With the regular season about to kick off for the Pittsburgh Penguins, there is a gloom in the air. Yes, the club shocked everyone by making the playoffs last season, but after an offseason of turnover, there doesn't seem to be much hope going into the year.
The Penguins still have a shot at making noise in a jumbled mess in their division, but if they fail to stay relevant in the standings then some of these bold predictions will come true.
It wasn't the most exciting offseason when it comes to the Penguins bringing in star power, but they added some solid additions with potential. A lot of their lineup is built off of a boom or bust quality while also delaying the younger players from entering the lineup. This season certainly seems to be heading towards a setback, and if that happens these bold predictions won't seem outlandish.
Pittsburgh Penguins bold season predictions have players leaving and a disappointing year ahead
Evgeni Malkin gets traded
Starting off hot here with Evgeni Malkin getting dealt before the trade deadline. He found success last year and was able to find a new contract with the Penguins this past offseason. Malkin doesn't seem against the idea of playing for another team, and maybe a conversation around the deadline could get Pittsburgh some assets in trade.
It will be up to the future Hall of Famer on what he wants to do if the Penguins are out of the race.
Sergei Murashov goes through some growing pains
There are high hopes for Sergei Murashov going into the season, and for good reason. He's done a terrific job as he rose up through the developmental ranks. The organization is clearly high on his potential going forward. All that being said, expectations surrounding Murashov should be tempered. He is still a young player going into his first NHL season and could take a hot minute to adjust.
Erik Karlsson gets traded
No one on the Penguins is a more obvious trade candidate going into the season than Erik Karlsson. He's a superstar right-handed defenseman coming off a massive bounce back year. His cap hit will be tricky to move at any point this year, but someone should be willing to pay a nice haul for his services. Unless Pittsburgh is in the playoff hunt, expect Karlsson to get traded in the next four months.
Penguins don't come close to making the playoffs
Despite the nice fairytale that was last season, it's hard to imagine the Penguins making a similar outlook happening this time around. They have an unbalanced defensive group, question marks in net, and an aging core who could fall off a cliff in production at any moment. They lost a lot of quality pieces this past offseason, and that will probably be too hard to overcome.
The Penguins many questions going into the campaign are too many to ignore.
Injuries become too much for Pittsburgh to overcome
Injuries have already hit the Penguins lineup before the season even began. Ben Kindel, Bryan Rust, and others will miss varying times as the season begins. This is a team who needs a fast start to hopefully drag them into the playoffs similar to last year. With this many injuries to start the campaign, it's hard to fathom a path where Pittsburgh isn't playing catch up in the standings.
Add us as a preferred source on Google