For the last 19 years (13 with The Hockey News) Dobber Hockey has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

Dobber's comprehensive fantasy guide for 2022-23, along with complete draft rankings, is also available, and will be your resource all season for fantasy managers.  

The 20th annual off-season review has, and will continue to appear here on DobberHockey throughout August and early September.   This is not a review of the team's likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team's stars perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what are taken into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

Pittsburgh Penguins

Gone:  Evan Rodrigues, Mike Matheson, John Marino, Louis Domingue, Brian Boyle, Juuso Riikola

Incoming:  Jeff Petry, Ty Smith, Ryan Poehling, Jan Rutta, Dustin Tokarski, Drake Caggiula, Josh Archibald

Impact of changes: The biggest impact for the off-season Penguins, by far, is instead what DIDN'T change.   Re-signing Kris Letang (6 years), Evgeni Malkin (4 years), and Bryan Rust (6 years) said very loudly that the organization still feels this team can compete AS IS for another Stanley Cup. These contracts may age poorly, but will be mostly judged by 2022-23. My team grade below reflects not only this year, but the lengths of contracts they've tied the team to. 

Ok, the defense will be different. Jeff Petry with grit and experience is probably an upgrade from Matheson, Rutta adds extra grit, and Ty Smith clearly has future upside higher than Marino.  

Ryan Poehling may or may not make the full-time roster, but who knows?   The first-round 2017 pick needed a fresh start, and this is put up or else for him.  

Ready for prime time: Pierre-Oliver Joseph is a puck-moving defenseman who is ready to be a full-time NHLer.  He had 33 points in 62 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL), and would ordinarily project to make the big club out of training camp. But then, he's handcuffed by the addition of Petry, who will surely take over the PP-2 spot. Joseph will step in when, not if, there's an injury.   

The Penguins of the past few years have been in "win-now" mode, despite zero playoff series wins since 2018. They haven't given Sam Poulin, Filip Hallander, or Drew O'Connor (5 points in 22 games) much more than a bottom-6 cup of coffee in those years, and nothing suggests that changes.   

Fantasy outlook: The Penguins are a good team, no question. They'll be favored to make the NHL playoffs for a league-best 17th consecutive season. And they have some seriously elite fantasy options. Sidney Crosby and the re-signed Malkin and Letang are future Hall of Famers, and Jake Guentzel (40 goals, 44 assists in 2021-22, and 0.9 PPG for his 6-year career), isn't far behind. Add Rust, Rickard Rakell, Jason Zucker, and Jeff Carter, and the Penguins' only true negative is Father Time. Can they deny him one more year?

In goal, Tristan Jarry is solid, and Casey DeSmith a reliable backup.   

Grade:  Age alone makes them a B- (last year B)