Opinion: If Penguins Are To Let Youth Shine, They Need To Make Some Room

One of the most universal cliches in sports is that opportunities must be earned. Athletes are never just going to be handed things, and those who put in the most work tend to be rewarded. 

While this is a necessary mindset for any player trying to reach the pinnacle of their respective sport, there is a line: It's impossible to earn opportunities if there is no opportunity to be had.

And that is the situation several young players in the Pittsburgh Penguins' organization are set to face when the puck drops for the upcoming 2026-27 season with the NHL roster as currently constructed.

The Penguins have been a relatively active team so far in the offseason, and they continued that work around the dawn of free agency. Prior to Jul. 1, they acquired RFA forward Hendrix Lapierre from the Washington Capitals for a pair of draft picks, forward David Gustafsson from the Winnipeg Jets for defenseman Jack St. Ivany, and right defenseman Kaeden Korczak from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for left blueliner Parker Wotherspoon.

Then, once free agency hit, they added forward Nick Robertson for a fourth-round pick in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs, then forward Andrei Kuzmenko, defenseman Declan Carlile, and veteran blueliner Trevor van Riemsdyk via free agent signings.

And the only players from last year's mainstay roster they've subtracted? Other than goaltender Stuart Skinner, forwards Noel Acciari and Anthony Mantha plus defensemen Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea, who signed a five-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers.

As a result, there is even less room on the roster for young players like Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Avery Hayes, Tristan Broz, and Harrison Brunicke, all of whom are at or near the point where an extended stay in the NHL is best for their development. The only young player with a direct pathway to the roster is Sergei Murashov, who will likely be the second half of the goaltending tandem next season along with Arturs Silovs.

The only solution? To make some room for them.

Right now - even without Robertson signed up to this point - the Penguins already have 13 forwards for their NHL roster, none of which are McGroarty, Koivunen, Hayes, or Broz. They also have four right-shot defensemen, none of which are Brunicke.

Of course, as mentioned before, simply just leaving those spots gift-wrapped for these young players isn't necessarily the best course of action, but neither is blocking them with legitimate upside NHL players who are already established. Once Robertson signs, there's next to no way he's not in the forward lineup. Lapierre could be a twelfth or thirteenth forward, but he's still an NHL player, as is Kuzmenko and every other forward who was on the NHL roster last season.

The same goes for the blue line. Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang are locks on the right side, and the same goes with Korczak. van Riemsdyk is a veteran who can play both sides and will probably feature somewhere on the left for the most part, but that's still a roster spot that won't be Brunicke's, especially with Carlisle, Girard, and Ilya Solovyov also options on the left.

All in all, Kyle Dubas has done a great job in his tenure with the Penguins with regards to balancing the need for keeping young players who have earned their NHL playing time - Ben Kindel is a prime example - and adding peripheral middle- and bottom-six players to bolster the NHL roster. It has also helped that, by and large, the young players weren't quite ready the past two seasons to make the jump to the NHL level on a more permanent basis.

'I'm In Really Good Hands With The Penguins': Goaltending Prospect Eager To Make Permanent Jump To ProsPittsburgh Penguins' goaltending prospect Gabriel D'Aigle is ready to transition full-time to the pros next season, and he trusts the path that the organization's development staff has laid out for him.

Well, now they are - or, at least, almost all of these five will be at some point this season. All of them should be. But, without any open opportunity, barring injury, to crack the NHL roster out of camp with the roster as is, it's unlikely they'd all have a fair shot to end up sticking around next season.

With rumors swirling about Dubas, the Penguins, and the trade market, it’s entirely possible that they’ll move out some of the players on the NHL roster prior to the start of the season. Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell are frequent subjects of trade speculation, and Tommy Novak, Justin Brazeau, and Karlsson have been brought up as well since they are all in the final year of their current contracts. So, if the Penguins move on from a few of their veterans, it will make way for at least a couple of the other guys to have a legitimate shot.

But, if not, there is a good chance that some of the Penguins’ prized youth will be stuck in limbo yet again, which could end up not only stunting their development but also frustrating them to an extent. That is the last thing the Penguins need as they attempt to rebuild their roster younger on-the-fly while their best veterans eventually age out. 

There is still time for something to shift this summer. But Dubas and the Penguins need to get this right, and they have two more months to figure it out.

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