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Islanders, Jets Explored Brock Nelson Trade At Deadline

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The New York Islanders landed a Trade Deadline steal when they sent aging veteran Brock Nelson to the Colorado Avalanche for top prospect Calum Ritchie, defenseman Oliver Kylington, and draft picks in the 2026 first-round and 2028 third-round. But new reports have shared that New York could’ve found a jackpot return even if their offer with Colorado fell through. Marco D’Amico of Responsible Gaming reports that the Winnipeg Jets were also aggressive in their pursuit of acquiring Nelson – and were ready to offer a package very similar to Colorado’s. D’Amico specifies that Winnipeg would have offered up one of Brad Lambert, Brayden Yager, or Colby Barlow in the return, in addition to future draft capital.

New York can rest happy with how things ended up, but acquiring one of Winnipeg’s top names would have been just as lucrative. All three prospects offer their own upside, led by 2023 14th-overall pick Brayden Yager, who scored 82 points in just 54 WHL games this season. He also chipped in 14 points in 16 playoff games – but fell short of the championship run he went on with the Moose Jaw Warriors last season. Yager is likely headed for the pros next season, and could rapidly rise up Winnipeg’s depth chart with a hot start to his career.

Lambert is another top prospect, though expectations around him have cooled slightly after he scored 35 points in 61 AHL games this season – 20 fewer than he managed in 64 games last year. Lambert’s a dynamic and skilled forward, but is still a bit small for pro competition. He offers plenty of upside, but will need to first rediscover the scoring he posted last year.

Barlow is perhaps the most unheralded of the bunch after wrapping up his age-20 season in the OHL. He scored 32 goals and 61 points in 62 games this year. That mark continued his quiet slide down the OHL leaderboard – after he posted 40 goals and 58 points in 50 games last year, and 46 goals and 79 points in 59 games of his draft year in 2022-23. But Barlow intercut that with three points in three AHL games at the end of last season, and could translate as a hard-nosed scorer with pro-level physicality.

But while all three prospects carry reason for upside and reason for question, D’Amico specified that a deal with the Jets fell through because Nelson was unwilling to waive his no-trade clause to head to Canada. He instead waived it to land in Colorado, earning the Islanders the rights to Ritchie just a few months after he made the NHL roster directly out of training camp. Ritchie played in seven games and scored his first NHL goal before returning to the OHL for a dominant season. He posted 70 points in 47 regular season games, and 25 points in 21 playoff games, while serving as the clear-cut top center on an Oshawa Generals lineup that made it all the way to the OHL Championship.

Jets Recall Brayden Yager From WHL

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The Winnipeg Jets have assigned top prospect Brayden Yager to the NHL roster after the end of his season with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. Yager will join the club ahead of a potential series-clinching Game 6. He finished the WHL playoffs with eight goals and 14 points in 16 games.

Winnipeg acquired Yager in a one-for-one swap that sent Rutger McGroarty back to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The move helped keep the Saskatoon native in western Canada, after growing up in Martensville and spending the last five seasons in the WHL. Yager was drafted 14th-overall in the 2023 NHL Draft by Pittsburgh, following a dazzling age-18 season with the Moose Jaw Warriors. He scored 28 goals and 78 points in 67 games of his draft-eligible campaign, and earned a confident hold over Moose Jaw’s top center role. Yager has continued to match that mark in the years since, with 95 points in 57 games last year and a combined 82 points in 54 games this season – split between Moose Jaw and Lethbridge. He has also been a dominant force for Canada internationally, scoring five points in five games at the 2024 World Juniors and returning to captain the lineup and net three assists in five games this year.

Yager is a playmaker through-and-through, with strong control over the middle lane and an impressive ability to keep his poise at top speeds. He has a slight frame – six-foot tall and 170-pounds – that’s worried some scouts in the past. But the right-shot centerman has shown a consistent ability to play above his size and bully his way into the dirty areas of the ice. It’s unlikely that he sees any NHL action in the coming days, though a first-round could have Winnipeg excited to test their top man in round two.

