Top-5 Moves That Shaped Penguins’ Successful 2025-26 Season

The 2025-26 regular season was a magical one for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who concluded their 82-game schedule on Tuesday in St. Louis and are now fully focused on the task of facing the Philadelphia Flyers in Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

And, man, it’s crazy how they got here.

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Seven months ago, no one on the outside was talking about the Penguins securing the second seed in the Metropolitan Division four games prior to the conclusion of the NHL regular season. Many had them as a bottom-five lottery team, and even if folks didn’t have them finishing that low – including us here at THN – Pittsburgh Penguins – outside expectations were overwhelmingly predicting that this wasn’t a playoff team.

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Well, as the Penguins have been marketing since they clinched against the New Jersey Devils on Apr. 9, this team “flipped the script.” They were not only one of the league’s deepest and highest-scoring teams – they had 12 players finish with 13 or more goals and 10 players finish with 15 or more, both league-highs – they were a legitimately good five-on-five team with top-10 special teams units on both ends, and they won more in regulation than all but seven teams and lost less in regulation than all but six teams.

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The belief in the Penguins’ locker room was contagious and genuine, and the family-like, tight-knit atmosphere of that locker room has been palpable as ever all season long.

And it all started with a few savvy moves from general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas over the summer as well as during the season.

While there were a whole lot of moves that defined the 2025-26 season, some made a pretty sizable impact on the team – and some outright fueled their turnaround and led to their first postseason berth in four years.

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Honorable mention: The trade for Stuart Skinner

The move that sent goaltender Tristan Jarry and his entire $5.175 million AAV salary for three more seasons to the Edmonton Oilers for Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak, and a 2029 second-round pick may go down in franchise history as both one of the best and one of the most baffling trades.

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The fact that Dubas managed to deal a goaltender with term who was on waivers just 11 months prior for a similar-caliber goaltender on an expiring contract – in addition to a typically reliable top-four defenseman on a down year and also an expiring contract, plus a second – is just bonkers. And he also flipped Kulak for another second-rounder and Sam Girard, who has played well recently for the Penguins and is younger.

No notes on that trade. It may not have had as gigantic impact on their season as some of the other moves, as goaltending is still an issue, but it was such a clean piece of business by Dubas. Plus, Skinner provides a kind of endearing and genuine personality to the locker room that is always good for team chemistry – especially during a playoff run.

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5. The decision to keep Ben Kindel

This one may fly under-the-radar a bit in terms of “big moves,” but boy, was it a big one. And this is one of the few predictions I got right this season.

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When both Kindel and young blueliner Harrison Brunicke both made the Penguins’ roster out of training camp – with a combination of injuries as well as their stellar camp performances opening spots for them – many thought they saw where things were going: “Here are two teenagers making the team, but once the team gets healthy, they’ll be sent back to junior hockey to avoid burning a year of their ELCs, and the Pens will still favor the veterans.”

Well, for Brunicke, that was more or less true, even if the path to junior for him this season had a lot of stops along the way before the final destination. Of the two, it was widely believed that Brunicke, 19, would remain the entire season, while Kindel, 18, would get his taste of the NHL and be returned to the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL.

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But Kindel was simply too good to send back. He proved he belonged in the NHL, and instead of making the easy, less risky choice, Dubas elected to allow Kindel to not only stick around past the 10-game mark (where his ELC kicked in), but also past the 40-game mark, where the Penguins lost a year of team control.

And that decision impacted the roster profoundly. Kindel has been their everyday third-line center and performing well in that role on both sides of the puck, giving the Penguins far more center depth than they would have had otherwise and giving them more dangerous options at wing in their top-nine.

This decision altered the course of the Penguins’ season, and, perhaps, the outlook for the future as well, as the sooner-than-expected emergence of Kindel – who put up 17 goals and 35 points in 77 games – gave this team’s depth the boost it needed to roll four lines successfully all season long.

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4. The signing of Parker Wotherspoon

Honestly, it was tough not to place this one higher, as probably no one – not even Dubas himself – expected the degree of breakout for Wotherspoon as a legitimate shutdown top-pairing defenseman.

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As for Wotherspoon himself, this is a guy who never played in more than 55 games during his first three NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins. And, when he did, the 28-year-old was relegated to bottom-pairing minutes, some AHL time, and a system that may not have been maximizing his potential.

Dubas took a chance on Wotherspoon – already known as a physical, reliable defenseman within his role during his time in Boston – by signing him to a two-year, $2 million contract. And he made the most of that opportunity, eating heavy minutes in 80 games on Pittsburgh’s top pairing, providing some much-needed grit and toughness on the blue line, and shattering previous career-highs with three goals and 30 points to go along with a plus-17.

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And his emergence also aided in elevating his defense partner and the most crucial player on the Penguins’ blue line.

Erik Karlsson also broke out in a huge way for the Penguins in 2025-26, putting up 15 goals and 66 points in 75 games and becoming the Norris-caliber version of himself in all three zones and in all situations, especially during the stretch run of the season. Karlsson’s all-time offensive talents mixed well with Wotherspoon’s shutdown ability, mobility, and strength in breaking the puck out of his own zone.

