Pens Points: Counting off another day until action is back

News and notes around the Penguins and NHL

Sidney Crosby told Elliotte Friedman during his media tour that he’s more open to playing in his 40’s than he was as a younger man. [Sportsnet]

Rutger McGroarty has gone from wearing an Evgeni Malkin shersey to now being his teammate. [Penguins.com]

McGroarty checks in at 37th on this list of NHL-affiliated prospects. (To answer your next question, Brayden Yager was 44th). [Daily Faceoff]

Out of the 16 non-playoff teams, the Penguins rank...16th here in likelihood of winning the Stanley Cup in the next 8-10 years. [The Athletic]

Toronto re-signed restricted free agent Nick Robertson to a one-year deal. Veteran free agents Max Pacioretty and Jani Hakanpaa are reportedly in line to join the Maple Leafs next. [TSN]

Adam Larsson is going to be sticking around in Seattle a little longer, signing a four-year deal that ties him to the Kraken through the 2027-28 season. [NHL.com]

Brock Boeser is cleared to return from his blood clot situation that ended his year in the playoffs last spring. [NHL]

Former NHLer Jordie Benn (played in Sweden in 2023-24 after last playing in the NHL for Toronto in 2022-23) has hung up the skates. The undrafted 37-year old enjoyed a 600+ game career spread across six teams. [TSN]

And finally, here’s a reminder or introduction to what slight rule changes will be on the books for the 2024-25 NHL season, as so eloquently put by Dan Rosen:

New this season will be the ability for a coach’s challenge to take down a penalty for puck out of play delay of game penalty. For example, if a puck goes into the stands after being deflected off a player, a stick, the glass or the boards, and the team that receives the penalty believes it was called in error (i.e. a clean exit, no deflection), a coach will be permitted to challenge that penalty and if successful it will be taken down. However, the risk is that if the challenge is unsuccessful it will result in a two-minute minor penalty for delay of game (unsuccessful challenge) on top of the original existing delay of game penalty.

There is an adjustment to the rule for line changes following a net becoming dislodged. A defensive team will not be able to make a line change if its goaltender accidentally dislodges the net. Previously, the rule applied only to a skater dislodging the net accidentally.

Regarding face-offs following an icing, the offensive center will now receive one warning for a face-off violation, the same as the defensive center.

Ever see players sitting on the dasher boards at the bench waiting to make a line change on the fly? Well, that’s not a good thing. It’s dangerous, especially for the linesmen, so now the referee will provide the offending team with one warning. If they’re caught sitting on the boards again after the warning it will result in a bench minor penalty.