West Notes: Stone, Skinner, Ingram, Daccord, Yager

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The Golden Knights could be getting their top winger back relatively soon.  Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal relays (Twitter link) that Mark Stone took part in practice today in a non-contact jersey.  The 32-year-old got off to his best offensive start, recording six goals and 15 assists in the first 13 games of the season before suffering a lower-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for the last three weeks.  Stone is only on regular injured reserve, not LTIR so he doesn’t have to miss at least 10 games before being activated; he can be re-added to the roster as soon as he gets the green light from team doctors.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The NHL announced that Oilers winger Jeff Skinner has been fined $2K for embellishment. It’s the second time he has been flagged for that this season with the first only drawing a warning.  The 32-year-old has struggled in his first year with Edmonton, notching just four goals and four assists in 24 games while averaging just 13:38 per game, a career-low ATOI.
  • Utah Hockey Club netminder Connor Ingram is not close to returning to the lineup, head coach Andre Tourigny told reporters including Cole Bagley of KSL Sports (Twitter link). The reigning Masterton Trophy winner had a rocky start to his season, posting a 3.61 GAA with a .871 SV%, a 36-point drop in that category compared to 2023-24.  Ingram sustained an upper-body injury last month and was only ruled out for their road trip at that time but clearly, he’ll be out for a while yet.
  • While Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord was a speculative candidate to make Canada’s roster for the 4 Nations Cup since he holds Canadian citizenship, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported over the weekend that this is not the case. Daccord does not have a Canadian passport which is one of the eligibility criteria for the tournament.  However, it’s expected that he will get one in the near future, making him eligible to be named as a replacement should one of the three netminders named on Wednesday get injured leading up to the event.  Regardless of whether he suits up in this event, he remains eligible to play for Canada, the United States, and Switzerland internationally.
  • Jets prospect Brayden Yager is on the move in the WHL. Lethbridge announced that they’ve acquired the center as part of a five-player, six-pick trade with Moose Jaw.  The 19-year-old was drafted 14th overall by Pittsburgh in 2023 and was flipped to Winnipeg in the Rutger McGroarty trade over the offseason.  Yager had 30 points in 21 games prior to the swap and projects to be an impact player for Canada at the upcoming World Juniors.

Teams Moving On From Prospects Earlier Than Ever

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One of the sub-themes from the 2024 offseason and part of a larger theme in general from the 2024-25 NHL season — organizations are moving on from top prospects much earlier than in previous years. Nick Faris of The Score recently broke down this narrative and explained how it symbolizes a few shifting narratives.

Faris writes that ten players drafted in the top 15 between 2019-2023 have changed teams since the start of the calendar year 2024. This is partly due to NCAA prospects using their inevitable free agency as a negotiating tactic to move on from their draft organization and teams reassessing their needs much quicker than in previous years.

Anaheim Ducks’ Cutter Gauthier and Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rutger McGroarty are the most recent examples of NCAA stars choosing to forego their entry-level contract with their drafting teams in the hopes of being traded to a different organization. Both were granted their wishes as the Philadelphia Flyers traded Gauthier to the Ducks for Jamie Drysdale, and the Penguins traded their top prospect Brayden Yager to the Jets for McGroarty.

The remaining top 15 talents from the previous four NHL Drafts were moved out of rapidly shifting team needs. The Colorado Avalanche had a larger need for a second-line center rather than a long-term top-four option on the blue line culminating in the trade for Casey Mittelstadt from the Buffalo Sabres for Bowen Byram. The Utah Hockey Club and Sabres moved on from Conor Geekie and Matthew Savoie, respectively, for more immediate needs on their roster with only one game played combined for their drafting franchise. The Penguins moved on from Yager for more immediate help in McGroarty, and the Nashville Predators traded top goaltending prospect Yaroslav Askarov as they will not need another starting goaltender until the 2030s.

This is not to say that NHL organizations are non-committal towards their high-end draft selections as Faris notes 12 players drafted in the top 15 from 2019-2023 have already signed long-term contracts with their respective franchises. It has become clear that NHL teams are assessing young talent faster than ever. There has been no indication that the quality of assessment has improved as some of the players who have changed hands will inevitably have better careers with their new teams.

