Dear Santa: Pittsburgh Penguins 2025 Wish List

How steady the goaltending is also impacts what Pittsburgh does at the trade deadline. If the goalies play well for the next month or two, the team will probably try to add a player at wing or defense. If the goaltending stays shaky, they’ll probably play it safe instead of trying to get better.

There’s also a mental side to it. Experienced teams depend on trust, and nothing ruins a team faster than not knowing what to expect from the goalie. The defense makes mistakes. The forwards try too hard. The Penguins can’t let that happen.

Christmas wish: Just get league-average goaltending every game – nothing amazing, just dependable. That could be the difference between adding players at the deadline and just giving up and selling.

The Core Must Defy Time — Again

If the Penguins are going to remain in the playoff race, everything still runs through the same three pillars that defined the franchise for nearly two decades: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.

And remarkably, they’ve all delivered.

Crosby continues to play the most complete two-way game of any forward on the roster while driving possession against top competition. Malkin may not dominate every night, but his flashes of offensive gravity still tilt matchups. Letang, even in his mid-30s, remains the club’s primary puck-transition engine.

The Penguins’ Christmas miracle so far is that these three do not look like a trio approaching retirement. They look like veterans who still believe they can impact outcomes — because they are.

But the challenge is sustainability.

The second half of the season compresses physically and mentally. The injuries tighten. The travel intensifies. And teams outside the playoff picture begin to play spoiler hockey at an unrelenting pace. If even one of these three falters for an extended stretch, Pittsburgh’s margin evaporates immediately.

Their importance also ties back into trade-deadline strategy. If Crosby, Malkin, and Letang continue to roll into late January, management will feel justified investing futures into immediate help. If decline sets in before then, the front office will be forced to reassess whether pushing chips in makes sense at all.

Christmas wish: Aging curves stay away. The engine room keeps pulling the weight of two lines.

Depth Scoring Must Become Real Production

Pittsburgh’s had some wins, but here’s the thing: their bottom players aren’t scoring enough for the team to keep winning in the future.

Sure, they’ve had some good moments – a few important goals, some tough plays, and even a surprise performance here and there. But overall, the Penguins rely way too much on their best players to score. That’s risky when you want to make the playoffs.

It’s pretty clear: you can’t expect your top guys to win every game if the other players only score once in a while. Over a long season, that’s just not going to work out.

When everyone scores, it does more than just add to the team’s total goals. It changes how coaches set up the matchups, and it means other teams can’t just focus on stopping Crosby. Plus, Pittsburgh can attack more without worrying about getting caught off guard on defense.

If the third and fourth lines don’t start scoring more on their own, the Penguins will have to find someone to do it. That’s where they might start looking to trade for a winger or a cheap player who can score, or even someone who can stand in front of the net. Any of these moves could really change the team’s scoring situation.

Christmas wish: One or two depth forwards transform from energy players into actual scoring threats.

Special Teams Must Remain Elite — With Zero Regression

The Penguins’ special teams are a low-key weapon this season. Their power play is one of the best in the league, and their penalty kill is usually in the top five in the NHL. That gives them a real edge that could take them far in the playoffs.

Their killer power play lets Pittsburgh snag wins they probably shouldn’t get on paper. And their great penalty kill helps them get away with taking too many penalties, which would sink other teams. Combined, they give the Penguins a cushion that explains why they’re doing better than expected at full strength.

But special teams can be unsteady.

Just one injury, or if the first unit gets worse, or if a passer loses their nerve, everything can quickly fall apart. The Penguins depend on moving the puck exactly right, rotating down low, and making quick passes. If their timing is off, even a little, the power play can tank when it matters the most.

On the penalty kill, staying organized is even more important. They have to block shots, get the puck out of the zone cleanly, and mess up plays in the neutral zone right away. The Penguins can’t afford to have tired players mess up late in games or when they’re traveling a lot.

If their special teams stay amazing, Pittsburgh will be a tough out in any playoff series. But if they drop to just okay, their chances of going far in the playoffs drop a lot.

Christmas wish: Keep the power play deadly. Keep the penalty kill tough. Don’t let them get any worse.

A Window That Re-Opened Quietly

No one circled the Penguins in August as a clear playoff team. And yet, here they are — holding a wild card spot as the winter break arrives. That changes everything.

They’re no longer playing with house money. They’re playing with expectation. Every point from here on carries weight. Every injury forces contingency planning. Every trade rumor shifts the trajectory by inches.

What makes this run compelling is not that Pittsburgh rebuilt on the fly — it’s that the core refused to fade quietly. Crosby, Malkin, and Letang didn’t ask for sympathy miles. They demanded relevance. The front office now has to decide whether to reward that defiance with one final aggressive push.

The Penguins’ Christmas list isn’t about gifts. It’s about continuation. If goaltending stabilizes, the core sustains, depth offense arrives, and special teams stay elite, Pittsburgh doesn’t just sneak into April — they become a matchup nobody actually wants to draw.

And that, more than anything, is what makes this season suddenly fascinating.