Pittsburgh Penguins Still Face Crucial Roster Hole Ahead of Upcoming 2025-26 Season

The Pittsburgh Penguins roster heading into the 2025/26 season could use a lot of work, and while they've still got their veteran stars like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, they've got very little beyond that.

However, with Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty set to join them in the top-six as of right now, there's plenty of talent there if their young names can step up and build on solid rookie campaigns.

One spot that has been identified as one of need however by The Hockey News is the left side of their defense, which doesn't have the established stars like Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson (for right now) on the right side.

Currently, the team appear ready to roll with Ryan Graves, Owen Pickering and Parker Wotherspoon/Ryan Shea on the left side, and for a team that could potentially be looking to either push for a Wild Card spot or the No. 1 overall pick, that's simply not good enough.

As of right now, Pickering appears to be a player of the future for Pittsburgh and will likely fill one of those roles, but beyond that, there's just no firepower in those roles as of right now.

This also opens up the team to make a big deal to upgrade that side, and while many expected that to be Bowen Byram, there could be other options out there on the trade market to get a deal done, but currently, things are looking dire on the Penguins left side.