Heartbreak in Penguins’ dressing room ahead of tonight’s game vs. Detroit

The Pittsburgh Penguins need to get focused and ready for tonight’s game against the visiting Detroit Red Wings despite a heavy feeling in their dressing room. Because of their poor performance on Monday night vs. the Dallas Stars and the trade that sent teammate Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals last night, the Penguins are feeling terrible about the past few days.

When asked about losing Eller, in return for a third-round pick in 2025 and a fifth-round pick in 2027, Drew O’Connor explained how the Penguins are feeling:

“He was a great guy to have around for the last year or so, and was an awesome guy for me, personally, to learn from. I played a lot with him over the course that he was here. He’s an awesome teammate. So, it’s sad to see him go.”

There is a strong belief that the move is likely to be of several for Pittsburgh, which began Wednesday just two points clear of the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Tonight is a must win against the Red Wings, especially if the Penguins want to slow down the fire sale by general manager Kyle Dubas.

Dubas is reportedly looking to make some player-in, player-out moves to fix the roster in the near future and has told teams everyone is available except Crosby.

Per Taylor Haase: “A league source told me earlier this week that Kyle Dubas has made it known to other teams that “everyone is available, except 87.”

Evgeni Malkin also commented on the Penguins’ sluggish start to 2024-25 and the blowout loss on Monday and felt ashamed for the performance by Pittsburgh.

“Last night, I want to say sorry to the fans,” Malkin said. “They [watched] a really bad game. I hope we, together, find a good way, win tomorrow and start building the team better.”

His comments were made before the Penguins’ trade, though the feeling is that more moves will be made in the near future.

“Again, tomorrow is a new day. Today is a new day. And tomorrow is a new game,” Malkin said. “It’s time to play better at home, for sure, and show our best. We can play better, for sure, because our group is, like, I love it.

“There are good guys here. We’re tight. We’re together. But we need to stop looking to each other, probably. We have to play (with) each other.”

The Penguins need to wake up and fast. The window for superstar captain Sidney Crosby, along with Malkin and Kris Letang, is closing and now with almost everyone available for trade, the core three needs everyone to step up in order to block this hemorrhage.