Jets Notes: Perfetti, Ehlers, Yager

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The Jets will likely ink RFA center Cole Perfetti to a bridge deal to conclude contract negotiations this summer, writes Ken Wiebe of The Winnipeg Free Press. Perfetti is arguably the top RFA center left on the market, although he spent a good chunk of last season on the wing after being bumped from the No. 2 center spot for Vladislav Namestnikov and later Sean Monahan. The 2020 10th overall pick is coming off his entry-level contract and set career highs with 19 goals and 38 points in his platform season.

Winnipeg will be looking for more out of the 22-year-old next season after losing Monahan and a few other depth forward pieces to free agency. But while he’s been an effective depth presence, he hasn’t been able to demonstrate his ceiling as an everyday top-six forward with much consistency to date. This season could be transformative for Perfetti, who has a chance to reclaim that second-line spot down the middle and prove himself as a capable secondary option behind Mark Scheifele. That could lead to the two sides agreeing on a one-year deal to get Perfetti signed before training camp and resuming discussions on a longer-term extension to begin with the 2025-26 season, Wiebe posits.

Turning to another notable top-six piece for the Jets, it’s been relatively quiet on the Nikolaj Ehlers front. Murat Ates of The Athletic reported back in May that Winnipeg would explore trading the winger entering the final season of his contract. A month later, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta said that Ehlers wasn’t interested in beginning extension talks with the club and intended to test free agency next summer, barring a trade. The Hurricanes were believed to be in pursuit of Ehlers, potentially in a swap for then-unsigned RFA Martin Necas, but that deal never came to fruition.

But with a different coaching regime led by Scott Arniel, The Winnipeg Free Press’ Mike McIntyre wonders if there may be a path toward an Ehlers extension after all. As McIntyre points out, both Arniel and general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff have been public in their praise of Ehlers’ play this summer, and it’s likely he’ll see an uptick on the sub-16 minutes per game of ice time he’s seen the last couple of years. The 28-year-old Dane is coming off a 25-goal, 61-point campaign in 2023-24 – a down year by his standards. But the organization’s messaging may have made Ehlers more open to sticking around, and McIntyre believes they’re still trying to get him signed before the start of the season.

Could this all get resolved before the season begins, the way Connor Hellebuyck and Scheifele’s situations did last year? I wouldn’t rule that out.

Pivoting back to that second-line center vacancy, there are a few dark horses to land the job come opening night outside of Namestnikov and Perfetti. Wiebe believes 2023 14th overall pick Brayden Yager, acquired from the Penguins last week, will get a nine-game trial in the role before being returned to the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors for the remainder of the campaign.

“It wouldn’t shock me to see him get a chance in that role before a final decision is made,” Wiebe said of Yager. “He’s still going to need an excellent training camp in order to force his way into this discussion, given the aforementioned contenders. But Yager is someone who could do just that and earn himself an extended look, given the skill set he brings to the table and his ability to play a dependable two-way game to go along with his talent, vision and heavy shot.”

Yager, 19, had 95 points in 57 games for the Warriors last year. The 5’11”, 179-lb pivot could at least provide a taste of things to come, and depending on his early returns, could influence whether the Jets want to put resources into developing Perfetti as a center or winger long-term.

Cheveldayoff: Jets Never Received Reason For Rutger McGroarty’s Unwillingness To Sign

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Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke to members of the media yesterday, including Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press, noting that Rutger McGroarty’s camp never disclosed why the 2022 first-round pick was unwilling to sign in Winnipeg despite being asked by the GM multiple times.

“We were at the draft combines and got a text from his agent (Pat Brisson) that he wanted to meet… he informed us that Rutger had said that he didn’t intend to sign,” Cheveldayoff said (via Connor Hrabchak of The Hockey Writers). “That’s the first inkling that we got that there was nothing that was going to come to fruition there. We sat down and asked the agent why, and he said he didn’t have an answer. He didn’t have a reason. I went through a litany of questions to the agent to see – was it player development? Was it that we didn’t burn a year [off his entry-level contract]? He said no, no, no, it just didn’t feel right.”

