Tim Benz: Sidney Crosby’s arrival was Pittsburgh’s most consequential sports event of the past 20 years
Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Penguins drafting Sidney Crosby. You could argue (in fact, I think I will right now) that Crosby’s arrival was the single most consequential event in Pittsburgh sports over the past two decades. If the Penguins don’t win the lottery to draft Crosby,...
Penguins prospect Brady Peddle signs with QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders
Pittsburgh Penguins defensive prospect Brady Peddle has signed with the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for the 2025-26 season. That transaction was announced on Monday and does not affect his status with the Penguins, who selected Peddle in the third round (No. 91 overall) in...
Mark Madden: Trading Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell is best for Penguins’ future
It’s imperative that the Penguins get a top-five pick in next year’s NHL draft. It’s a top-heavy draft. Potential stars are available, not least Penn State’s Gavin McKenna, the presumptive first choice overall. President of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas has done a good job restocking the Penguins’ system. But that...
Former Penguins forward Daniel Sprong signs in Russia
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Daniel Sprong has signed a one-year contract with CSKA Moscow of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). That team announced the transaction with a release on Wednesday. A native of Holland, the 28-year-old Sprong split the 2024-25 season between the Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken and New Jersey...
Former Penguins goaltender Maxim Lagace signs in Austria
Former Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Maxim Lagace has signed with the Graz 99ers, a team based in Austria that competes in the International Central European Hockey League (ICEHL). That team announced the transaction via a release on Wednesday. A native of Saint-Augustin, Quebec, the 32-year-old spent the past two seasons with...
Former Penguins defenseman John Ludvig signs in Czechia
Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman John Ludvig has signed with HC Dynamo Pardubice of the Extraliga ledního hokeje (ELH), in Czechia, the home country of his family. That team announced the transaction via a release on Wednesday. His father, former NHL forward Jan Ludvig, is a skills coach with HC Dynamo...
Former Penguins forward Dominik Uher signs in Germany
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Dominik Uher has signed with Kolner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) in Germany. That team announced the transaction via a release on Wednesday. A native of Czechia, the 32-year-old Uher has spent the past seven years playing in Germany for the Fischtown Pinguins, also...
New Penguins defenseman Connor Clifton: ‘I want to get back to my old self’
Jason Spezza welcomed Connor Clifton to the NHL. And in a blunt fashion. Making his NHL debut as a member of the Boston Bruins on Nov. 16, 2018, Clifton, a defenseman, crossed paths with Spezza, then a forward with the Dallas Stars. A shove turned into a slash, then a...
New Penguins forward Anthony Mantha vows to be ready following knee surgery
Anthony Mantha doesn’t have specific goals in mind — aside from the goals that go into a hockey net — as he enters the 2024-25 season. Except for one. Be ready. Limited to 13 games last season as a member of the Calgary Flames because of a right ACL injury...
Former Penguins forward Matt Cooke hired as junior coach in British Columbia
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke was hired as head coach and general manager of the Vernon Vipers of the British Columbia Hockey League, a junior “A” league (the second-highest tier of junior hockey in Canada). That team announced the transaction on Friday. Cooke, 46, has coached at various levels...
Joe Morrow, Penguins’ 1st-round draft pick in 2011, signs in Poland
Defenseman Joe Morrow, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round draft pick (No. 23 overall) in 2011, has signed a one-year contract with Unia Oswiecim of the Polska Hokej Liga (PHL) in Poland. That team announced the transaction with a press release on Friday. Morrow, 32, spent the past two seasons in the...
Former Penguins defenseman Ty Smith signs with KHL’s Dinamo Minsk
Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ty Smith has signed a one-year contract with Dinamo Minsk, a team based in Belarus that competes in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). That team announced the transaction via Telegram, a popular social media platform in Europe. A native of Lloydminster, Alberta, the 25-year-old Smith spent...
Former Penguins goaltender Louis Domingue signs with KHL’s Sibir Novosibirsk
Former Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Louis Domingue has signed a one-year contract with Sibir Novosibirsk of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). That team announced the transaction with a release on Thursday. A native of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, the 33-year-old Domingue has spent the past three seasons with the New York Rangers organization,...
