​In looking at Dom Luszczyszyn’s article about which teams improved the most, the Penguins only ranked 28th for offseason changes with a net rating on that model of -10. A line of the analysis stood out.It just doesn’t do enough to make up for what they’ve lost. I’m worried about their goaltending situation without Stuart Skinner, and Anthony Mantha was a legit top-six forward. Without those two, there’s a decent chance of a step back this season.The goalie aspect is an interesting one, since it flies in the face of the conventional wisdom around the situation. Goaltending is the only position where the Penguins’ youth movement is truly getting going in the net these days now that Tristan Jarry is long gone and no efforts were made to re-sign Stuart Skinner. That leaves three goalies 25 years old and younger between Arturs Silovs, Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist within the organization for what will be one of the youngest tandems the team has had in a long time. Other positions have received some efforts to inject young pieces here and there, but overall only it’s in net that the Penguins really turning in a tangible direction to get young.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat youth movement is mostly seen as refreshing, exciting and an opportunity to improve. Neither Jarry nor Skinner are consistent, above average starting goalies these days. Both have had their moments, some good and some not so good with an ceiling in their play that isn’t sky high. Murashov, 22, was named the AHL’s top prospect at his position after a wonderful rookie season in 2025-26 and carries a lot of promise with his skillset and potential. Understandably, the prospects of a new guard bring hope that a higher caliber of player will be on the other side.Under the surface, however, Luszczyszyn makes a point worth considering. Stuart Skinner posted a +5.35 GSAx with the Pens from hockeystats.com in 27 games, indicating he kept more pucks out of the net than expected. For that matter, with his hot start in 2025-26 while with Pittsburgh Tristan Jarry was at +7.6 GSAx in just 14 games, showing the contributions by the veterans ended up making a difference in a cumulative half season of work. (Jarry’s issue, of course, is maintaining his peaks – but that wasn’t a problem that popped up in what the 2025-26 Penguins’ season had).Combine the Jarry/Skinner contributions from last year and it makes for a 21-12-6 record in the Pittsburgh portions of their respective seasons, a full season pace of 101 points. The duo wasn’t exceedingly strong in all statistical outlooks- they combined for a .894 save% and had a GAA of 2.88 – which also incorporates the difficulties of playing behind a team defense that conceded among the worst shot and chances allowed. The Pens helped their goalies out by scoring 290 goals (third most in the league) but they did very few favors in their own end due to leaning towards offense and their own individual defensive sho