When the news of McGroarty’s desired exit from Winnipeg first broke before the draft, a league source told Murat Ates of The Athletic that the player felt “his path to the NHL is best suited in another organization.” Ates wrote that the Jets felt the AHL was the best place for McGroarty to play in 2024-25, an outcome he wasn’t interested in. Thus, he returned to the University of Michigan for his junior season. However, he’ll reverse that decision and turn pro after signing his entry-level contract with the Penguins immediately following yesterday’s trade.

But Cheveldayoff’s transparency about his conversations with Brisson indicates this wasn’t a new rift between McGroarty and the Jets, even if it wasn’t brought up until recently. Both Brisson and McGroarty said his hesitations about signing with Winnipeg stemmed from his first development camp showing with the club, Cheveldayoff relayed.

The Jets can be thankful that McGroarty’s stellar play in Ann Arbor the last two seasons helped them get a fair return for his services. A strong all-around forward who can play both center and left wing, he’s coming off a banner 2023-24 campaign that saw him finish second on the Wolverines in scoring with 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists) in 36 games with a +17 rating. He also captained the United States at the World Junior Championship, scoring five goals and four assists for nine points in seven games to lead the Americans to a gold medal.

One of McGroarty’s under-discussed collegiate achievements was his ability to maintain a physical style of play without harming his team by racking up penalty minutes. The Nebraska native racked up 65 PIMs in 54 games during his draft year with the U.S. National U18 Development Team but logged just 24 PIMs in 75 games over his two years in Michigan.

He’s a tough loss, but the Jets recouped another blue-chip forward prospect in Brayden Yager to take his place. He’s not quite as pro-ready as McGroarty, but the 19-year-old could answer Winnipeg’s long-time hole at the second-line center position as soon as 2025-26. After posting 95 points in 57 games with the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors and leading them to their first WHL championship last year, he’ll likely get a long look in the role during training camp and could end up on the opening night roster. A nine-game trial to avoid burning the first year of his entry-level contract is possible for Yager, who needs to be returned to Moose Jaw if he’s not on the NHL roster this season.

Notably, Winnipeg also lands a player eager to return to his Central Canada home. “You see the fan base in Winnipeg, it’s pretty special,” Yager, a Saskatchewan native, told team color analyst Mitchell Clinton. “Especially in the playoffs – the whiteout and everything – it’s crazy. So I’m super excited.”

Snapshots: Swayman, Brodzinski, Yager

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Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman is at risk of entering September without a contract for the season. But team president and NHL Hall of Famer Cam Neely isn’t bothered by negotiations dragging on. In an appearance on The Rich Shertenlieb Show, Neely said, “Something will get done. There’s no question. I mean, not every negotiation is as smooth as you’d like it. I know our fan base would certainly love to have something done by now. But I’m fully confident that both sides will come to an agreement before too long here.”

Swayman has expressed confidence of his own that a deal will get done – making the ongoing holdout a bit surprising. The Bruins carry $8.64MM in projected cap space, per PuckPedia, and a full roster signed otherwise. That should be plenty of budget to sign Swayman to, at least, a short-term deal – perhaps an indication that contract details like signing bonuses are the impeding factor. Swayman has had a stellar NHL career through three seasons, posting a .919 save percentage in 132 games, but he’s yet to exceed 45 starts in a single season. That’s set to change in a big way with Linus Ullmark now in Ottawa – and if Swayman can withstand the barrage is yet to be seen.

Other notes from around the league:

  • College free agent Bryce Brodzinski has signed a one-year deal with the AHL’s Ontario Reign. The Philadelphia Flyers drafted Brodzinski in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Draft, but didn’t sign before August 1, 2024 deadline – pushing him into free agency after a five-year career at the University of Minnesota. Brodzisnki scored more-and-more in every season, ultimately posting a career-high 36 points in 39 games this year. He’ll look to continue growing next year, stepping into a competitive Ontario lineup where he’ll battle Los Angeles Kings prospects Martin Chromiak, Koehn Ziemmer, and Kaleb Lawrence for ice time on the wings.
  • The newest top Winnipeg Jets prospect, Brayden Yager, will either play in the NHL or CHL this season Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff shares with The Athletic’s Murat Ates. Yager remains eligible for the NHL-CHL agreement by just four days – keeping him eligible to return to the Moose Jaw Warriors, where he won a WHL championship last season. Yager played a pivotal role in the ring-winning year, scoring a career-high 35 goals and 95 points in 57 regular-season games and 27 points in 20 playoff games. He’s lived up to his 14th-overall standing thus far, and will have now receive a chance to break into the next step as part of a new team.

