The Pittsburgh Penguins scoring may not be what it was, but it still finished a solid 18th in the league with 242 goals. Not a bad number, and one that you would expect as the floor with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin still playing more than respectable hockey.
Give the Pens another solid scorer or two, and watch them climb back into the top half of the league when they have the puck. The Pens also had not one, not two, but three 30-plus goal scorers. Yeah, it’s a concern that Malkin was No. 4 on the list with just 16 goals, but again, that’s what I mean by adding another scorer or two.
Still, I don’t want to talk about scoring because it’s not the biggest issue facing a hockey team that would love to give its stars one last legitimate chance at winning the Stanley Cup. To do that, the Pens don’t need to get better when they don’t have the puck; they must get better in the net.
Penguins aren’t horrible when they don’t have the puck
When you finish the season with 287 goals allowed and you’re 29th in the league in that category, the immediate reaction is that this team is bad defensively. Yeah, some of those goals are on the netminder, but it’s often a collective effort.
Still, the Penguins only allowed three more high-danger chance goals than the league average of 59, and its netminders didn’t do a bad job, ironically, when opponents got those chances. Opponents only converted high-danger chances 8.3 percent of the time, and the NHL as a whole allowed conversions at a 0.5 higher percentage.
The Penguins also allowed 2,323 shots on goal, which again isn’t a terrible number and just five over the NHL average. But here’s where things get interesting. Their save percentage clocked in at just 0.884 and at 5-on-5, it sat at 0.908. Both were well under the NHL averages of 0.893 and 0.918.
That said, we know where the problem is, and what general manager Kyle Dubas needs to make happen if he plans on the Pens punching their way into the 2026 playoffs. And in case you didn’t figure it out, I’ll tell you: Get a goaltender (or two).
Penguins can’t go another year with the netminders they had
As a unit, Joel Blomqvist, Tristan Jarry, and Alex Nedeljkovic finished with just an 0.891 save percentage, a 3.23 GAA, three shutouts, and a 0.500 quality starts percentage. And they can thank Nedeljkovic for getting them to 0.500 since he averaged a 0.543.
Yeah, there is a massive flaw in the Pens lineup and it resides in the blue paint. If Dubas lets this continue for another season, fans in the Steel City must voice their displeasure. The Penguins aren’t a great hockey team with their current group, but they’re better than the 80 points they finished with.
So, it’s all about finding a reliable goaltender who can help this team reside in the middle of the league, in a worst-case scenario, in goals allowed. If they do that, I wouldn’t rule out a playoff appearance next season. But if they keep everything as is? Forget about it.