The 2026 Men’s Olympic Hockey Championship concludes this weekend, which means the 2025-26 NHL season is getting closer to the return of the Olympics offseason. The Pittsburgh Penguins next play on Thursday, February 26th against the New Jersey Devils. Overall, they have 26 regular season games remaining. So let’s talk about the four things they need most.
1. Sidney Crosby
That’s the biggest concern right now, considering he was injured at the Olympics. There has been no official update on the specifics or severity of his injury, all we know is that he attempted to skate before Friday’s semifinal against Finland before being ruled out of the game. All reports so far seem to indicate this isn’t anything season-ending, but it seems like he’ll miss out on at least something when the Penguins return from their break.
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On one hand, the Penguins have surprisingly strong depth this season and still have enough to remain competitive if Crosby deals with a short-term injury.
They’ve played very well without him on the floor this season, and while having him out of the lineup moves people up the depth chart, they should still have enough depth to stay competitive and win games.
If they really want to make the playoffs and then have a chance of doing anything once they get there, a healthy Crosby will eventually be a must.
2. Rediscover the power play at its best
Overall, the Penguins’ power play has been outstanding this season and a huge part of their success. Throughout the season, their field goal percentage was 25 percent, good enough for fourth in the NHL.
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However, the force has been struggling to fill vacancies since early January.
Since Jan. 1, the Penguins have converted 15.9 percent of their power play attempts, a number that ranks them 29th in the NHL during that period.
Even more concerning: They also didn’t generate a ton of real chances in the power play.
Over that span, they averaged just 8.59 expected goals per 60 minutes of power play time. That ranks 22nd in the NHL during that time.
They take just 53.6 shots per 60 minutes. That ranks 15th in the NHL during that time.
They average just 59.1 scoring chances per 60 minutes. That ranks 20th in the NHL in those games.
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They average just 28.4 high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes. That ranks 16th in the NHL during that time.
In other words, it’s been very average or below average for much of the season. The Penguins are a good enough 5-on-5 team that they don’t need a strong power play to have a chance to generate offense, but having this unit be a force again (or at least better than it has been since early January) will be a huge help to the offense and the team as a whole.
[Power Play Scoring Chance, Shot Rates And Expected Goal Data via Natural Stat Trick]
3. Defensive upgrades at the trade deadline
Given their position in the standings, it seems likely that the Penguins will add something before the March 6 trade deadline. Especially since they only played five games before the deadline. Their forward situation looks pretty solid, with plenty of depth. Between their NHL roster and ready options in the AHL (Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Avery Hayes, possible return of Filip Hallander), their current depth in NHL-capable forwards is probably 15-16. Defensive depth is an issue.
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While the defense is much better than we expected at the start of the season, especially as it relates to the left side of the defense, they still need some help as it relates to depth.
Kris Letang is 38 years old, has missed some time this season, and has shown serious signs of decline at times.
Erik Karlsson is 35 years old and has just played four extra high-intensity games in the Olympics.
Depth players like Connor Clifton, Jake St. Ivany, Ilya Solovyov and Brett Kulak have held their own, and you still might want to see a playoff upgrade or just have some extra depth. To make the playoffs, you probably need at least eight or nine capable NHL defensemen. I’m not sure the Penguins have that right now. Just upgrade it. It seems possible. It’s just a matter of how big the upgrade is and how much the Penguins are willing to pay.
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They’re almost certainly still looking for young talent that can help at any position now and in the future, but if we’re talking short-term upgrades, defense should be the focus. This team has raised expectations for the season with its performance and deserves to be added.
4. Win 14 more games
We talked about this earlier in the week, but given where the Penguins are in the standings, what they’ve done, what the teams around them have done, and what it generally takes to make the playoffs, winning 14 more games, regardless of how they perform in the other 12 games (overtime loss, regulation loss, shootout loss, whatever the case may be) should be enough to secure a playoff spot.
Scheduling is difficult. This is doable. The playoffs are right around the corner. Hopefully the best comes out of Sidney Crosby’s injury, getting the power play back on track, continuing to acquire some capable and capable goalies, and upgrading the defense, which should be an achievable goal.