Penguins, Jets Swap Rutger McGroarty And Brayden Yager

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1:45 PM: The Winnipeg Jets have confirmed the one-for-one swap.

11:00 AM: The Pittsburgh Penguins may have found their solution to who will play on a line with Sidney Crosby. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting the organization is close to acquiring forward prospect Rutger McGroarty from the Winnipeg Jets. A few moments later, Friedman additionally reported the Penguins would be sending prospect Brayden Yager back to Winnipeg.

McGroarty immediately becomes the best forward prospect in the Penguins organization with Yager’s exit and has a legitimate opportunity to crack the roster next season. Although nothing was purposefully made public, McGroarty reportedly sought a trade out of Winnipeg in late June for a more readily available opportunity at the NHL level.

Shortly after being acquired by the organization, the Penguins signed McGroarty to his entry-level contract meaning his time at the University of Michigan has concluded. The three-year deal will pay McGroarty a salary of $855K at the NHL level with a signing bonus of $50K and performance ’A’ bonuses up to $500K each year of the deal.

It’s difficult to argue with McGroarty on being NHL-ready as he recently finished ninth in NCAA scoring during the 2023-24 season with 16 goals and 52 points in 36 games. He was also sensational during the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championships for Team USA as he scored five goals and nine points in seven tournament contests while captaining his team to a gold medal finish for the first time since 2021.

If the Penguins graduate McGroarty to the NHL for the 2024-25 campaign, he fills an obvious need on Crosby’s wing. Playing primarily against Big Ten opponents during his time in the NCAA, McGroarty developed an innate skill to read opposing defenses and show off his elite playmaking abilities in the offensive zone. He’s not satisfied without the puck either, as he is a relentless forechecker with a combination of skill and physical play.

His forechecking abilities make him an ideal candidate to put on a line with Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, as both players thrive with the puck on their sticks. McGroarty’s style of play should open up plenty of space for the two Pittsburgh legends but he also has a good enough shot to finish the play himself.

Yager was selected exactly one year after McGroarty with the 14th overall selection of the 2023 NHL Draft. He spent last season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors collecting 35 goals and 95 points in 57 games as the team’s assistant captain. He further cemented his legacy with the Moose Jaw program with an incredible playoff performance with 11 goals and 27 points in 20 games en route to becoming champions of the WHL.

Yager also had the opportunity to represent Team Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championships and scored five points in five games for the Canadians but unfortunately failed to medal. It appeared as if Yager may have an outside chance of making Pittsburgh’s roster for the 2024-25 campaign with the team signing him to his entry-level contract only a month ago. Now, Yager will attempt to crack Winnipeg’s roster in training camp.

The young Saskatoon native has inherent value as a right-handed shot center who also brings more defensive awareness to his game in comparison to McGroarty. If the organization is not content with giving Cole Perfetti minutes down the middle of the ice on the team’s second line, Yager provides a confident long-term answer at center behind Mark Scheifele.

Penguins Sign Brayden Yager To Entry-Level Contract

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed 2023 first-round pick Brayden Yager to his entry-level contract. Contract details have not yet been released. This move will likely turn Yager pro after a successful four-year career with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. He was one of many offensive stars on the Warriors lineup, flanked by players like Jagger Firkus, Denton Mateychyuk, and, this season, Matthew Savoie. Moose Jaw vindicated such a talented lineup with a WHL championship this year, though they fell to third place in the 2024 Memorial Cup. Yager was a crucial piece all year long, tallying 35 goals and 95 points across 57 regular season games, and 27 points in 20 playoff games.

