Pens Points has all the headlines from a busy Thursday as the Baby Pens began their quest for the Calder Cup.
There was no playoff hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins this spring, but across the state, AHL affiliate the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were back in the Calder Cup playoffs for the second straight season. The future Penguins entered the playoffs with high hopes of a deep run, but they already have their backs against the wall following a defeat in Game 1 against Lehigh Valley.
Pens Points…
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will have to navigate a dicey best-of-three first round series in the Calder Cup playoffs that began tonight, but this team is loaded with young talent and has no plans on falling short this time around. [Penguins]
Now that the Penguins have fully shifted into offseason mode, the road ahead is littered with dates and deadlines to mark on the calendar. The most important upcoming date is the NHL Draft lottery which will take place in early May. [Pensburgh]
Predictions are at best an educated guess and are more often wrong than right. Looking back at our preseason standings predictions, it’s hard to feel too bad with how everything ended up shaking out for the most part. [Pensburgh]
Raivis Ansons had the look of a promising prospect after he was drafted in the fifth round in 2020, but after missing most of the 2024-25 AHL season, his development seems to have plateaued and his future in the organization is a question mark. [Trib Live]
Another once promising Penguins prospect posted a career year in the AHL and might still have a future ahead of him. That prospect is former first round pick Sam Poulin, who has tasted time in the NHL but is still waiting on his breakthrough. [Trib Live]
As a part of his “I’m Score” initiative, Evgeni Malkin, in partnership with local McDonald’s locations, donated $71,000 to Ronald McDonald House this season. Since launching the initiative in 2022, Malkin has helped raise over $284,000. [Penguins]
NHL News and Notes…
Hall of Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek has been an outspoken critic of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since the outset and now the Czech prime minister has stepped in to condemn verbal threats lobbied toward Hasek from Russian authorities. [CBC]
Veteran forward Cal Clutterbuck announced his retirement from hockey after 17 seasons. Clutterbuck retired as the NHL’s all-time hits leader with 4,029 spread across tenures with the Minnesota Wild and the New York Islanders. [NHL]