Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Penguins Rumors

Training Camp Cuts: 9/23/25

at CDT | by 5 Comments

We’re nearly through the first week of training camps. Teams are still making initial cuts, trimming amateur invites and AHL-contracted players as they inch closer to their final 23-player opening night rosters. You can keep track of full training camp rosters here. We’re keeping track of all of today’s trimmings here:

Calgary Flames (via team announcement)

F Jacob Battaglia (to Kingston, OHL)
D Axel Hurtig (to Calgary, WHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets (via team announcement)

G Evan Gardner (to WHL Saskatoon)
F Owen Griffin (to OHL Oshawa)
D Marcus Kearsey (released from ATO to QMJHL Charlottetown)
F Nicholas Sima (released from ATO to OHL Saginaw)

Dallas Stars (via team release)

F Jaxon Fuder (to WHL Red Deer)

Florida Panthers (via team release)

F Shea Busch (to WHL Everett)
D Carson Cameron (released from ATO to OHL Peterborough)
D Dennis Cesana (to AHL Charlotte)
F Riley Hughes (to AHL Charlotte)
D Cole Krygier (released from PTO)
F Josh Lopina (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
F Robert Mastrosimone (to AHL Charlotte)
F Shamar Moses (to OHL North Bay)
D Eamon Powell (to AHL Charlotte)
G Michael Simpson (to AHL Charlotte)
F Christophe Tellier (to AHL Charlotte)
D Mitchell Vande Sompel (to AHL Charlotte)
F Daniel Walcott (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
D Phip Waugh (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
D Andy Welinski (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
F Nicholas Zabaneh (to AHL Charlotte)

Pittsburgh Penguins (via team announcement)

F Travis Hayes (to OHL Soo)

Toronto Maple Leafs (via team announcement)

D Owen Conrad (to QMJHL Charlottetown)

Washington Capitals (via team announcement)

F Grant Cruikshank (to AHL Hershey)
G Seth Eisele (to AHL Hershey)
D Nick Leivermann (to AHL Hershey)
D Jon McDonald (to AHL Hershey)
F Justin Nachbaur (to AHL Hershey)
F Miroslav Satan (to OHL Saginaw)
F Maxim Schäfer (to QMJHL Chicoutimi)
F Dalton Smith (to AHL Hershey)
F Luke Toporowski (to AHL Hershey)

What Can The Penguins Do With Their Other Veteran Forwards?

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Penguins have a few productive forwards they might trade in the coming months. Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell both had excellent seasons last year playing alongside Sidney Crosby, and the Penguins probably want to sell high on them. They haven’t been able to do so yet, though, and the Pens have several veteran forwards they definitely want to move — Kevin Hayes, Noel Acciari, and Danton Heinen. But can they even move three players who don’t seem to be part of their future and might not be good enough to contribute now?

To be fair to Hayes, Acciari, and Heinen, the Penguins are unexpectedly deep at forward as they begin training camp. Pittsburgh has about 20 forwards who could make the lineup out of training camp, which makes things tricky for the trio of veterans. The team has promised to go with a younger roster this year, and while they’d likely prefer to move those three along with Rust and Rakell, they can’t trade everyone. It’s unlikely they can move Hayes, Acciari, and Heinen at all – even as pending UFAs.

Hayes was acquired last summer from the Blues along with a second-round pick in what was clearly a salary dump. Hayes remains a useful player in a limited role, but he doesn’t skate well, doesn’t hit, and lacks the puck skills he had in his prime. It also doesn’t help that he was injured at the beginning of training camp and will miss some time.

He could be moved in a deadline trade to a team looking for a depth veteran, but for now, the Penguins need to find a role for him when he returns. Hayes is set to count over $3.57MM against the Pittsburgh cap in the final year of a seven-year, $50MM contract he signed with the Flyers in the summer of 2019. Still, he is the least likely of the three to be moved off the roster because of his versatility. Hayes still has value on the power play and can contribute some offense to the bottom six if he manages to find a role among all the young players competing for an NHL spot.

Acciari was the most physical of the Penguins’ forwards last season, which doesn’t say much considering that Pittsburgh has been a light-hitting team for years. He also led the Penguins forwards in blocks. Acciari plays hard and is a team-first guy who serves as a good leader for some of the younger forwards seeking bottom-six minutes. Acciari is a solid pro and provides Pittsburgh with depth at center, but if some of the team’s prospects have strong camps, he could be left behind.

