Penguins’ turnaround already sought as road map
The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t even qualified for the playoffs yet, with no guarantee that they will. However, after being picked as a last place team by just about every publication everywhere, the team already has more points in 68 games this season (84 and counting) than they managed in the entire 2024-25 season (80). There’s nothing more sought after than using one team’s success or surprise performance as a template for another situation, and it’s not surprising that the Pittsburgh method has already started to attract attention.
MTPS: Taking the Rangers to the Pitt-y Party It pains Rangers fans to admit it, but the Penguins’ quiet retool might offer the exact roadmap New York needs to get back into contention. Read it here ➡️ https://t. co/hsPDait1E4 via @NYRChip23 #NYR pic.
twitter. com/mphcPPKW1r — Blueshirt Banter (@BlueshirtBanter) March 16, 2026 The article, mostly paywalled, acknowledges that it’s impossible for a team to have Sidney Crosby and even Evgeni Malkin as point-per-player games despite their age. The focus is on the turn to youth .
Really, in a copycat league, what teams or fans or observers truly want is moves that pay off. The Pens did something similar from about 2014-16, where almost every move then-general manager Jim Rutherford made (Hornqvist, Kessel, Hagelin, Bonino, Daley trades) worked out to improve team performance. The Dubas plan, as is has unfolded, has become in a succinct nutshell: Trade veterans approaching free agency – dealing players like Jake Guentzel and Marcus Pettersson before their contracts expired was key to opening up salary cap space, which the Penguins basically had none of from 2008-23.
It also brought in some young talent and future assets along the way while opening up flexibility. Perhaps more importantly, veterans with term (like Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson) were not traded in an effort to bottom out. Use the cap space to stockpile even more — No team has been as aggressive as the Penguins to take on salary cap dump-offs over the past two years like Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass, Matt Dumba, Connor Clifton and ostensibly Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak and Sam Girard.
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