2022-23 NHL preview: Pittsburgh Penguins

Welcome to the 2022-23 season preview as brought to you by Betway Sports. We’ll be taking a dive into each team’s offseason and what their Stanley Cup odds are for next season from the worst odds to the best. All odds are current as of the time of writing.

Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup Odds: +2200

Much like the Boston Bruins who we recently wrote about, the Penguins are another team running it back.

Pittsburgh managed to bring back franchise legends in Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang and added some nice pieces via trade this off-season. They dealt Michael Matheson and a fourth-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling, while shipping John Marino to the New Jersey Devils for Ty Smith and a 2023 3rd round pick.

The club also brought back Kasperi Kapanen, while signing Danton Heinen and Josh Archibald for depth roles.

There’s no denying the talent on this team. The top-six is loaded with Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin, and Bryan Rust, while Jeff Carter on the third line is a cherry on top. The blueline has a new look with Petry and Smith, but both should be able to excel in lesser roles.

Tristan Jarry will once again take the lion’s share of games in net, and is coming off a fine season posting a 34-18-6 record and a .919 save percentage.

The Penguins got knocked off in the first round of the playoffs in a tight seven-game series against the New York Rangers in a series they likely should’ve won. This is a Pittsburgh team built to contend in the Metropolitan Division.

Are we betting on the Penguins to win the cup? This is a team that could be worth a wager as a long shot with a real upside. So long as the Penguins’ core of Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel and Letang are together, this is a team that could absolutely make some noise.