As they do every summer, NHL.com had their day for Pittsburgh Penguins season preview information in setting the early stage for the upcoming hockey year. They had some questions, let’s discuss.
1. Can Malkin shine in his potential final season?
Evgeni Malkin was resurgent last season, his 20th in the NHL. The forward had 61 points (19 goals, 42 assists) in 56 games to average more than a point per game after falling short of that mark each of the previous two seasons.
Some of that was aided by a shift from second-line center, where Malkin has played the majority of his storied career, to right wing on the same line. He also missed 26 games because of injury or suspension, which general manager Kyle Dubas said was a blessing in disguise.
“‘Geno’ is built differently, and I thought the different times off during the year really served him well,” Dubas said. “I think we were fortunate in that regard, and I don’t think you ever feel that during the year at the time. You think, ‘Jeez, he’s out. That stinks.’ But every time he came back from being out, he played his best hockey.”
Evgeni Malkin had to play to keep his Penguin career alive last year, almost literally campaigning to return. In the end, he got his wish – earned from a very productive 2025-26 coming off the prior year that was incredibly down by his standards (16 goals and 50 points in 68 games during 2024-25).
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Malkin has never said yet that 2026-27 definitively will be his last season. He did just turn 40 this summer, and clearly there’s only so many more left for him to go. Whether or not that becomes a focal point – and maybe towards the end of the season if will be – remains to be seen.
For now, the Pens have Malkin in a good spot. His faceoff numbers were dropping off before his injury when he shifted to wing more permanently. Seeing how that second line will be built will be worth watching. The first starting point is where the placement of Egor Chinakhov will be. Likely at points, Chinakhov will be back with Sidney Crosby, which makes a lot of sense to have the best goal-scoring winger playing on the line with the best playmaking center.
If Chinakhov opens camp on the top line, Tommy Novak will be a player to watch. Malkin’s long enjoyed Novak’s style, and Novak does so much of the heavy lifting with puck touches in the defensive and neutral zones that stylistically makes it a good fit. Does the Novak-Malkin pair pick up a Rickard Rakell? Andrey Kuzmenko? Ben Kindel? Nick Robertson? There’s a lot of pieces in play and a long season to explore which combinations click the best.
2. Who is the true No. 1 goalie?
Arturs Silovs is likely to start the season as the primary starter after signing a one-year, $2.8 million contract to stay with the Penguins on July 5. Stuart Skinner, acquired in a trade that sent goalie Tristan Jarry to the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 12, signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets on July 1.
Silovs was 19-12-8 with a 3.07 goals-against average, .887 save percentage and two shutouts in 39 games (38 starts) last season. In his NHL career, the 25-year-old has a 3.09 GAA and .885 save percentage.
It might only be a matter of time before Sergei Murashov, a highly touted prospect, takes over. The 22-year-old has been dominant with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League and was 1-1-2 with a 2.56 GAA, .897 save percentage and one shutout in his first five games (four starts) with Pittsburgh last season.
Fellow prospect Joel Blomqvist, who is 4-9-1 with a 3.81 GAA and .885 save percentage in the NHL, will also push for a spot with the Penguins.
“It’s an area of good strength and depth for us, but the guys have earned that. It hasn’t been given,” Dubas said. “Obviously, both (Murashov and Blomqvist) have gotten NHL time. … For us, it’s just ‘Continue to watch them, give them the opportunity.'”
Dan Muse’s goalie decisions were on point from the very beginning last season. The Pens started Silovs on opening night, he won via a 3-0 shutout and then didn’t play the next game to set the tone for the whole season where Pittsburgh almost exclusively rotated their starting goalie every-other-game throughout the season. A condensed schedule made that planning smart – and the Pens do indeed have an NHL-high 15 instances of back-to-back games so it would make sense that something close to a regular rotation will be in effect this year.
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What won’t be around is a veteran. Silovs, who was officially considered a rookie last season, is 25-years old and has 58 NHL regular season games under his belt and he’s by far the most experienced player.
Murashov, as we noted, would be very young at 22 by goalie standards, considering only two 23-year olds (Jesper Wallstedt and Yarsoslav Askarov) played 25+ games last season. Sky is the limit but that’s a position with often unsteady progression paths and a lot of growing pains to transform from ‘top prospect’ into ‘established NHLer’.
Then there’s Joel Blomqvist, 24, who has 15 career NHL games, but none since March of 2025.
Silovs’ great playoff performance showed briefly that he could be something approaching ‘the guy’, but it certainly wouldn’t or shouldn’t be shocking to see both Murashov and Blomqvist get the opportunity to take the net and get substantial opportunities.
3. Can Karlsson have a repeat performance?
Last season, Erik Karlsson looked like every bit of the defenseman Pittsburgh felt it was acquiring from the San Jose Sharks in a three-team trade that also involved the Montreal Canadiens on Aug. 3, 2023.
After being relatively quiet in his first two seasons with the Penguins, the 36-year-old had 66 points (15 goals, 51 assists) in 75 games, second on Pittsburgh behind center Sidney Crosby (74 points; 29 goals, 45 assists in 68 games). Karlsson was also more responsible defensively, which was helped by his chemistry with defenseman Parker Wotherspoon on the top pair.
Wotherspoon is gone, however, traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for defenseman Kaedan Korczak on June 30.
Karlsson, who has been voted the winner of the Norris Trophy three times as the League’s top defenseman (2012, 2015, 2023), will need to put up the same numbers, if not better, with a new partner in the final season of an eight-year, $92 million contract ($11.5 million average annual value).
Erik Karlsson was so, so good in crunch time last season, his 24 points in the month of March was second in the NHL to only Nikita Kucherov’s 26. Repeating that would be a tall task, and perhaps an impossible one.
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Still, the team’s MVP from last year is going to have to put on the Superman cape again given the state of the blueline. Kris Letang’s ability to impact the game has vanished rapidly, and the Pens lost arguably their two steadiest defensive players from the group with Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea departing.
The better question to ask might be which team is Karlsson on by mid-March? Is he even a Penguin? Does he have an extension? Whether it’s 60 or 70 points, the play driving and offensive brilliance is going to be there. How much longer that is going to be in Pittsburgh is a different but perhaps more intriguing outlook given that the player has a full no movement clause and is in the final season of his contract.
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