The season was a fantastic encore to Yager’s draft-year performance in 2022-23, when he managed 78 points in 67 games on a, relatively, weaker Moose Jaw lineup. He showed all of the makings of a top prospect, and even earned top-10 and top-five hype from some public sources. He earned the attention with some fantastic playmaking abilities, showing a special ability to orchestrate play even at top speeds. But a lanky six-foot, 170-pound frame had some teams apprehensive come draft day, ultimately pushing Yager to 14th overall.

Only four players selected above Yager have made their NHL debuts – Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, Adam Fantilli, and Zach Benson – and they’ve each quickly carved out lineup roles. Yager will have the chance to do the same in Pittsburgh’s training camp, and could even wind up an X-factor for an aging Penguins core. But he seems more likely set for a trip to the AHL first, where he could join Moose Jaw teammate Atley Calvert, as well as Tristan Broz and Owen Pickering, as a top prospect fighting for minutes.

Top Prospects Could Give Penguins One Last Push

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have, over the last two years, missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in Sidney Crosby’s career. The team has ground to a screeching halt, on the back of one of the oldest rosters in the league and a slim supporting cast for team legends Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. Even the addition of Erik Karlsson wasn’t enough to pull Pittsburgh back into the postseason – leaving the team a bit stuck in the mud with little cap space and even less roster space. With no major free-agent additions in sight, Pittsburgh’s search for an X-factor will have to turn towards their recent crop of strong draft picks.

Brayden Yager notably headlines this group, with the Penguins already sharing that Yager will receive a shot at the NHL lineup next season. That opportunity certainly seems timely, with Yager coming off the back of a resilient season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. Serving as the team’s captain, Yager marched his way to 35 goals and 95 points in 57 games this season – adding an additional 27 points in 20 playoff games. He proudly served as Moose Jaw’s top-line centerman and starring playmaker, excelling at making plays at top speed – a style that thrived  on a team costarred by fellow NHL prospects Jagger Firkus, Denton Mateychuk, and Matthew Savoie. Yager’s tempo and poise were enough to dodge much physicality this year, leaving him a clear heft barrier between him and the NHL, though his ability to dish the puck is clearly reaching a pro level.

Yager isn’t the only starring prospect capable of a pro push – with top WHL defender Owen Pickering also gearing up for a big year. Pickering signed his entry-level contract at the end of 2022-23, though he opted to return to the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos this season.

That proved to be the right choice, as Pickering managed a career-high 46 points in 59 games this season – one more point than he totaled last year – while serving as the team’s captain for a second year. The hefty, sharp-moving defender appeared in eight AHL games last season, though he wasn’t able to record his first pro point. That will be his immediate goal entering the 2024-25 campaign, though his size, physical edge even with the puck on his stick, and quick taste of pro hockey could give him the tools needed to quickly adjust to the next level. Pickering undoubtedly faces a long road to the NHL lineup,  sat behind a bolstered left-side with Pittsburgh’s additions of Matt Grzelcyk and Sebastian Aho. But injuries or slow starts could be enough to encourage Pittsburgh to see what they have in their top defense prospect.

Wingers Tristan Broz and Ville Koivunen, as well as centerman Vasili Ponomarev, round out Pittsburgh’s list of capable youngsters – with each player managing strong scoring through last season, in the NCAA, Liiga, and AHL respectively. Each of the trio boast strong individual talents – Broz his drive with the puck, Koivunen his shot, and Ponomarev his grit – though they’ve struggled to put their talents to consistent effect. Ponomarev sits as the closest to the NHL lineup, having scored two points in two NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes last year in addition to his 30 points in 45 AHL games. It was clear he knew how to use his hard-nosed drive to good effect, which could go a long way towards boosting his NHL odds. Koivunen carries a similar physical edge – not seeking out contact like Ponomarev but doing well at making plays through traffic – while physical play will be Broz’s biggest adjustment.

The Penguins have made just three first-round picks since 2015 and are now heavily feeling the effects. Luckily, two of those top picks are hoping for smash beginnings to their pro careers  next season. Lucrative trading and late-round successes have given Yager and Pickering a strong supporting cast. Each prospect will look to take important steps towards the NHL lineup at Pittsburgh’s training camp, while the Penguins keep their fingers crossed that young energy is enough to return them to the postseason before Crosby calls it quits.

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