Forward prospect Melvin Fernstrom has no complaints about trade to Penguins
On the eastern side of North America, the transaction was orchestrated within a few minutes of midnight. But in Sweden, it happened more than two hours before the sun came up. At 11:52 p.m. on Jan 31, the Pittsburgh Penguins officially completed a multi-player trade with the Vancouver Canucks. Forward...
Mark Madden: All bets are off with Arturs Silovs now in Penguins’ goaltending rotation
The Penguins’ goaltending situation seemed easy to read after Alex Nedeljkovic got sent to San Jose: Tristan Jarry is the starter in Pittsburgh. The backup is Joel Blomqvist, Filip Larsson or Sergei Murashov. The other two split netminding duties with the Penguins’ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club. (Murashov, 21, is the franchise’s...
Penguins’ 2025-26 schedule announced
The Pittsburgh Penguins will face the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena on Oct. 9 in their home opener to the 2025-26 season. That contest was announced via social media Wednesday morning. Later in the afternoon, the entire schedule for the NHL’s season was revealed. Earlier in the week,...
Tim Benz: Mario Lemieux can’t be the Penguins’ savior this time, even if he does reacquire the franchise
Mario Lemieux doesn’t need to save the Pittsburgh Penguins this time. That’ll make his possible return to the franchise different from his previous reincarnations with the team. But, oddly, this one could be just as difficult. If Lemieux, Ron Burkle and David Morehouse eventually reacquire the organization (as reports from...
Prospect Finn Harding wants ‘to prove the Penguins right for believing in me’
Finn Harding is patient. He waited a long time to get drafted. About a year (plus more than 200 selections). The right-handed defenseman did not hear his name called the first year he was eligible to be selected in the NHL Draft (2023). About 12 months later, Harding went through...
Emergency backup goalies face uncertain future with new NHL rule
Former Zamboni driver-turned-arena manager David Ayres became an immediate sensation when he pulled on the goaltending gear and took the ice in an NHL game on a Saturday night in Toronto and beat his hometown Maple Leafs. Before that, accountant by day/beer league goalie by night Scott Foster won a...
Penguins forward prospect Max Graham signs with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect Max Graham signed a two-year American Hockey League contract with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Tuesday. The 21-year-old Graham (6-foot-3, 209 pounds) just completed his junior career with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. Serving as captain of that team last season, Graham appeared in...
Former Penguins forward Josh Currie signs in Austria
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Josh Currie has signed with the Graz 99ers, an Austrian team that competes in the International Central European Hockey League (ICEHL). That team announced the transaction via a release on Tuesday. A native of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the 32-year-old Currie spent the 2024-25 season with...
Penguins prospect Chase Pietila embraces ‘meaner’ defense as his route to the NHL
Even if he isn’t in the NHL just yet, Chase Pietila had his “welcome to the NHL moment” this past spring. On March 12, three days after he signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Pietila was brought to UMPC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry to get a...
First Call: Report claims NFL teams ‘don’t really expect’ a T.J. Watt trade; update on Najee Harris’ eye injury
Tuesday’s “First Call” examines the latest news on T.J. Watt’s contract. We have an update on Najee Harris’ eye. Paul Coffey has a new gig with the Edmonton Oilers. And a Pitt baseball pitcher gets picked in the MLB Draft. Waiting on Watt For T.J. Watt, the roadblock in his...
Former Nailers coach Derek Army hired as assistant with AHL’s Colorado Eagles
Derek Army is leaving as head coach of the Wheeling Nailers, ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, to accept an assistant coaching position with the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League. Colorado announced the hiring via a release on Monday. Army took over as interim head coach of the...
Penguins to participate in Prospect Challenge event at Buffalo
The Pittsburgh Penguins will once again participate in the Prospect Challenge event hosted by the Buffalo Sabres in September. This event is a series of scrimmages between prospects from five NHL teams. In addition to the Penguins and Sabres, the Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils will...
