Kingerski: How to Enjoy These Penguins in 2025

SUNRISE, Fla — In all likelihood, the Pittsburgh Penguins will not win the 2025 Stanley Cup. In fact, they probably won’t get close.

So, if the chance to attend a Stanley Cup parade and brag online to fans in other cities is the only reason you watch hockey, prepare for bad news. There will be no reflected glory this season.

So, why bother? Why should fans pay attention to, root for, or care about the Penguins if the team will not reward fans with the ultimate price or have a reasonable chance at such?

No, the Penguins will not shine a silver light upon their fans this season, but there is still a different air and vibe around the team than in recent years. You know what? These guys are kind of fun.

This Penguins team is not only fun to cover because they have some new personalities, but they are fun to watch. They’re going to score six goals, but because they have indeed discovered they care and are making a genuine effort to put forth their best. That surely was not the case last season when–to paraphrase former coach Michel Therrien–they say they care, but they don’t.

Last season, the Penguins were a no-show until a late rally. Most of that season was really tough hockey to watch, if not impossible.

This season is different. There is some heart and genuine desire to reach their potential, whatever that might be. On Dec. 28, a night when they clearly didn’t have their best against the New York Islanders, they nearly rallied from a 4-1 deficit, then got angry and dominated the Islanders the next night.

If fans show up expecting greatness, it could be a long … LONG time before that returns. Ask Toronto or Montreal. The Islanders once let Bryan Trottier go because he was 34, and they needed to rebuild for their next dynasty.

Yeah, whoops.

The Penguins are a middle-of-the-road team that wants to win. Enjoy the single games. Enjoy the game of hockey and watch the greatest player since Mario and Wayne (that’s Sidney Crosby if you didn’t pick up on that). Watch Evgeni Malkin’s evolution into a straight-ahead center with more vision and hands than 99% of the league.

Heck, watch for Erik Karlsson, the good, the bad, the ugly, sometimes all within the same shift.

As we begin the new year, there are plenty of players on the Penguins roster for which to root. Philip Tomasino is fighting to establish an NHL career after being the 2019 first-round pick of the Nashville Predators but was cast aside this season. Drew O’Connor remains a player fighting for the breakthrough season. No one tries harder and cares more.

There’s also the scrappy Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, who might be playing the best hockey of his Penguins career, if not of his entire career.

And, of course, Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang. If you can’t enjoy watching them play, perhaps another sport would be more to your liking.

Owen Pickering is the torchbearer for the Penguins’ youth movement. The 2022 first-round pick is a big personality in the room, and he seems to absorb hockey knowledge like a sponge. He won’t be an All-Star, but he might be a pretty good shutdown defender with a bit of offense for a long time.

Rutger McGroarty and Tristan Broz are on the way, too.

Actually, with Pickering, McGroarty, and Tomasino, the Penguins have some real personalities on the way. When they mix with Michael Bunting, Erik Karlsson, Noel Acciari, Cody Glass, and Evgeni Malkin, the team is going to be a collection of characters.

Sure, there’s a lot to like personally about the team, but they’re also competing to win each night. Sometimes, they buckle down and submit a perfect game, Other times, they’re energetic … but all over the ice. That’s part of the fun, too.

For Penguins fans, it’s time to re-calibrate. It’s no longer about the Stanley Cup but about the team and the game. In many ways, it’s easier–there’s no pressure, and there’s no agonizing playoff defeat to fear when a valued defenseman makes a ghastly turnover or a goalie gets overwhelmed.

Enjoy the smaller things: the prospect’s growth, players fighting to reach the next level, the team competing, and Sidney Crosby.

Whatever 2025 brings, expectations should meet the potential. And that’s how to enjoy these Penguins (and hopefully PHN in 2025).