NHL
2026 NHL
Trade Deadline
How the Penguins' season will end is anyone's guess, but if nothing else, it will be intriguing. Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images
PITTSBURGH — No team in the past 35 years has claimed the Stanley Cup more than the Pittsburgh Penguins. No franchise has produced more Hart or Art Ross Trophy winners during that time, either.
On the flip side, no team has filed for bankruptcy more than the Penguins since they entered the NHL in 1967.
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Their highs and their lows have been so extreme that there has never been a franchise quite like them. When they’re good, they’re historically great. When they’re bad, the only thing about them that isn’t pathetic is their timing. See 1984 and 2005.
Love them or hate them, marvel at them or envy them, the Penguins are a fascinating franchise. Rarely have they ever been more interesting than at this very moment.
The rebuilding Penguins appear to be legitimate contenders. Let that contradiction sink in.
The Penguins were widely expected to finish this season in contention for Gavin McKenna, the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. As things currently stand, only four teams — heavyweights Colorado, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Carolina — have a better goal differential than the Penguins.
These are indeed strange times, and how the Penguins will handle Friday’s trade deadline remains a mystery.
Last summer, the general manager/president of hockey operations everyone has heard of hired a coach no one has heard of. Kyle Dubas is riding an extraordinary hot streak and the crown jewel of this run was his decision to hire Dan Muse, who has made the leap from relative anonymity to Jack Adams Award candidate in the blink of an eye.
The Penguins started the season on an 8-2-2 run, which caught everyone off guard. Most chalked it up to the adrenaline a new coach can bring.
This appeared to be a correct analysis by the time December rolled around. The Penguins lost nine of their past 10 games before the holiday break, and that wasn’t even half of the story. Over one weekend, they blew a four-goal lead in the third period on a Saturday and a three-goal lead in the third period on a Sunday. Both games were played at home, and both resulted in losses. On that same homestand, they allowed a game-tying, short-handed goal with 0.1 seconds remaining. Yeah, that really happened.
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Things became so dire, in fact, that puck drop had to be pushed back during the same homestand because the team that was becoming a wreck got stuck behind an actual wreck on the way to PPG Paints Arena.
It was the kind of losing skid that destroys a team. Instead, it seems to have inspired this one.
Losing nine of 10 games is something to behold, but since then, the Penguins are 16-3-4.
Their most volatile player, Erik Karlsson, has been their most steady contributor all season. Dubas has been both grilled and praised for acquiring Karlsson in the summer of 2023. A few months ago, Karlsson and his hefty contract were perhaps unmovable. As of today, Dubas could trade Karlsson for a significant return, given how he has performed. But Dubas likely wouldn’t dare.
Their oldest player, Evgeni Malkin, has showcased nothing but young legs all season. He wants to come back for another season, which seems like a no-brainer to everyone in the fan base, but Dubas isn’t so sure what to do.
Nothing about these Penguins makes sense, which is what makes them so fun.
Dubas was roundly criticized and mocked by those in the NHL Draft community for selecting Ben Kindel with the 11th pick in 2025. Kindel was too small, they said. He wasn’t a good enough skater. He wasn’t physically dynamic enough to be drafted so high.
Kindel, as it turns out, was a steal. He’s in the Hall of Fame of 18-year-olds in Pittsburgh history who have thrived, joining Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Jaromir Jagr and a handful of others (Mario Lemieux was 19 when he made his debut).
Then, there’s the rest of the lineup. Dubas will never admit it, but last summer certainly had the feel of a general manager doing his due diligence, putting a professional team on the ice for the sake of appearance more than anything else. No, he wasn’t Rachel Phelps in “Major League,” but come on. Parker Wotherspoon? Justin Brazeau? Anthony Mantha? Connor Clifton? Arturs Silovs?
Really?
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Those aren’t impactful players. Those are competent but cheap NHL players who would give the appearance that the Penguins weren’t tanking, when anyone with a functioning hockey brain knew what they were watching was, at least, a soft tank.
Then, the contradiction of all contradictions took place.
Wotherspoon was apparently always a top-pairing defenseman, but just needed the opportunity. Mantha and Brazeau are a couple of power forward monsters, Brazeau realizing his potential and Mantha resuscitating his while the two primarily play on the same line.
Silovs has drawn so much attention for his admittedly horrific shootout performance that we’ve overlooked how impressive a young goaltender he’s becoming.
Clifton looked lost at times early in the season, but he is very much found now.
The unpredictability of this team traces directly back to Dubas.
He could stand pat, do nothing at the deadline. Who would blame him? His moves have all worked and he currently has more draft picks than he could have imagined a couple of years ago. Keeping them all would pay off in the future.
He could sell, believe it or not, because there is enough depth in Wilkes-Barre that the Penguins would likely make the playoffs anyway. He won’t do this, but he could. Think Mantha or Stuart Skinner would fetch a pretty penny these days?
He could go small, adding some depth. Safe. Prudent.
He could reasonably go big and try to win the whole damn thing.
Anything and everything is in play. It’s hard to get a feel for precisely what Dubas will do because while he handles news conferences with a smoothness and intellect that is rare in hockey circles, he isn’t expected to speak with the media until after the deadline.
So profoundly strange is this team that anything could happen between now and the season’s conclusion.
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They could lose their next eight games in a row, and no one would be completely shocked, not with Crosby out of the lineup. As magical as this season has been, there is a consistent apprehension among observers, as though the bottom could fall out of this impossible dream at any time.
They could also stay hot. What they did against Vegas on Sunday was clinical. And sure, Crosby being out for at least a couple of more weeks stings. It’s a concern. But what if the Penguins stay afloat? What if they stay hot? What could a rested Crosby do with his long-awaited return to the Stanley Cup playoffs in full view?
Yes, the Penguins could crash and burn, and not even make the playoffs. Of course it’s possible. Look at that March schedule.
They could also make the playoffs before being quickly escorted to the offseason by the New York Islanders, who have long been their Freddy Krueger in the spring.
Or maybe Crosby and Malkin have a last dance left in them.
If you think you know what’s going to happen, you’re lying. Predictions are mere guesswork at this point.
All we know is that, with the Penguins, whatever happens will be remarkable theater. It always is.
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Josh Yohe is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. Josh joined The Athletic in 2017 after covering the Penguins for a decade, first for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and then for DKPittsburghSports.com. Follow Josh on Twitter @JoshYohe_PGH
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