The Penguins reportedly might want to go young next season, but realistically how young can the NHL’s oldest team from last year get?
The answer to that may come with just how aggressive the team gets when it comes to trading Erik Karlsson (now 35 years old) and Bryan Rust (33) and Rickard Rakell (32). Dealing any, most or even all of that group of players would make Pittsburgh younger.
Let’s take a crack at a couple of potential lineups for next season and see. Ages listed are for the time of opening night next October.
The “Kicking the can down the road” lineup
The premise of this lineup is a starting point for how the roster looks now, solely based on the ending point from 2024-25, veteran players aren’t pushed from the lineup.