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If you haven’t been keeping up with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the offseason you might be taken aback by just how many NHL caliber forwards they have at the NHL level. Kyle Dubas was busy locking in depth for the upcoming season and from a numbers standpoint there aren’t enough roster spots for everyone.
You have returning stalwarts of the lineup in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell. Then you have recent additions whose jobs are safe like Ben Kindel, Tommy Novak, and Egor Chinakhov.
That leaves five forward slots for the game lineup and more than five options.
Koivunen’s spot to take
If you are trying to figure out who outside of the core forwards are going to make the NHL roster I think starting with their contract situations is a great place to start. Money talks and the players with either money, term, or both are always going to have a leg up on the competition.
Kyle Dubas joined other general managers in taking a risk by giving long term contracts to players before they hit their full stride. Ville Koivunen was given an eight-year 32M contract this offseason. You don’t think that he is going to be given every benefit of the doubt to make the roster? Now you are likely down to four roster spots on the game day roster for forwards.
While the contract is a risk, I like the risk taken on this contract. Koivunen had a pretty disappointing season in 2025-26 relative to expectations. I was bullish on him heading into the season and he was unable to produce tangible offense at the NHL level like he was in the AHL. The good news is that he continued to put up over a point per game with the Baby Penguins. From early reports at camp it seems like last year was a kick in the ass and Koivunen has come into camp in better shape with more explosive skating.
I predict that it will translate into more actual production with the Penguins. Koivunen thinks the game well. He has good hands and skills. The Finnish forward just wasn’t creating the same time and space which allowed him to do the things he does in the AHL. The stronger skating should provide that little bit of extra time to make those decisions and passes he is good at.
Let’s say the contract was wishful thinking and Koivunen is stuck at the level he played at in 2025-26. In the summer of 2028 he could be bought out and the cap hit would never exceed 729k, albeit for 12 seasons. This is essentially a two-year tryout. I think this is a good gamble. When you look at all the other contracts being handed out around the league getting value on a 4M AAV isn’t going to be a high bar to clear. If Koivunen becomes a middle six winger this contract is a home run.
Long story short, Koivunen is going to get a roster spot due to the contract commitment.
New veterans
In July, Dubas signed both Nick Robertson and Andrei Kuzmenko in unrestricted free agency. Robertson was signed for two years at 3.25M. Kuzmenko is on the Anthony Mantha plan where you sign for a year at 5M and try to bounce back to former levels of play.
With Robertson, there is a history with Dubas as they were both in Toronto together. Robertson is not a pending UFA and as such will be given the benefit of the doubt in making the roster. Yesterday, Robertson was skating with Sidney Crosby in line rushes. Now, training camp lines aren’t concrete by any stretch of the imagination, but it does show that the organization wants to give Robertson a chance to show what he has. Nobody skating with Crosby is an accident, even at training camp.
Likewise, Kuzmenko is skating with Ben Kindel and Bryan Rust at the moment. Dubas didn’t give him 5M because he thought he was going to be a bench player. As mentioned above, this is Dubas’ attempt at replacing Anthony Mantha.
The underlyings are decent with Kuzmenko and the actual offense hasn’t been there at 5v5. He only had a 1.1 points per 60 at 5v5 last year with the Kings. This is a player who has scored 38 goals in a season before. It is worth noting that he did shoot 27% during that season and that is not a reasonable number to expect. For his career he is a 20% shooter so there is some shooting talent to be tapped into.
It will be interesting to see if Kuzmenko will slot onto the top power play unit considering he has done some damage over the years with the man advantage. Given his power play capabilities, a goal scoring past, and his 5M cap hit, he will almost certainly have a roster spot heading into the season.
With Robertson and Kuzmenko on the roster that leaves only two game day roster spots for forwards.
The battle for the remaining spots
With only two roster spots hypothetically left that leaves an intense competition among skaters who are, or are close to NHL caliber. The group of players fighting to get into the lineup include: Justin Brazeau, Elmer Soderblom, Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar, Rutger McGroarty, Filip Hallander, Avery Hayes, and Tristan Broz
The reality of the situation is that not all of these players are going to be sticking around in Pittsburgh. Some will make their way to WB/S and there is a possibility some might even be claimed on waivers.
It would not be surprising to see Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes, and Tristan Broz get sent to WB/S to start the year. It might not even be related to their performance on the ice in camp. They are just the players who can be sent down without waivers. This will buy Dubas some time to sort out the bigger picture at the forward position. Their contract situations will be working against them whether it is fair or not.
My prediction is Justin Brazeau finds himself on waivers or traded for a bare minimum return. I just don’t see a roster spot for him with all of these other options. He had a nice hot stretch to start the 2025-26 season on Evgeni Malkin’s line, but he isn’t going to find himself on Malkin’s line again anytime soon. He is expendable and is a pending UFA. Kuzmenko has a better resume and will take his spot.
Elmer Soderblom is a unicorn as far as his body type and Dubas paid a 3rd round pick for him. He is going to be put in a position to take a roster spot. My understanding is that he would have to go through waivers and I don’t think the organization is ready to lose a 3rd round pick investment when they have other players who don’t have to go through waivers.
Filip Hallander unfortunately had blood clotting issues which stole his 2025-26 season from him. He was trending towards being an effective bottom six NHL player. He averaged over a point per game in the Swedish elite league in 2024-25. He may not be on a lot of people’s radar, but he probably has a better path to starting the year in Pittsburgh than some of the younger players.
Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar both had strong seasons in a fourth line role. Lizotte buzzes around the ice and brings an element of speed to the bottom six. Dewar put in 14 goals with his limited minutes and has ties to Dubas from Toronto.
Lizotte recently signed a three-year extension. So guess what? He is taking a roster spot.
So that leaves one game night spot for Soderblom, Dewar, and Hallander.
Cracking this lineup is not going to be easy for those near the bottom of the depth chart. There is a ton of competition. There are going to be very disappointed players heading out of training camp. There is no way around it. Dubas chose to have the numbers at the forward position heading into camp with very limited spots available.
Part of revamping the organization and getting things back on track is building up the depth. You can’t say Dubas hasn’t done that at the forward position. Things are going to be very interesting in the very near future.
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