Any season that starts with a lot of chatter about a franchise icon being shipped out for parts is not supposed to be a good one. Certainly, the Pittsburgh Penguins were not being picked by many to be much more than highly decorated scenery for this campaign. Most of the talk was about whether they would be bad enough to prod Sidney Crosby to ask out of wasting his golden years on an also-ran, and whether that in turn would make the Penguins bad enough to get into the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes. There was probably a sliver of Pens fans hoping for that, in an effort to one-up the Packers quarterback succession plans, going from Lemieux to Crosby to McKenna. No one in Green Bay or Pittsburgh has ever suffered for long. Assholes.
It may yet turn out that way, but so far the Penguins might be the NHL’s surprise team at 5-2-0. No one in the East has more than their 10 points. They’re top ten in both goals for and goals against per game. Evgeni Malkin apparently beat the Spanish to the Fountain Of Youth, as he leads the team with 10 points in their seven games.
The Penguins have been able to amass this early (very early) brilliance without Sidney Crosby being his usual self. Sure, the four goals and four assists look about normal. But he’s amassed those goals on 60 percent shooting. Crosby’s shots, attempts, and chances per game are all way down from previous seasons, his defensive metrics are also way off, and all that’s with a boost in the amount of shifts he’s seeing start in the offensive zone. He’s still finding ways to score, as aging wizards like him tend to do. But the even-strength hydra that he used to be hasn’t arrived in the ’25-’26 season, yet.
The Penguins have collected their 10 points on the back of a new system from coach Dan Muse, which has varied their neutral zone defense and eschewed point shots for trying to work the puck down low and into the slot much more. Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang are averaging way less shots and attempts from the hinterlands as they’re used to, encouraged to try and make a pass or play to get the puck into the slot or onto the half-wall, where it can be easier negotiated to the spots Muse wants. Here’s proof.
Muse’s 1-1-3 forecheck sounds conservative on the surface, and can morph into that. Which is fine, as Letang and Karlsson being the combined age of water doesn’t lead a coach to desire having them defend in space often if he can help it. But it varies for the Penguins, who can see any of the d-men jump into the neutral zone or higher when they smell a turnover to be generated. Karlsson and Letang and all the Pens d-men have been highly encouraged to get low into the offensive zone as well to try and wrangle loose pucks off the boards and then beat a scrambling defense to the net.
It’s the Penguins’ third and fourth lines that have really come to the fore, with the likes of Filip Hallander and Tommy Novak getting the least amount of ice-time but running the show when they’re out there, possession-wise.
Where this gets the Penguins in the long run is a fair question. No one in the lineup, other than d-man Harrison Brunicke, is under 25, so it’s not like all this is building something for the future. These are rehashes and whats-its being turned loose and spasming some good hockey under the right circumstances. How much longer it lasts is an open debate. And whether the Pens might have been better off diving headfirst into the sewer is another one, should this team shake out to be thoroughly, and uninspiringly, mid. Which is the most likely outcome.
But for now, the Penguins are lively. Crosby isn’t being lined up by half the league. Malkin didn’t turn to cardboard. That’s enough for the time being.
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