Penguins Nation

Five years ago, the city of Pittsburgh succumbed to the spectacular feeling that came with winning the Stanley Cup. The Penguins were littered with talent during that summer of 2009 championship run, which had everyone believing a dynasty was in the making. Half a decade later, early postseason exits and question marks surrounding players’ true potential are all that seem to inhabit the Steel City hockey club. While the team has undergone what some may call an overhaul under newly minted general manager Jim Rutherford, the Penguins are still thirsting for another sip from Lord Stanley’s chalice. In five years' time, this ...

Wondering about Marc-Andre Fleury's future in Pittsburgh has become something of a summer ritual for fans of the Penguins. Since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, Fleury has received a tremendous amount of flack for his postseason play—whether the hate is deserved or not is another story for another time—and each offseason seems to apply even more pressure to the following campaign for the goalie. Fleury seemed to be getting the better of his playoff demons last season, downing the Columbus Blue Jackets (and then-reigning Vezina trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky) in the first round before taking on the New York Rangers in ...

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ fresh new look on and off the ice for the 2014-15 season will hopefully halt the criticism surrounding the club and return them to Stanley Cup form. It was certain the forward lines weren’t as finely polished as they were in 2009 when the team won its first championship since 1992. To solve this problem, ex-Carolina Hurricanes GM, Jim Rutherford, was brought in to make things right again. Thanks to some attention-grabbing transactions in his first offseason in the ‘Burgh, Rutherford has primed this team for its next Cup run. The top six forwards are a blend of versatility, ...

Prospect development is at an all-time premium for the Pittsburgh Penguins as an organization. The team struggled to draft effective players when Ray Shero was running the show and only made five selections at the 2014 entry draft. The system still has a handful of promising young players, and one of the best ways to get a handle on them is through prospect development camp. Assistant general managers Bill Guerin and Tom Fitzgerald organized the off-ice portion camp—which involved 37 of the team's top prospects skating together for five days—with Penguins strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar, Wilkes Barre/Scranton strength and conditioning coach Joe Lorincz and ...

Despite yet another strong year in the standings—the team’s fifth consecutive 100-point campaign, if we prorate the shortened 2012-13 season—the ownership of the Pittsburgh Penguins entered the summer in a mood for big changes. General manager Ray Shero was fired in mid-May; head coach Dan Bylsma followed him out the door a few weeks later. Veteran executive Jim Rutherford was brought aboard to overhaul the team’s roster with exactly one goal in mind: winning the Stanley Cup in short order. For Rutherford, success or failure will be measured by postseason accomplishment. The Penguins have been a regular-season powerhouse for the last half-decade, ...

The Pittsburgh Penguins only had five draft picks in the 2014 NHL entry draft. A number of the team's selections had been moved out under the Ray Shero regime, so new GM Jim Rutherford had to do the best he could with what he had. After taking the stage to make the 22nd overall pick, the Penguins waited until the middle of the second day to select their next player. A whopping 91 names were called between first-round pick Kasperi Kapanen and fourth-round selection Sam Lafferty, challenging co-directors of scouting Jay Heinbuck and Randy Sexton to unearth some late-round gems. Heading into the draft, the goal for the ...

Forget about how new general manager Jim Rutherford missed out on his top choice to take over the Pittsburgh Penguins this summer. That's irrelevant to how Mike Johnston is going to come in and run this team. Despite the seemingly long jump from the WHL to the best pro-hockey league in the world, the 57-year-old has been around the game all his life and did an fantastic job with the Portland Winterhawks. Talk is cheap, but for what it's worth, Johnston is already saying the right things. He knows that winning during the regular season is important, but it's in the ...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are known around the hockey world for having one of the most talented cores ever seen in the game of hockey. However, the past few seasons have ended in a disappointing fashion, which has the front office scrambling for answers on how to return to their 2009 championship form. It’s easy to see that the problem isn’t the core itself, but the players surrounding them. General manager Jim Rutherford is addressing this situation by adding and subtracting quite a few players in his first offseason with the club. Let’s take a look at each of the team’s many offseason moves ...

When the 2013-14 season ended for the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was evident that changes were coming. Pushing the eventual Eastern Conference champions to a Game 7 wasn't enough to save the jobs of Dan Bylsma or Ray Shero, and ownership saw fit to bring in Jim Rutherford and his new vision for the franchise. Naturally, one of the first questions that arose was how Rutherford would change the core of the organization. Which players would be moved in an attempt to shake up the culture and on-the-ice product? We didn't know much about how the former Carolina Hurricanes general manager was going ...

With this year’s major offseason tasks finally complete, it’s time to answer one important question: What’s next? The biggest concern for teams now, especially the Pittsburgh Penguins, is to sign their restricted free agents to new contracts, but that doesn’t mean management can’t dabble into the stagnant free-agent pool anymore. I’m not saying the Pens shouldn’t avoid any more trades for the rest of the offseason, it’s just that there are still valuable free agents left who would fit perfectly into the new system. Sure, there isn’t a whole lot to choose from in terms of all-stars, but there are three players that ...