Well, it’s officially Sept. 1, and that means the NHL regular season officially begins at the end of the month, and training camps will kick off in just a few short weeks.
For some Pittsburgh Penguins fans, it’s understandable – to an extent – that this offseason may have been a bit of a disappointment. Despite “big-game hunting” being advertised, nothing seismic happened in the trade market, even if pretty big efforts were put forth to make a big splash (see the Jason Robertson saga).
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Smaller moves were made to offset roster losses from last season, and even if tiny improvements were made to the margins of the roster, it’s fair to wonder whether those improvements will be enough to offset improvements by other teams – most notably, the Washington Capitals – in the Metropolitan Division next season.
And one point of contention that is still a hot-button talking point is the fact that all of the Penguins’ aging veterans are still on the roster.
Had Kyle Dubas and the Penguins been successful in hauling a big fish this summer, it more than likely would have involved at least one of their talented veterans going the other way. But Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Erik Karlsson, and Kris Letang are still in the mix, and it appears likely they will all still be in the mix once the puck drops against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sept. 30 for opening night.
Some will call it a failure that the Penguins are still holding on to all of these players – the youngest among them being Rakell at age 33 – and some will call it “nostalgia.” While the merits of failure on the front office’s part can be argued when weighing in the lack of a true youth movement, the nostalgia argument simply doesn’t add up.
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That’s because it’s not about nostalgia for the Penguins. It’s about timing and performance.
Of course, asset management is an important thing to get right when you’re in a position like the one Dubas finds himself in. The Penguins are making it clear that they are trying to build “brick-by-boring-brick” for the short- and long-term simultaneously, attempting to build a window of contention with Sidney Crosby still on the team and, subsequently, a longer, sustainable window of contention after Crosby hangs up his skates.
Keeping valuable older players around too long can often set a franchise back from those goals, as the assets acquired for those players can be leveraged for younger, more forward-oriented talent. Rust and Rakell – both 30-goal, 70-point players – each have two years left on their very team-friendly deals at $5.1 and $5 million average annual value, respectively, while Karlsson is entering the final season of his $11.5 million contract that the Penguins pay out $10 million for.
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But the important thing to keep in mind here is that Dubas and company aren’t exactly going about the Penguins’ rebuild in a way that’s been done before. Sure, other teams like the Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes have attempted to rebuild and sustain contention without bottoming out, but the methodology behind each case is different.
And if we’re looking case-by-case at the Penguins’ six core veteran players, the claim that Dubas and the front office are clinging to nostalgia doesn’t hold water when you consider how most of the veterans are faring in their mid-late 30s:
– Crosby, 39, is coming off of his NHL-record 21st consecutive season above point-per-game, and although his defense has seen decline over the past several years, he still remains one of the league’s elite first-line centers capable of producing at a high level. He had 29 goals and 74 points in 68 regular season games in 2025-26.
– Malkin, 40, was re-signed for one year, and the primary reason he was re-signed is because he produced 19 goals and 61 points in 56 games last season. He may be 40, but he was above point-per-game – and if anyone out there said, “Hey, I can get you a point-per-game top-six forward for $5.5 million next season,” any reasonable GM would take that in a heartbeat. And, by the way, he very marginally bested Crosby’s point-per-game output (Crosby was at 1.088, Malkin at 1.089).
– Rust, 34, had 29 goals and 65 points in 72 games and continues to be a valuable player in both the top-six and on special teams, particularly on the penalty kill. Akin to the Malkin argument, you’d be hard-pressed to find a 30-goal, 70-point, Swiss army knife-type player making just $5.1 million, and there are currently no younger guys internally who are ready to replicate or replace that production.
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– The same can be said of Rakell, who had 24 goals and 48 points in 60 games last season despite an early-season broken hand that kept him out two months and led to a slow start when he did return. He was one of their best, most valuable players down the stretch run of the season when he produced at a point-per-game pace while playing center, something he hadn’t done with consistency in a decade-plus. His contract value, positional versatility, and production make him highly valuable to the Penguins.
– Karlsson, 36, put together the best season of his three-year Penguins’ tenure last year, notching 15 goals and 66 points in 75 games and playing some of the best three-zones hockey of his NHL career. He was one of the very best players in the NHL during the month of March and was named the Penguins’ Team MVP at the end of the regular season, which speaks to his irreplaceable value and his impact on the team.
– Letang, 39, is perhaps the only one of the six in a tangible state of regression, but he did return to form late in the season and during the playoffs when it counted. The Penguins also managed Letang’s minutes last season, docking nearly two minutes average ice time (21:41) from his previous 2024-25 campaign (23:32). Letang might not be a top-four defenseman anymore, but in more sheltered and calculated minutes, he is still capable of being a serviceable NHL defenseman.
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At the end of the day, for five of these players, their 2025-26 seasons coupled with their career outputs and trajectories in the last three years are what is keeping them on this team, not nostalgia. And Dubas knows this. In fact, he said at the conclusion of last season that the Penguins would be faced with some tough decisions regarding veterans at some point and that he’s ready to face those decisions when that time comes, even if the Penguins are a special case of “nostalgia” with the big three.
“I think, at some point, I knew when taking the job that it’s me that’s going to have to make somebody or fans unhappy with different decisions as they come. And I knew that when I agreed to come here,” Dubas said back on May 12. “For me, the key is we always have to do what’s best for the Pittsburgh Penguins, even if that’s unpopular or makes people unhappy, that’s the way we have to operate.
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“So, we’ll continue to field the team in the formation that we feel gives us the best chance to move ahead. If there are players that begin to pass by them, regardless of who they are and how long they’ve been here, it’s incumbent upon me to make those decisions and do what’s best for the Penguins in the long run.”
Right now, Crosby certainly isn’t blocking anyone. Malkin isn’t blocking anyone. Right now, Rakell and Rust aren’t, either, as none of the Penguins’ young forwards – though some are more promising than others – are ready to leap into a top-six NHL role. But if that point arrives this season, Dubas and the Penguins will take action.
If dynamic right defenseman Harrison Brunicke comes into camp, picks up where he left off during the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, and blows everyone out of the water, Dubas and the Penguins won’t hold him back on Letang’s account or anyone else’s account. Same goes for Owen Pickering on the left side.
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In order for these guys to be supplanted and truly be expendable, the young guys the Penguins have need to prove they can fill those spots. Until that begins to actually happen – whether that’s earned opportunity through sheer performance or through opportunity due to injuries – if the team truly desires to keep winning and building simultaneously, they’re going to keep these guys around.
The wheels aren’t falling off of the old guys just yet, and there aren’t any signs of significant dropoff in most of them, either. But if young guys earn their spots or a big guy like Robertson or anyone else is put back on the market, anyone but Crosby is not immovable, either. If there is a deal that makes sense for what they’re trying to do, and it comes at the expense of one of these veterans, they’ll do it.
And if we’re being real, the only untouchable player because of nostaglia to an extent is Crosby. And if anyone is even entertaining jettisoning a top-five player of all-time who is still one of the best, then “nostalgia” isn’t actually the issue.
So, let’s go ahead and put the “nostalgia” to bed. The veterans will be phased out when it’s time for each of them to go, and that time has simply not arrived yet – especially since they’re still pretty darn good hockey players.
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