They were a legitimate tandem pairing for the Penguins this season, and they made each other better. The emergence of Wotherspoon and Karlsson as a formidable and elite top pairing for the Penguins changed the entire shape of their blue line – which is something the Penguins desperately needed in order to be successful this season.

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3. The signing of Anthony Mantha

You want to talk about a veteran player having a breakout? What a season it was for the 31-year-old Mantha.

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He played in only 13 games for the Calgary Flames last season before sustaining a season-ending ACL injury. Dubas took a chance in free agency on Mantha on a one-year, $2.5 million deal, more than likely hoping that Mantha could perform well enough to flip for more assets at the trade deadline.

As it turns out, he did perform well enough – so well, in fact, that he was a primary catalyst in getting this team to the postseason.

Mantha led all Penguins’ players in goals this season with 33, and his 33 tallies and 64 points obliterated previous career-highs of 25 and 48 set with the Detroit Red Wings in 2018-19. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound winger was able to use his size and reach to his advantage around the net-front area, and he was almost a sure thing on breakaways, too.

What’s most impressive about Mantha’s season, however, is that only seven of his goals came on the power play – as he was largely deployed on the second unit – and that he spent a great deal of time in a third-line role this season.

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It’s not often that a team’s leading goal-scorer is primarily deployed on the third line, but here we are. Mantha has earned himself some shiny dollars this summer – whether from the Penguins or from someone else – and he was the primary figure in the Penguins’ impressive goals-for number this season, which still ranks third only to the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes.

It suffices to say that $2.5 million for one year is not going to cut it this offseason.

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2. The trade for Egor Chinakhov

Even if Mantha led this team in scoring and was the Penguins’ most crucial free agent signing, the one move in terms of player personnel that made more of an impact on this team than any other was the trade that brought sniping winger Egor Chinakhov to the Penguins from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 29.

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Prior to the Chinakhov acquisition, the Penguins were in a December funk – an eight-game losing streak – that nearly cost them their season. They had won two out of three in the games leading up to the trade, which involved Dubas sending Danton Heinen, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick to Columbus.

The Penguins knew they were getting a sniper in Chinakhov, even if he had just three goals and six points in 29 games for Columbus, where he had fallen out of favor and had a tension-ridden relationship with then-coach Dean Evason and management.

What they may not have known is that they found themselves a star winger that had much more to offer than his blistering shot.

Yes, Chinakhov can sling 90-plus mph wristers, and his shot is the standout element in his repertoire as well as one of the league’s very best. But he also skates with 98th-percentile speed, plays responsibly in all three zones, backchecks, has an outstanding hockey IQ, meshes well with anyone, and possesses a serious playmaking acumen.

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Oh, and his shot – however it finds its way to the net, whether a one-timer, heavy wrister, or backhand – is devastatingly lethal.

Whatever happened in Columbus isn’t happening in Pittsburgh, and this move singlehandedly changed the entire complexion of the Penguins’ top-six and its roster. He registered 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games with the Penguins, which translates to a 34-goal, 69-point pace – and which gives the Penguins three legitimate 30-goal options on the wing in Chinakhov, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell. And that’s not counting Mantha, too.

The crazy thing is that it feels like there is even more left to untap in Chinakhov, and he keeps raising the ceiling each and every game. He’s been a revelation for the Penguins’ present and future, and the team wouldn’t be where it is without him in the mix.

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1. The hiring of Dan Muse

We could discuss the significant player moves that Dubas made in the summer and during the season all day long, and nearly all of them have positively impacted the Penguins and their push to the playoffs this season.

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But not one of those moves may have meant anything had it not been for the move behind the bench prior to the start of the season.

After the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, Dubas made the difficult decision to part ways with longtime head coach Mike Sullivan, who had won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the team in 2016 and 2017 and was beloved by the veterans in the locker room. The mutual breakup between the Penguins and Sullivan felt written on the wall for a long while, and the clean slate provided an opportunity for a new voice in the room who was aligned with Dubas’s vision to prioritize both the now and the future simultaneously.

Enter Dan Muse.

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Muse, a relative unknown in terms of candidates prior to his hiring in May of 2025, put together a coaching staff with a unique mix – some more experienced in Todd Nelson and Mike Stothers and some fresher faces in Nick Bonino and Rich Clune – to complement his development-focused approach to every player, whether a 15-year veteran or a doe-eyed newcomer to the league or the organization.

And it was the perfect mix. The entire staff put forth a team effort to make sure they were able to maximize each and every player’s potential and implement a system that worked for those players, allowing them to make some mistakes but play to their biggest strengths all while remaining in structure. And it worked wonders.

The culture shifted. The air of staleness was replaced with a fresh, renewed sense of purpose and togetherness, and it all started with Muse from the first whistle at training camp.

Simply put, this probably isn’t a playoff team without him and his new staff. And that hire by Dubas was the singular most consequential factor in the Penguins’ success this season.

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