The Penguins find themselves holding a playoff position at the Olympic break almost entirely because of a series of surprise contributions. They’re exceeding any and all realistic preseason expectations as a result. This break gives a good chance to circle back at the preseason to re-emphasize just how incredible many things have worked out on an individual level.
The reasons are as long as you care to keep looking.
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Parker Wotherspoon (at $1.0 million this season and next) has to be the best value signing free agent in the NHL. Perhaps in quite some time. Wotherspoon has been a legitimate first-pair defender, is solid physically, can move the puck, skates well. Does everything right. What a revelation he’s been.
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Ben Kindel’s stats are somewhat modest though still impressive with 27 points to rank seventh among rookies this season. His impact on the team and in the games sure isn’t. Despite his age and not even being a top-10 pick, Kindel has gone to almost unprecedented territory as a ready-made NHL player at age-18 and is quality enough to perform well as one of the more shocking developments that remains unimaginable.
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Anthony Mantha, fresh off an ACL surgery, is setting up for a career-year at age 31 (25 goals and 48 points back in 2018-19), having already produced 20 goals and 42 points in 56 games with the Pens.
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Evgeni Malkin is an all-time legend, so it’s odd to list him as a surprise but not many thought he would be 43 points in 44 games type of good at age-39 coming off his worst season in 2024-25 (50 points in 68 games).
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Justin Brazeau has 15 goals and 27 points in 42 games this season. He only had 16 goals and 29 points in 94 career games prior to joining the Penguins.
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Connor Dewar has 13 goals and 24 points, both career-highs and coming almost entirely from a low-minute, defensive-oriented fourth line role that makes his impact even greater than the impressive stat line.
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Brett Kulak has steadied the defense and helped to unlock Kris Letang’s game in major ways.
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Tommy Novak has proved he can perform without being in a sheltered role and keep his production going.
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Egor Chinakhov has exploded into a modern day Alex Kovalev or James Neal, harnessing his shooting ability in a spot where he can succeed filling the net.
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Ryan Shea is closing in on 20 assists and has been a viable player up and down, left and right within the lineup as needed.
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Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner have had their ups and downs but the goaltending has improved from a bottom-five NHL unit last season to more than respectable this season.
Add it all up and the results are astounding, even before getting to the least surprising element of all that 38-year old Sidney Crosby remains one of the league’s top players and keeps leading the way.
Ironically enough, most of the players we tabbed in preseason (Hallander, Brunicke, Alexeyev, Silovs) have had no to minimal impact, except for Silovs who is on track to lead the team in games played by a goalie this year. Which goes to show how remarkable it’s been, it’s one thing if a player or two hits a best case scenario, it’s another when across the board everyone is playing to a high level.
When that’s the case, coaching and management impacts have to be considered as well. Dan Muse has done a great job in his first season as an NHL head coach, his whole staff including assistants Todd Nelson and Mike Strothers deserve a lot of praise and recognition as well. Kyle Dubas gets a lot of the spotlight pp a level from there, his staff with Jason Spezza, Wes Clark and Vukie Mpofu have pressed a whole lot of the right buttons to add no shortage of incoming talent large (Chinakhov, Skinner, Kulak) and even small (Solovyov) while the season has been ongoing.
Success has many fathers, as the old saying goes, and that certainly applies on the individual level when it comes to the impressive team results that the Penguins have received so far this season.