Then there’s Heinen, who was a throw-in last year when the Penguins traded defenseman Marcus Pettersson to the Vancouver Canucks. Heinen and his $2.25MM salary were included in the deal mainly to make the money work from Vancouver’s side. Heinen is an NHL player capable of playing across the lineup, but he doesn’t produce much with the ice time he receives, though he’s a decent forechecker and can kill penalties. At 30, Heinen isn’t expected to be part of Pittsburgh’s future, but if he makes the team and chips in some depth points, he could become a trade candidate at the deadline. That’s probably the best-case scenario for Heinen and the Penguins, as he’s the most likely of the trio of veterans to be waived and sent down to the AHL.

There is another option the Penguins can consider, which largely depends on what happens with Rust and Rakell. If the Penguins trade either of them for future assets, they could retain Heinen, Hayes, and Acciari and assign them to roles that best match their skills. All three are unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, and if Pittsburgh truly plans to rebuild, as they claim, it would be wise to boost the value of these veterans to trade them at the Trade Deadline for better assets. In the worst case, if they perform poorly and Pittsburgh can’t move them, they could let them all leave through free agency, move forward next season, and use nearly $8MM in freed-up cap space to sign other players.

In any case, that last option only makes sense if the Penguins trade Rust, Rakell, or both. Otherwise, the Penguins should simply put their best 12 or 13 forwards on the ice and healthy scratch or waive the rest, even if they are overpriced veterans with versatility still in their game.

Pittsburgh is an oddly constructed team, as they are rebuilding and want to go young, yet they remain the oldest team in the NHL. They probably will be bad, but have some good veterans and some promising youngsters. As Josh Yohe of The Athletic often says, “The Penguins are never boring,” and they certainly won’t be this season.

Photo by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Latest On Robby Fabbri, Taylor Gauthier

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Three days ago, we covered news that the Pittsburgh Penguins were bringing veteran winger Robby Fabbri to their training camp on a PTO. Today, Fabbri spoke to the media in Pittsburgh and divulged new details on his offseason and how he came to sign his PTO with the Penguins. Fabbri told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel that his decision-making process “came down to the very last day,” adding that there were “a handful of teams circling ever since July 1” but he ultimately could not land a full contract offer.

That Fabbri had to settle for a PTO should not come as a huge surprise, as despite the winger’s clear talent, he has struggled immensely to stay healthy throughout his 442-game NHL career. As Vensel explained in his piece, Fabbri “has a history of knee issues” and the combination of knee troubles alongside a broken hand limited Fabbri to just 44 games and 16 points last season. But the year before, in 2023-24, Fabbri was a solid contributor, scoring 18 goals in 68 games played. Still just 29 years old, Fabbri offers the Penguins an experienced veteran option to occupy a winger spot should one of their young players struggle in training camp or the preseason, and it would be difficult to imagine Fabbri going the entire preseason process without eventually landing a permanent place to play the 2025-26 season.

  • Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported today that Penguins minor-league goaltender Taylor Gauthier will be sidelined “longer-term” due to an undisclosed injury. Gauthier, 24, is signed to an AHL contract and was expected to serve as depth for the club’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. The 24-year-old turned pro in 2022-23 and got into 20 AHL games, going 8-3-6 with a .907 save percentage. For the last two seasons, Gauthier has been largely an ECHL goalie who has played sporadically in the AHL – he posted a strong .928 save percentage in 30 ECHL games in 2024-25 and got into one AHL game – a 32-save shutout. In addition to Gauthier, the Penguins also have Kazakh netminder Maxim Pavlenko signed to an AHL deal to provide further depth.

Penguins’ Kevin Hayes Shut Down Due To Upper-Body Injury

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Forward Kevin Hayes suffered an upper-body injury during the first day of on-ice work at Penguins training camp yesterday. The Athletic’s Josh Yohe relays word from head coach Dan Muse that he’ll remain out for at least a month before being re-evaluated, putting him out for opening night and around five games after that, at least.

This was an important camp for the veteran Hayes, who is entering the final season of his contract, to prove he can maintain a spot in the lineup ahead of a bevy of younger forwards and higher-ceiling reclamation projects looking to make an impact for the retooling Pens. There’s a marginal chance he ends up on the outside of their top 12 forwards when he’s cleared to return as a result.

Hayes, 33, arrived in the organization in the 2024 offseason as a cap dump by the Blues. The Flyers are still on the hook for the half of his salary they retained when trading him to St. Louis the year prior, so he only costs $3.57MM against the Penguins’ cap as he kicks off the last year of a seven-year, $50MM deal he signed with Philly in 2019. The veteran of nearly 800 NHL games is no longer the consistent top-six presence he once was, now failing to reach 30 points in back-to-back seasons. He was limited to 64 appearances last year – partially due to injury but also due to several healthy scratches – and produced a 13-10–23 scoring line with a -15 rating.

