Penguins Nation

After looking at the title of this article, you probably could say the past five seasons for the Pittsburgh Penguins have been the most surprising. Only one Eastern Conference Final appearance since 2009 is pretty shocking when you consider all the talent this club has acquired over the past few years. Other than this streak of bad postseason luck, there are a few other times in the history of this club that stunned not only itself, but the entire league as well.  Listed here are the five most surprising seasons in the franchise’s history dating as far back as 1975. If there ...

It’s pretty hard to buy low on the best player in the NHL, but the Pittsburgh Penguins came as close as possible to it when they signed Sidney Crosby to a 12-year deal in July 2012. It should be as difficult to describe a deal that will pay the superstar in excess of $100 million as a bargain at the price, but that’s exactly what it is. At the time, of course, the deal seemed significantly riskier for Pittsburgh. A term in excess of a decade seemed like a massive risk for any player, and especially for one who had played just ...

The dog days of the hockey offseason are in full swing, and coaches, writers and fans are beginning to buckle up for another year filled with predictions, hopes and disappointments. The Pittsburgh Penguins had a busy summer trying to avoid the latter. This was in thanks to a great deal of moves triggered by first-year general manager Jim Rutherford. When October hits, fans can expect to see at least four new faces on the forward lines. Blake Comeau, Steve Downie, Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling will all don the black and Vegas-gold jersey in hopes of accomplishing Rutherford’s new vision for the ...

The 2014 NHL offseason is winding its way down, but there seems to be a few lingering questions remaining for the Pittsburgh Penguins front office. Many items on the offseason checklist were addressed this year through free agency, trades and the draft. With what he has done so far, general manager Jim Rutherford gave what some could call an overhaul to his new club. Some fans will say it was a solid job, while others are still skeptical in terms of whether this roster is an improvement over last year's. Three big questions still cloud the team, and it needs answers soon. Let’s take ...

With the dust now settled from an eventful draft and free-agency period, it's time to start taking a closer look at the Pittsburgh Penguins to gauge the impact that all of the personnel changes will have. Having made wholesale changes in the front office, behind the bench and on the ice, the Pens team that takes the ice in October will be much different than the one that left the ice in after yet another heartbreaking playoff defeat in May. With training camp on the horizon, let's take a look at five reasons why the Pittsburgh Penguins will be a better team next ...

Having put behind them the disappointment of last season's abrupt end at the hands of the New York Rangers, a front-office shakeup and a coaching change, the Pittsburgh Penguins can now look ahead to the promise of a new season. While some might think that the Pens are done with their roster makeover, new general manager Jim Rutherford has made it clear that building a team for the playoffs is an ongoing process and some players who start the season in Pittsburgh may finish it somewhere else. With that in mind, let's look at five players who will need to have a strong start ...

Teams that don't draft well don't win the Stanley Cup. There's no way around that in today's NHL, where the salary cap prevents teams from loading up on established veterans by trading away draft picks for years on end. Yes, we're looking at you, pre-2005 Detroit Red Wings. Ten years ago, the Pittsburgh Penguins were in dire straits, and relocation loomed as a real possibility. Mario Lemieux stepped in and helped settle the team down financially, while high picks in 2004 and 2005 allowed the franchise to select Evgeni Malkin ('04) and Sidney Crosby ('05). Dating back to the 2005 draft, the Penguins have ...

The NHL offseason is a time when players, coaches and even writers get the chance to improve their skills before the next year of hockey action gets underway. The 2014-15 season will be a step forward for some players, but those who fell off the beaten path last year will have a great amount of pressure placed on them to regain their footing. The Pittsburgh Penguins have a few players who did not necessarily have atrocious seasons last year, but who didn't seem to play to their full ability or were limited by other factors such as injuries. As the upcoming season ...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are now five years removed from their last Stanley Cup championship. That would be good news for franchises like the Toronto Maple Leafs or St. Louis Blues, organizations that have gone the better part of 40 years without an appearance in the Cup Final. For the Penguins, however, this half-decade streak has been viewed as a total failure. That's the breaks when you employ two of the top 10 players in the NHL. When the team won the Cup in 2009, the average age of players on the roster was 26, as per Hockey-Reference.com. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris ...

With the NHL draft and free agency both passed, there doesn't figure to be a lot of news or speculation coming out of NHL organizations. For the Pittsburgh Penguins, however, the tumultuous offseason that began the day after they left the ice in defeat to the New York Rangers—having blown a 3-1 series lead for the second time in four years—continues. Having hired a new general manager and new head coach, traded away one of their top players and lost more than one-third of their NHL-level defensemen in free agency, the Pens have answered some questions about the team's direction but others remain. With the ...