BELIEVE.
There has been a sign with that word hanging above the Penguins locker room doors for a while now. It’s a replica of the one used in ‘Ted Lasso,’ with Sidney Crosby a fan of the show (do with that what you will).
There’s certainly a bit of a parallel between the journeys of AFC Richmond and this year’s Pittsburgh Penguins, particularly when it comes to low external expectations. Before the season, Vegas oddsmakers gave the Penguins a 91% chance of missing the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.
But internally, the feeling was different here in Pittsburgh. That was expressed in quotes to the media, and within the walls of the Penguins facilities.
As President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas wrote in an email to the entire organization ahead of opening night, “one of the major points that Coach (Dan) Muse and I have discussed since we hired him in early June, and one that he shared with all of our players and hockey operations staff upon training camp opening, is that we control our own story here.”
Now, in Game 79, the Penguins have clinched a spot in the postseason as they continue to write their own narrative. And it has been one hell of a story.
“At the beginning of the year, nobody picked us or expected us to be there,” Dubas told Josh Getzoff in this season’s final edition of the GM Show. “I think it’s a testament to the attitude that the players and coaches and staff have had all year – which is no matter what’s come our way, when we’ve had bad stretches or bad games, or injuries, there’s no excuses. (We don’t) allow it to seep in. We’re going to make the most out of what we have every day.
“That’s really what has given us the chance to potentially flip the script on what everyone said would be the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins.”
It can’t be said enough – Dubas and his staff deserve so much credit for the work they did to assemble this group around the Big Three, particularly over the last year.
They drafted Ben Kindel with the 11th overall pick, despite many outside projections having him ranked far lower. The youngest player in the league has been a key part of the team this season.
During free agency, they brought in players like Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau and Parker Wotherspoon, who are all having exceptional individual seasons for their respective games.
Going back to the 2025 trade deadline, they acquired Connor Dewar, Tommy Novak, Arturs Silovs, Connor Clifton, Stuart Skinner, Egor Chinakhov, Ilya Solovyov, Elmer Soderblom and Sam Girard, who have all contributed in some way since joining the team.
And instead of trading Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, they kept both players here.
“I’ll be honest, it’s a whole hell of a lot more fun having these conversations about us winning and moving forward the rest of the year than having the other conversations, sitting on pins and needles, thinking (of) what might happen,” Rust said around this year’s trade deadline.
Muse, a first-year NHL Head Coach, and his staff deserve so much credit as well. Muse should absolutely be in the running for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s Coach of the Year for the job he has done.
“He feels part of the team, one of us,” Rakell said. “Because you can talk to him about anything. He loves talking about hockey, different players, different strategies. He’s never told us not to try anything in a game. The freedom to do things on the ice is really helpful, but at the same time, everybody has a job on our team that’s expected. I think everybody feels their value. It takes a lot of different players to have a good team, to work. Everybody’s owned their part and feeling pride in playing the game.”
And that’s where the lion’s share of the credit should go – to the players who believed, and who have been tirelessly motivated all year to get the Penguins to this point.
Back in December, talking with Blake Lizotte about what was driving his stellar play, he said, “Just wanting to get back to the playoffs. People don’t always realize these games, game one is worth two points and game 82 is worth two points. So, I think each and every night kind of fuels me, just wanting to put two points in the bank and get closer for the playoffs.”
After a big win in Ottawa last month, Rakell – who has put together an excellent run for Pittsburgh – said, “everybody wants to get in. And I mean, we want it so bad. So, we got to do everything we can to win hockey games.”
And now that they’ve taken this major step, as Dubas said, it’s time to do some damage.
“We have to finish the story here. We have that chance,” Dubas said.
Because the Penguins aren’t just squeaking in. They enter the postseason with one of the NHL’s most potent offenses, near the top of the league in goals scored. “I think the biggest thing for me is seeing it come from a lot of different lines, a lot of different situations,” Muse said.
They have a blue line led by three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, who was voted Penguins Team MVP. He’s been playing alongside Wotherspoon all season, and they’ve formed a complementary pairing. In-season acquisition Girard has been finding his groove alongside Kris Letang, while Ryan Shea has been as steady as it gets alongside Clifton, whose game lends itself to the playoffs.
They have depth in the crease that includes Skinner, who played in the last two Stanley Cup Finals with the Edmonton Oilers. And in talking with the playoff-tested goaltender, two other important elements stick out about this team.
“I think one, the way that we play, just structurally,” he said. “When all of us stick to the game plan, when we do the very, very small little details, I feel like we’re a very hard team to beat.
“Not only that, but you’ve seen over the course of my time being here, especially – but even before that – this is a very resilient group. You know you can never count us out. Being down 4-1 against Columbus, we were able to come back and win in overtime. And you could go on and on and on about different scenarios that we’ve done that. So, from my experience, that’s honestly exactly what you need to go for a long stretch. We definitely got the group of guys in here. I have 100% belief in this group.”
