle during a 5-2 loss to their in-state rival.

The pounding reached its nadir early in the third period, when Sam Bennett and Panthers hit-men Jonah Gadjovich and A.J. Greer were each issued misconducts for ganging up on game but outgunned Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg.

Shades of the Hanson Brothers and Charlestown Chiefs of Slap Shot fame.

Well, for last night’s rematch, the Lightning decided to fight fire with fire. Taking their cue from the Chiefs’ celluloid rival, the Syracuse Bulldogs, the Lightning recalled six players from their actual Syracuse farm club, the aptly named Crunch.

While the recalled players, quickly dubbed the “Syracuse Six,” weren’t exactly latter day versions of Ross “Mad Dog” Madison, Gilmore Tuttle, Andre “Poodle” Lussier, Clarence “Screaming Buffalo” Swamptown and “Ogie” Ogelthorpe, they did include notorious minor-league brawler Scott Sabourin and rugged defenseman Roman Schmidt.

The results? All-too-predictable. On his first shift of the game, Sabourin charged out of the chute like a rampaging bull and immediately zeroed Aaron Ekblad, who’d beaten up Mitchell Chaffee in the previous contest.

After blasting Ekblad into the boards with a hard, clean check, Sabourin came back at the Panthers’ star defender with a head shot and began firing punches. He proceeded to challenge the Florida bench on his way to the penalty box.

A short stay, as it turned out. Sabourin was assessed a match penalty.

The tone, however was set, as the bitter rivals combined for 322 penalty minutes, including five fights and countless skirmishes. The fact that the Panthers won, 7-0, seemed almost secondary to the Lightning, who obviously felt they needed to send a message.

Somewhere, Reg Dunlop and Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken must be smiling.