Penguins Overall Rebuild Grade: F
Core: D+
Overall Roster: F
Prospect Pool: B+
Head Coach & General Manager: B+
Penguins Were Past Due For Rebuild & It’s Not Looking Good
The Pittsburgh Penguins kept kicking the can down the road and hoping to keep a contending window open that hasn’t existed for a long time (their last playoff appearance was in 2022, and their last Stanley Cup title was 2017, nearly a decade ago). The time to rebuild has come, and GM Kyle Dubas has a mess to clean up.
It’s hard to say the Penguins don’t have a core, after all, this is a team with future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby still playing at a high level. The problem is that there aren’t young players to build around. Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, and Arturs Silovs, who they acquired this offseason, are all hopefuls but unproven regulars at the NHL level. The aging core, with Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang leading them, is declining and won’t be around when this team is competitive.
The problems are bigger once the entire roster comes into play. There aren’t a lot of players in their 20s on it. Instead, Erik Karlsson, Mathew Dumba, Rickard Rakell, and Tristan Jarry are among the veterans 30 or older who are expected to be part of the lineup next season (although Rakell is one of the few trade assets).
The good news is that the rebuild process is beginning. Mike Sullivan is an excellent head coach but the Penguins needed a new voice and someone who could work with a younger team. Dan Muse was hired this offseason to do just that, and with time, he should develop the rebuilding roster.
The other plus is that the prospect pool, while lacking a star who can become a core player, has multiple names who can become NHL-caliber talents (they can thank the Jake Guentzel trade and a few other moves for that). The Penguins can have a roster with plenty of depth on it, assuming the quantity of prospects becomes quality.
Outsider’s Perspective
There’s a perception around the league that the Penguins, who are staring at a rebuild and kept delaying the inevitable, are still delaying it, at least until Crosby and Malkin are gone. This is a team that needs to rebuild but refuses to, and it only makes their situation worse.
One NHL writer noted how they are “stuck between a full rebuild and keeping the group competitive while Crosby is still around. Certainly feels like they’re just waiting for Malkin to leave before fully blowing up the roster. Given they haven’t made many top picks, the pool is in decent shape but lacks top-end talent.”
It makes the Crosby question a burning one. Does he end his career in Pittsburgh? He heads to free agency after the 2025-26 season but there’s a good chance he re-signs with the team to retire in Pittsburgh. If that happens, the Penguins have a tough balancing act, and with Crosby raising their floor, it makes a rebuild only more difficult (although they are shaping up to be in the top lottery position next season).
The Bottom Line
The Penguins have only started to enter the rebuild phase. It’s why they are the furthest team from contention. They are not only a few seasons away from contention, they are multiple years away from once again contending for the Cup. Their best hope is to draft the next Crosby or Mario Lemeoux, which they will be in a position to do after this season if a certain Penn State prospect falls to them at one.
I disagree with the premise that the Penguins took too long to start a rebuild. Dubas just did a horrible job of taking a really solid core and adding the pieces around it to make the team competitive. Bad moves by a GM do not mean they should have started a rebuild sooner.
Dubas inherited 5/6 of a really good top 6 that were all on attractive contracts and all he had to do was bolster the D and improve the bottom 6 depth. Instead he traded for Karlsson and signed a bunch of weak bottom 6 guys to shitty contracts.
The Pens didnt need to start a rebuild earlier, they needed to hire a GM who isn’t god awful.