The Penguins have loaded up on players this offseason, losing a few but gaining even more via trades and free agency. That’s even before getting to their young crop of players from the AHL that have NHL aspirations. That leaves a level of players lost in the shuffle that not too many are penciling into their expected starting lineups right now.
Some or most of this group might hit waivers coming out of training camp but even that won’t close the door on playing in the NHL again. The Penguins dressed 40 different skaters last season for at least one game and the prospects of going deep down the organizational depth chart in the upcoming season remains high. So let’s check in on where some somewhat forgotten players may come in.
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Caleb Jones
Jones had a season out of some kind of twisted game of Mad Libs last season. He started out with the Pens, dressing for seven of the first eight games of the season, before he broke an ankle in October to cost him a significant amount of time. When he was rehabbing that issue in the AHL in January, Jones suffered a shoulder injury in the minor leagues. Then he got popped with a performance enhancing violation and suspended for 20 games, which he cited from being involved in his shoulder rehab. In April, once that suspension ended, it was announced Jones would have to undergo a shoulder surgery to address that issue after all. Thus ended one of the more wild and unexpected journeys of a season.
So where does that leave Jones now? The Pens aren’t strong at left defense but they have plenty of options. Jones was said to have a 4-6 month recovery from the April surgery, so he might not even be available for training camp or coming off a normal offseason of training, which surely won’t be helping his cause to win a spot on the roster.
Looking at last season, Jones played seven NHL games and had one assist. That seems like a good over/under for the future. Is he a player that can get healthy and get a stint of games in during the midseason? Sounds like a possibility. Then again, coming off the bum shoulder, he might fade away into being an NHL non-factor. Put this one under ‘might play 0 games, might just play 15-20’ with a reasonable chance of either outcome.
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Filip Hallander
Much like Jones, Hallander was a fringe free agent signing last season that found a way onto the opening night lineup, only to miss the majority of last season due to medical reasons. Hallander came out of camp on the Sidney Crosby line, though he performed poorly enough to get demoted after only two games. Hallander still managed to find a spot on a lower line for much of the beginning of the season before a puck striking his leg caused a clot in November. Hallander went through his treatments and even played some AHL rehab games before being shutdown and iced away for the rest of the year without much fanfare or notice about the reasoning behind the decision.
Usually by now, you would think a Swedish media outlet would have a story about Hallander’s current status and outlook for the future, but not much has been said about his current situation. Last year’s stat line of 13 games, one goal and four points presents an interesting setting with an over/under. Could Hallander exceed any of those numbers in 2026-27? At this point it doesn’t look very likely, but those aren’t too high of hurdles to clear. Ideally for Hallander’s sake, his health condition is good and worries are in the rear view mirror so that he can play somewhere. Not sure that will be too much in Pittsburgh and the NHL, but just having a full season of play would be an improvement from last year.
Ryan Graves
Graves is going into season four with the Penguins and at this point there’s no illusions or reasons to dream about a bounce back. There’s no new coach or other situation to help offer any hope that Graves will re-find the form he last had in 2022-23 with the Devils. To make matters worse, 2025-26 was the worst season in Graves’ ignominious stint in Pittsburgh. Graves was waived on two separate occasions last year and only appeared in 22 games – only three of which after December 15th (aside from two of the games at the end of the season when the playoff berth was clinched). Prior to last year he was struggling but at least a fairly regular member of the team before taking a turn far away from that status.
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That makes Graves in 2026-27 into an interesting footnote. Will Graves remain on the NHL roster? Will he get waived again? He still has three seasons left on his contract, and it doesn’t look like the team is going to find a way to part with him. It could make for another awkward season of sending an NHL-sized salary down to the minor leagues. At this point it’s hard to see Graves matching the 22 NHL games he played last season, though stranger things have happened than to imagine a situation where due to injuries to others that he might find himself playing for the Penguins at times once again this year.
Joel Blomqvist
Last year’s third string goalie in the organization played five NHL games. Would you go over or under 5.5 games this upcoming year for Blomqvist, who most figure will be in that spot as the third goalie this year? It’s an interesting question. From coaches to management and fans, all are certainly hoping and expecting big things from Sergei Murashov next year. He’s also a 22-year old goalie who still needs to prove he is an NHL goalie. From Devon Levi to Spencer Knight and Yaroslav Askarov, there are certainly plenty of examples for top young goalies not always making nice steady, smooth incremental steps in their developments. Blomqvist and Murashov both can be assigned to the AHL without needing waivers in 2026-27, the Penguins won’t want to yo-yo goalies back and forth from Wilkes if they can help it, but circumstances might dictate that Murashov needs more AHL time. There could also be an injury to an NHL goalie that opens the door for Blomqvist to get an opportunity for NHL appearances, it would be rare for two goalies to both remain healthy over a long season.
There’s a chance and scenario where Blomqvist plays as much in the NHL in 2026-27 as he did in 2025-26 (which is to say, no games). He himself has been the injured goalie at times in recent years, so injury fate would have to break in his favor. Seeing Blomqvist in the NHL isn’t a pleasant thought due to the underlying cause likely being that Murashov or Arturs Silovs is either hurt or not playing well, though it isn’t outside of the range of possibilities that Blomqvist could have the chance for some sort of role in the Pens’ season this year.
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