The Pittsburgh Penguins have a slew of players who are either in the final or second-to-last year of their contract. 

Star center Evgeni Malkin is in the last year of his deal. He’s one of seven Penguins forwards who are UFAs after 2025-26. Three Pens defensemen are in the same boat. If you count players in the penultimate year of their contract, the number goes up to 10 forwards – including captain Sidney Crosby – and five defensemen, including star Erik Karlsson.

Penguins GM Kyle Dubas is retooling this team, yet Crosby, Malkin and star defenseman Kris Letang seem about as deeply embedded as it gets. What Dubas has created around them is an environment where players have every motivation to have a productive year while these leaders are still playing. The team isn't devoid of talent, but it does need players at both ends of the ice to play boom-or-bust hockey if Dubas isn't tearing down the roster.

That motivation applies to boosting their offensive production. This past season, only Crosby had a point-per-game average (1.14) of at least one, and the Penguins ranked 18th in goals-for. Those numbers won’t cut it in an NHL era where offense has been on the rise overall.

If Dubas trades Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust, who both recorded career-high point totals this past year, the offense will likely dry up more. But unless the Penguins get a trade return for each of them that makes the team much stronger down the line, those two will be motivated to find yet another gear. They each scored more than 30 goals in 2024-25, and Pittsburgh can do its best to take advantage of that as long as those players are around. 

Dubas is clearly hoping their depth players entering contract years or getting close to it – Kevin Hayes, Anthony Mantha, Danton Heinen, Noel Acciari, Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar – wind up thriving in pursuit of a better payday sooner rather than later. As for Malkin, he would surely want to finish what could be his last season with the Penguins on a high note by trying to reach the 83 points he put up in 2022-23.

That said, don’t be fooled into thinking that just because Pittsburgh can’t put the puck in the net, they’re somehow going to be better on defense. The Penguins are worse on the back end, with 3.50 goals against per game, which ranked third-last in the NHL. This was not a good Pens team at either end of the ice.

Dubas obviously wants the team to improve up front, but if the Penguins want to surprise the NHL and compete for a playoff spot next season, they have to give their goalies a fighting chance – since the netminders couldn’t bail them out night in and night out. So they need those five defensemen who are at or near the end of their contract – Karlsson, Matt Dumba, Connor Clifton and Ryan Shea – to also step up by clamping down in their own zone and chipping in some scoring.

For much of this roster, the knowledge that their time in Pittsburgh could be almost done should provide a sense of urgency to their game. 

Crosby will be a fixture as a Penguin for as long as he wants to be, but you can light a bigger fire under him if he knows his teammates are giving it all they’ve got. That’s what the Penguins should hope this collection of end-of-contract players will do.

When Dubas took over in June 2023, he tried to put together a team that would compete for the Stanley Cup right away. That plan didn’t work out. So last year, Dubas shifted the gaze of Penguins fans from the here and now to tomorrow. Dubas hasn’t hit home runs with every move he makes, but you can’t accuse him of being satisfied with the status quo.

However, in trying and failing to return to the playoffs in the last three seasons, the Pens have demonstrated how far they are from being a contender. They could be further from it if the players on the final legs of their contracts, including their franchise legends, don’t find a way to get a hot streak going that powers them farther than most NHL followers can expect.

Teams have overachieved their roster on paper time and again, and Pittsburgh should hope to join that list. They could make the most of the here and now while getting started on developing the core of tomorrow.

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