The Penguins were likely looking to get Hayes a bit more playing time out of the gate this year, if for no other reason than to showcase him for a trade. They can knock a further 50% off his salary to make him a $1.79MM player for an interested team, who may be interested in adding a serviceable veteran with his skillset to their bottom-six forward group. If he’s no longer an everyday forward on a team expected to be among the league’s worst this year, though, they presumably won’t be able to fetch anything more than a late-round pick, even at that decreased price point.

Pittsburgh has been feeling the injury bug early in camp, also losing top prospect Rutger McGroarty to an upper-body injury that’s likely to keep him out through the beginning of the season. Both are likely ticketed for IR as a result. Their absences create a clearer path for on-the-fringe forwards like Filip Hallander and Ville Koivunen to nab opening-night jobs.

Latest On Evgeni Malkin’s Future With Penguins

at CDT | by 17 Comments

Although much has been made of Sidney Crosby’s future with the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last few weeks, Evgeni Malkin remains the most pressing issue. The 19-year veteran is entering the final year of his four-year, $24.4MM contract with the Penguins, and has made few indications regarding the next chapter of his playing career.

Speaking with reporters this morning, Malkin appeared to hedge his bets when it comes to his staying in Pittsburgh. He originally stated a desire to play an additional year with the Penguins beyond the 2025-26 season. Still, he wants to finish his career in Pittsburgh regardless (via Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

However, when pressed about his no-movement clause, Malkin pointed to Brad Marchand’s example from last year, when he used his modified no-trade clause to join the Florida Panthers and win the second Stanley Cup of his career. Per NHL correspondent Wes Crosby, Malkin said, “It’s hard, you know? But again, we see a story, like, with Brad Marchand. Looking good, you know? But again, if the team trades you and you (don’t) win the Cup, it’s like a little bit weird, too, you know?”

By acknowledging his desire to stay with Pittsburgh beyond the 2025-26 campaign, Malkin has put the ball back in Kyle Dubas’s court. In June, two reports from Josh Yohe of The Athletic and the Penguins’ own Josh Getzoff indicated that the team has little desire to offer Malkin a new contract, regardless of his play in the upcoming season.

Those reports led many to believe that Malkin and his representation would begin looking at different options (likely around the Olympic break) or retire next summer. Unlike Marchand, Malkin’s no-movement clause means he’ll have full control over whether Pittsburgh trades him by this year’s trade deadline.

Regardless, Malkin would immediately become one of the best center options available at the deadline, with plenty of competitive teams having a glaring hole on the second line. Despite the team missing the postseason the past three years, Malkin has remained productive, recording 70 goals and 200 points in 232 games, averaging 18:21 of ice time.

Furthermore, Malkin has been a quality scorer in the playoffs, even though the Penguins haven’t reached beyond the second round since their most recent Stanley Cup championship in 2017. From 2018 to 2022, Malkin scored nine goals and 23 points in 28 playoff games.

The expectation is that the situation will play out over the regular season. Given the state of the roster, there’s little reason to keep Malkin this season or next. Still, much like Crosby, Pittsburgh’s top brass has typically honored the wishes of its franchise icons.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Hayes Injured At Practice

at CDT | by 2 Comments

  • Penguins center Kevin Hayes left practice early today after taking a hit from Ryan Graves. Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review relays (Twitter link) that head coach Dan Muse didn’t have an immediate update after practice and that he’s still being evaluated.  The 33-year-old is entering the final year of his contract and is coming off a relatively quiet year last season where he scored just 13 goals and 10 assists in 64 games, his first year with Pittsburgh.

Penguins Not Interested In Pursuing Carter Hart

at CDT | by 3 Comments

  • If the Pittsburgh Penguins want prospect Joel Blomqvist to have more seasoning in the AHL, and Arturs Silovs doesn’t build on his excellent AHL campaign last year, the Penguins have little else behind Tristan Jarry, if he’s even capable of handling a majority of the workload. Regardless, they won’t be seeking outside help from a former top-prospect netminder who was recently allowed back into the NHL. Earlier today, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reported that Pittsburgh wouldn’t be one of the teams targeting Carter Hart over the next couple of weeks.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Rutger McGroarty Likely To Start Season On IR

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Penguins top prospect Rutger McGroarty did not appear on Pittsburgh’s training camp roster as the team announced he and a few others were not medically cleared to participate. It appears McGroarty’s absence carries some more weight than the rest, though. General manager Kyle Dubas said today that McGroarty has an upper-body injury and will be out indefinitely, according to Wes Crosby of NHL.com. While not officially ruled out for the start of the season, an indefinite timeline is essentially a guarantee for missed time with less than three weeks until puck drop.

