The Pittsburgh Penguins enter the new season faced with a puzzling dilemma: a surplus of forwards on NHL contracts that far exceeds the 20 spots available in the lineup.
Among the 14 signed forwards, Ben Kindel stands out as a near‑certainty to make the opening night roster, leaving the coaching staff to weigh the ambitions of a dozen other hopefuls.
Young talent fights for minutes
Players such as Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes, Harrison Brunicke and Owen Pickering are eager to prove they belong, but the crowded depth chart forces the management to consider waiver options and assignment strategies.
Some of the more established names, including Ville Koivunen and Ryan Graves, are not waiver‑exempt despite hefty contracts, making them virtually unclaimable and adding another layer of complexity to roster decisions.
A look back at the franchise’s waiver‑wire legacy
The Penguins have a storied history of plucking players off the waiver wire. In 2006 they secured Chris Thorburn, who would go on to appear in 801 NHL games and score 53 goals across stints in Atlanta, Winnipeg and St. Louis. Two years later, Craig Adams arrived, eventually playing 453 games for Pittsburgh and contributing to a Stanley Cup championship with the Carolina Hurricanes before retiring in 2016.
Andy Hilbert holds the distinction of being the first claim under the salary‑cap era, skating in 19 NHL games before signing with the New York Islanders as a free agent. Mark Acrobello, another claim, bounced through four teams before carving out a journeyman career.
More recent experiments have produced mixed results. John Ludvig was claimed in 2023 only to be taken by the Colorado Avalanche, where he logged 33 NHL appearances before his career wound down. Jansen Harkins, plucked from the Winnipeg Jets the same year, appeared in 45 games before signing a two‑way deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
These successes and setbacks illustrate a broader philosophy: the Penguins are willing to experiment on the waiver market, but the outcomes are unpredictable. The current roster crunch forces the front office to balance immediate competitiveness with the development of younger prospects, a calculus that will shape the team’s identity in the coming months.