Inside Scoop: 2025.26 Locker Cleanout

If the Penguins had been able to complete the comeback from going down 3-0 in their opening-round series with Philadelphia, they would be preparing for a winner-take-all contest on Saturday. After falling in Game 6 on Wednesday, they were packing up and preparing to go their separate ways on Friday.

"It still stings that we feel like we could be playing in Game 7 here. When you look at the season as a whole, though, I think there’s a lot to be proud of there," Sidney Crosby said.

When it comes to what they can build on, Bryan Rust said it starts with the culture and mindset.

“Taking everything day-by-day and using everybody, and having a team where we rely on everybody, all four lines, all of our defensemen, all of our goalies,” he said. “That's extremely important to make sure everybody knows their value in the room and knows that they're really important to the room, and to continue that as we move forward.”

When it comes to what they can improve, Rust brought up Pittsburgh's struggles in extra time, as they had 16 losses in overtime/shootouts.

"At the end of the day, we got to look ourselves in the mirror and see what went wrong, I guess, not only in overtimes and shootouts, but also obviously, in the first few games of the playoffs," he said. 

"For me, it's extremely unfortunate that we dug ourselves into the hole that we did. I thought we were a much better team than we played as early on in that series, and it sucks to live with that. We would obviously like to continue to be playing right now, and we think we should be playing, but we didn't come out at the beginning of the series the way that we should have, and we let maybe a game or two get away from us. And at the end of the day, that's all it needs for you to have your season come to an end early."

We checked in with a lot of different players during locker cleanout. Read on for more from their interviews.

Malkin Reflects, Looks Ahead

Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas has said that Evgeni Malkin’s future in Pittsburgh would be decided after the season, because contract talks take on a certain complexity with players his age.

With all of the uncertainty, it was a big topic of conversation in the locker room.

Read more here.

Kindel’s Playoff Takeaways

After making the team out of training camp as an 18-year-old, Ben Kindel grew his game with each passing day and carved out a role at center, picking up 17 goals and 35 points in the first 77 games of his NHL career. The postseason was a big learning curve for the 11^th overall pick in the NHL Draft last June.

“The physicality, the speed, the pace you have to play at, the intensity gets higher, and everything just gets raised,” Kindel said.

He was on the ice for Philadelphia’s overtime winner, with Noah Cates winning the faceoff that led to Cam York’s goal following an icing by Kindel.

“Still kind of sick to my stomach thinking about that last shift and how the season ended,” Kindel said. “Obviously, nothing you can do about it now, but just look to use it as motivation in the future and do whatever I can to not let it end like that again.”

While the feeling is still relatively fresh, it does not take away from what a remarkable season Kindel had.

“All year, as a young player, he’s taken those times when maybe things haven’t gone well, and he’s found a response to them, and he’s grown and gotten better because of it,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “And that’s what you always want to see. He’s going to get better from it. I know that.”

At this time last year, Kindel was coming off his second junior season with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, and had yet to be drafted. He’s gained so much valuable experience to take back home to British Columbia.

“I’ll just want to keep getting stronger, keep wanting to get faster, bigger,” Kindel. “All those things to help improve my game. It’s going to be a big offseason again. Still in the development phase.”

Not the Finishes They Wanted

Coming off a season that limited him to just 13 games after undergoing season-ending ACL surgery, Anthony Mantha signed a one-year contract with the Penguins. He was named the team’s Masterton Trophy nominee after putting together a terrific regular season, where Mantha led the team with a career-high 33 goals.

But that level of play didn’t carry over to the postseason, as Mantha was held scoreless and ended up with 20 penalty minutes.

“Obviously, not good at all,” Mantha said on his playoff performance. “I’ve talked to a couple of people in the last couple of days just to kind of figure out the whys. It’s something that I’m going to think of all summer, and I’m gonna have to figure it out.”

Another winger that was brought in over the summer and had a career year in terms of goals was Justin Brazeau. He finished with 17 tallies. But with Brazeau’s play turning somewhat inconsistent towards the end of the season, and with the Penguins roster back at full health come playoff time, he was the odd man out come playoffs. The forward was a healthy scratch for five of the six games against Philadelphia.

“For myself, it’s not the way that I wanted to end (the season),” Brazeau said. “Going into the year, if you would have told me that I was going to have the year I did, I would’ve taken it every day of the week. I think there’s a lot I can build off of going into next year.”

An Arty Party to End the Year

Arturs Silovs started his media availability by saying that he needs to have an MRI done on his knee, as it has been an ongoing issue for the last 3-4 weeks. With that being said, it is even more impressive that Silovs posted a .939 save percentage and led the team to a Game 6 overtime after coming in net when the team was down 3-0 in the series.

Just trying to do my best for all these guys. They deserve the best,” Silovs said. “I want to do my role and be that last guy who they can (trust)."

He had gotten stretches in the NHL with Vancouver, who drafted Silovs in 2019. But the Canucks wanted to go with more experience in net, and the Penguins were able to acquire Silovs in the summer, as they would be able to give the young goalie more runway.

In his first full season, Silovs played in a career-high 39 games, while also representing Team Latvia at the Winter Olympics. He felt like there was a lot to like from his rookie season.

“In the (regular) season, it's more kind of (a) grind. It’s like a marathon,” Silovs said. “There’s going to be ups and downs. Experience-wise, next year will be different because you experience the league better. You experience the players more. It’s going to get better. Just building the game. Keeping things the way they are. I feel confident in my game. I just think just refining it.”

Chinakhov Wants to be Back

Arturs Silovs, who turned 25 in March, will be a restricted free agent this summer. So will Egor Chinakhov, who debuted with the Penguins in January after being acquired from Columbus, and turned out to be a terrific fit. In just 43 games with the Penguins this season, he reached new career-highs in goals (18), assists (18), and points (36).

“I’d love to be a part of this organization for a long time,” Chinakhov said. “We’ll see, but I love to be here.”

Settling into Pittsburgh

Brought in at the trade deadline from Detroit, forward Elmer Soderblom felt comfortable right from the jump and carved out a role for himself in the team’s bottom-six.

“I feel like my game improved when I got here,” Soderblom said. “Just a fresh start, and I feel like I took the chance and showed my game. I’m happy with that part of the season.”

Arriving in Pittsburgh just a month prior to Soderblom, defenseman Sam Girard admitted that he had a tougher time getting used to a new team with new systems. After playing nine seasons with Colorado, it was a learning curve for the 2022 Stanley Cup Champion.

“I feel like the last 7 to 8 games of the season I was starting to be more like myself,” said Girard, who played alongside Kris Letang. “In the playoffs, as well, the first three games of the series, I could’ve been a little bit better. It’s a part of it, and I’m going to have to learn from it.”

While still being new to the group, Girard sees the improvements the team has made this season, and it hopeful that they can build on it for next year.

“With what we were able to accomplish this year, I think it’s going to be a positive for next year,” Girard said. “The group that we have here, it just felt so connected. It was great to be around those guys, they welcomed me right away.”

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