The week ahead: Trade deadline week arrives for Penguins

Overall it’s a must to be proud of the way in which the Pittsburgh Penguins performed their first week again out of the 2026 Winter Olympic break. Despite not having captain Sidney Crosby within the lineup, they nonetheless earned 5 out of a attainable six factors to assist keep their place within the second playoff spot within the Metropolitan Division. While Saturday’s sport towards the New York Rangers produced a irritating end result, letting a 2-0 lead slip away towards a foul workforce and shedding yet one more shootout, the way in which they responded on Sunday made all of it fairly straightforward to let go. The necessary factor at this level is to simply hold gathering factors. They are.

Now they enter an necessary week for their season: Trade deadline week.

Yes, there are video games to be performed as properly, and so they actually begin to get into the meat of their powerful March schedule, however it is usually going to be fascinating to see how Kyle Dubas handles this week from a roster transfer perspective.

He has already been busy this season, having traded Tristan Jarry to the Edmonton Oilers for Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak and a 2029 second-round draft decide, buying Egor Chinakhov from the Columbus Blue Jackets for second-and third-round picks, after which most lately buying and selling defenseman Kulak to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Samuel Girard and one other 2028 second-round draft decide.

There would possibly nonetheless be extra forward.

The huge questions to look at this week:

We know he has a ton of draft decide capital to commerce from, he has alternatives to amass extra if he trades from that, and we all know the Penguins have an infinite quantity of wage cap area to work with each this season and in future seasons.

There are a number of potentialities right here. My guess is there may be a minimum of another commerce of some significance earlier than Friday. It is only a matter of what that appears like.

In between all of that there are video games to take care of.

The week begins on Tuesday with a street sport on the Boston Bruins. The Bruins have been wildly inconsistent all season and stay a tricky workforce to get a learn on. Their report is ok. Their underlying numbers are horrible and counsel a workforce that has overachieved.

David Pastrnak is without doubt one of the greatest gamers in hockey and the primary man they should be involved with, whereas Morgan Geekie has became a prime goal-scorer (no one noticed that occuring) and provides them a powerful 1-2 punch offensively. But they’ve restricted depth past these two and a protection that will get actually skinny as quickly as you get past Charlie McAvoy.

The Penguins all the time appear to wrestle in Boston, and already misplaced there as soon as this season having misplaced a 1-0 sport again on January 11. They have only one regulation defeat since then, going 10-1-4 within the 15 video games since, incomes 24 out of a 30 attainable factors. That is an .800 factors proportion.

The Penguins then return residence for a three-game homestand that begins on Thursday towards the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo has been the NHL’s greatest workforce record-wise since mid-December, and is coming off a formidable 6-2 win towards the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. They look for actual and are going to be a really formidable opponent. The Penguins, nevertheless, have gained the primary two video games of the season towards Buffalo, outscoring them by a 9-4 margin. The first sport was in all probability slightly deceptive with its 4-2 remaining rating (the Sabers have been arguably one of the best workforce in that sport), however the Penguins response earlier than the Olympic break was a totally convincing win.

They then have one other weekend back-to-back. The first of these video games shall be on Saturday towards the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers sort of sunk out of the playoff race earlier than the Olympic break and are actually going into the NHL Trade Deadline as doubtless sellers. It stays to be seen what their roster will seem like on Saturday, however I’d not anticipate any main modifications. This would be the fourth assembly of the season, with the Penguins having gained two of the primary three and gathering 5 out of a attainable six factors in these video games. The final two video games have been utterly one-sided with the Penguins outscoring them by an 11-4 margin.

The Penguins then conclude the week on Sunday, book-ending it with one other sport towards the Bruins, this time at residence. Both groups shall be enjoying the second half of a back-to-back, whereas the Penguins could have the benefit of not having to journey and already being at residence.

On paper, it is a powerful schedule. They have three video games towards doubtless playoff groups, however the Penguins have executed extraordinarily properly in these matchups this season. Against groups presently in a playoff place, they’re 12-5-7, ok for a .645 factors proportion. That could be a 105.7 factors tempo over an 82-game season. Against groups with a top-10 level proportion they’re even higher with a 9-3-3 report this season. They have been capable of persistently increase their sport and degree of play towards playoff groups and the highest groups within the league.

Still, these are going to be some powerful video games. Given the place the Penguins are within the standings, the cushion they’ve created for themselves and the actual fact they’re nonetheless with out Crosby for the time being, they beautiful a lot want to simply play .500 hockey to take care of issues till Crosby returns. Anything that ends in 4 or extra factors this week needs to be thought-about a win.