The Pittsburgh Penguins come into the 2025 Entry Draft in a precarious position. On the one hand, their eleventh overall pick, the franchise’s highest draft pick since 2012, figures to provide the team with a prospect which will be among their top prospects from the jump, and their eleven(-plus) draft picks (depending on if the Rangers give the Penguins their first round pick as well) stand to be the team’s most since 2004. It gives the appearance of a franchise that is in an active long-term rebuilding mode and, for a team which has a core comprising mostly of players over the age of 35 and one which hasn’t made the playoffs in four years, it would seem to be applicable to Pittsburgh.
And yet there are many indications, at least publicly, that general manager Kyle Dubas is intending to put a rush on the Penguins’ rebuild over the next few years. With legend Sidney Crosby still chugging along as a point-per-game player and the heart and soul of the team, the mentality of getting Crosby (and fellow veterans and legends Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang) back to the playoffs still remains at least in the back of everyone’s minds. It may be contrary to the typical attitude by a team whose veterans are coming to the imminent ends of their careers, but Dubas has said during recent press conferences that he would like to work “urgently” to bring Pittsburgh back to a competitive position.
Let me be direct: the Penguins will have a lot of work to do this offseason to be back in the playoff discussion next March and April. Starting with the facts that the team does not have a ton of UFAs to replace (Matt Nieto, Joona Koppanen, and Matt Grzelyck), and the team still does not have a great or even good pipeline of prospects to improve the production of the team across the board, and the simple fact that the team is not getting any younger, all of that points to a lot of work for Kyle Dubas this summer. This week’s draft is a good starting point, although the eleventh overall pick isn’t necessarily going to bring a prospect which will be useful right away, which might be why there are rumors about Pittsburgh trying to trade their way up into the top ten (or even top five).
Coincidentally, there’s all the hot stove discussion about the Penguins’ remaining quality players and their availability on the trade market, a list which has included just about everyone not named Crosby or Malkin (and probably Letang), but realistically includes Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell, and Bryan Rust. Of course, if Dubas does move any or all of those players during the summer, we’re talking about a Pittsburgh team next year that is more than likely not a serious playoff contender. In fact it’s more likely to be in the discussion for a top five draft pick next summer, which sounds more like the shot in the arm prospect-wise for a team whose veteran core will likely start retiring over the next few years. Until then, Crosby will eventually stop being a point-per-game player, and Malkin and Letang are actively slowing down, and so the Penguins need more production from the guys down the depth chart to replace what the production those guys will likely be lacking.
The question ultimately is, in which direction is Pittsburgh going? Are they going to tear everything down in the hopes of an even higher-end pick next offseason? Or are they going to ride with the team as it largely was this past season and hope for things to get better or worse on their own? What happens over the next few weeks should give us a much clearer picture for what Kyle Dubas truly has planned for the Penguins over the next twelve months.
LGP