The NHL season is a month and some change away, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are heading into it with a true mix of youth talent and veterans, which is a nice change of pace from the past several seasons.
Many of the young players will be vying for roster spots and hoping to supplant some of those veterans, while some of the veterans will either be looking to play for an opportunity with a contending team by the trade deadline or trying to find new life in Pittsburgh.
And some have more to prove than others. Here are four Penguins’ players with chips on their shoulders in 2025-26.
Philip Tomasino
When the Penguins decided to take a chance on Tomasino last season - surrendering a more-than-likely inconsequential 2027 fourth-round pick to acquire him from the Nashville Predators in November - they were hoping to help the former first-round pick (2019) round out some of the details of his game and improve his play in the hard areas of the ice.
While Tomasino did show flashes last season - and he did display some chemistry, at times, with Evgeni Malkin - he was not consistent enough, and those details are something that is still a work in progress. The Penguins non-tendered him as a RFA then brought him back for one year in unrestricted free agency.
At the end of the day, the trade will always end up looking like a good one for the Penguins. Tomasino, 24, needs to either prove to the Penguins that he can be a valuable asset in their future plans or prove to a contending team somewhere that his services are worthwhile. Because of all of the youth coming up in the Penguins’ system, Tomasino is short on time - and he needs to take advantage of every second of it on the ice.
2 Penguins Who Could Be Nice SurprisesThe 2025-26 season is rapidly approaching, and it is going to be interesting to see how the Pittsburgh Penguins perform after their busy off-season. When looking at their current roster, they have some under-the-radar players who could end up being nice surprises for them in 2025-26. Let's discuss two of them.
Joel Blomqvist
As Penguins’ goaltenders go, it would have been easy to spotlight Tristan Jarry here. Jarry, 30, actually finished the 2024-25 season strong in the home stretch, which was in massive contradiction to the rest of his season that - at one point - involved being waived.
But, honestly? The organizational goaltender with the biggest chip on his shoulder this season is youngster Joel Blomqvist.
Blomqvist, 23, made a strong impression in his first taste of NHL action, which happened right out of the gate last season due to an injury to former Penguins’ netminder Alex Nedeljkovic, who was traded to the San Jose Sharks this summer. Aside from one rotten outing against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 11, Blomqvist seemed to show he was ready for the NHL.
After Jarry was waived, Blomqvist got his second chance - and it didn’t quite go as swimmingly. He was eventually optioned, spent the majority of the final two months of the season nursing an injury, and was partly to blame for an early playoff exit for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins of the AHL.
Penguins Facing Uncertain Goalie Split Entering 2025-26 SeasonOnce again, the Pittsburgh Penguins face goaltending questions heading into a season.
Then, this summer, the Penguins went out and got Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks - another young, mostly unproven goaltender who has come up big in some big situations and likely has the inside track to the NHL roster this fall alongside Jarry.
With Silovs now in the picture - and some legitimate talent on his heels in Sergei Murashov - this is pretty much a make-or-break year for Blomqvist. If and when he is given an NHL opportunity next season, he has no choice but to seize it.
Anthony Mantha
Mantha, 30, has had a rough couple of years on the injury front.
After signing a one-year deal with the Calgary Flames last summer, Mantha tore his ACL during a game in November, causing him to miss the remainder of the season and limiting his 2024-25 season to 13 games. It was a tough break for the 6-foot-5, 234-pound winger, who signed the one-year "prove it" deal with the Flames after a disappointing back half of the 2023-24 season with the Vegas Golden Knights following the trade deadline.
Mantha can score goals, and he has three seasons of 20-plus goals to show for that. His current one-year, $2.5 million contract with Pittsburgh is yet another opportunity for him to prove that he is still a valuable, effective middle-six player who can manage to stay healthy.
But that's the challenge: Ever since his 2017-18 season with the Detroit Red Wings, he hasn't been able to remain healthy. Mantha's health will be as much of a "prove-it" kind of thing as any sort of performance measure. Hopefully, he can play up to capacity with games in Pittsburgh, and perhaps he will earn himself an opportunity with a contender post-deadline - as well as fetch the Penguins a nice piece in return.
Penguins Made Good Move Signing Big ForwardThe Pittsburgh Penguins have made multiple moves this off-season. This included bringing in several new players, including winger Anthony Mantha. The Penguins signed the 6-foot-5 forward to a one-year, $2.5 million contract earlier this month.
Evgeni Malkin
It may seem crazy to have a 39-year-old future Hall-of-Fame center on this list.
But the reality is that this may very well be his final NHL season. And - lucky for him - he will probably have better linemates this year, and he has the chance to go out with a bang, should he decide to retire at the end of the 2025-26 season.
Let’s be clear: Malkin has nothing left to prove to anyone. He’s earned everything he’s gotten up to this point in his career, and no matter how this season shakes out for him, he is always going to be a Penguins’ legend and will be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.
But this is more so about proving that he remains a difference-making player at his age and that - with the right combination of teammates around him - he can still change the shape of games. This is about beating some of the “washed” allegations and showing that he is still a very capable second-line center. Malkin doesn’t need to prove all of that to the masses, but he’d probably love nothing more than to prove that to himself and his teammates.
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Last season, Malkin registered 16 goals and 50 points in 68 games, which followed up a 27-goal, 67-point campaign the season prior. He showed sparks at the end of the season playing with Rickard Rakell and Ville Koivunen.
If Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty make this roster, Malkin should have no problem reaching the 65-70 point plateau again. They’ll likely both play in the top-six, as well as Rakell and Bryan Rust, assuming they aren’t dealt, but even if they don’t, there are good options in Anthony Mantha and Tommy Novak.
Malkin is fine either way, but one last big season from the second-greatest Russian player of all time would be a treat to watch. And, who knows? Perhaps a big season will make Malkin want to stick around just a bit longer beyond this season.
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