Acquired from the Jets in a rare prospect-for-prospect blockbuster last offseason, McGroarty immediately signed with the Penguins and turned pro after spending the prior two seasons at the University of Michigan. The 21-year-old broke camp with the Pens but didn’t last very long, going pointless in three outings before being sent to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. On the whole, his offensive success was a tad underwhelming. He ended up on a hot streak to end the year, but a difficult adjustment period early on led to a final scoring line of 14-25–39 in 60 minor-league games with a -10 rating. According to Byron Bader’s NHLe model, which tracks how a player’s point production in different amateur/minor leagues translates to the NHL over an 82-game pace, McGroarty’s production dropped from an equivalent of 51 points during his sophomore season at Michigan to just 31 in the AHL last year.

It was a concerning dropoff for a bit, but his hot streak with WBS got him a late-season recall. He looked more comfortable in the NHL that time around, scoring a goal and two assists in five games before a lower-body issue ended his season with a few games left on the schedule. That, plus his collegiate track record and pedigree as a No. 14 overall pick, still has him ranked as the retooling club’s No. 1 prospect according to NHL.com and Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff.

That momentum will pause here. While there aren’t as many forward jobs in Pittsburgh for young players to compete for as some were expecting – trade chips Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust both remain factors for now – those two are the only top-six locks on the wings with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to open the year. McGroarty was going to be a leading candidate to grab one of the other two top-six wing openings with a strong camp.

Instead, it’ll be other young names like the 22-year-old Ville Koivunen, who had 56 points in 63 AHL games last year and seven assists in an eight-game NHL call-up, getting that chance. Veteran reclamation projects like Anthony Mantha could get a look alongside Crosby or Malkin as well.

Penguins Expected To Sign Robby Fabbri To PTO

at CDT | by 5 Comments

The Penguins are bringing in winger Robby Fabbri to training camp on a professional tryout, reports Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Fabbri spent the 2024-25 season with the Ducks. He played a prominent role when in the lineup, averaging 16:12 of ice time per game, but injuries once again took a significant bite out of his season. He underwent knee surgery in November, which cost him a month, before sustaining a season-ending hand injury in late February. He finished the year with an 8-8–16 scoring line in 44 games. That worked out to 0.36 points per game, his worst production in six years and the second-worst season of his career.

That’s a concerning drop-off for a player whose ability to produce effectively when he’s able to go is his only real calling card. Fabbri has only played more than 60 games in a season three times in his nine-year career. The last time he didn’t miss at least 10 consecutive games in a season was back before the pandemic in 2019-20. Despite him averaging the third-most ice time of his career, Fabbri only recorded 1.48 shots on goal and 2.52 shot attempts per game for Anaheim, both significantly below his career averages of 1.67 and 2.83, respectively.

Understandably, that led to some tampered interest on the open market this summer, especially as he’s set to turn 30 midseason. It’s also worth noting he spent last year in one of the league’s worst offensive environments. Only two teams scored fewer goals than the Ducks’ 217, and they were squarely in the bottom half of every shot and chance generation metric at 5-on-5. Fabbri’s career average is right around 0.50 points per game and, up until last year, he’d been fairly consistent in that regard. From 2019-20 to 2023-24 with the Blues and Red Wings, Fabbri’s points per game stayed between 0.47 and 0.60 each season.

That makes him a buy-low candidate for a rebuilder in Pittsburgh. If they find a spot for him among their myriad young forwards competing for opening-night jobs along with other already-signed reclamation projects like Anthony Mantha, he could end up generating an additional draft pick for them if they sign him to a deal and flip him at the trade deadline. He joins career minor-leaguer Brett Murray as reported PTO attendees to the Pens’ camp.

Red Wings Interested In Trading For Erik Karlsson

at CDT | by 9 Comments

Now that the Pittsburgh Penguins are in rebuild mode, much has been made this offseason about the potential trade candidacy of the trio of Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, and Erik Karlsson. Regarding the latter candidate, while speaking on the Kevin Karius Show, Josh Yohe of The Athletic expects a trade to be completed sooner rather than later, with one team in particular leading the pack.

If the Red Wings considered taking on Karlsson’s full salary, it would limit any potential trade return for the Penguins, but it could be the best option for the rebuilding club. It’s not complicated to ascertain Detroit’s purported interest in Karlsson, as the right side of their defense behind Moritz Seider is undeniably thin.

[SOURCE LINK]

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top