Frank Seravalli

Does this give them added ammunition to say, hey, we can still be a good team?

I don't know how all that meshes together, but I think it feels like the Penguins are just kind of playing out the string until those players are moving on.

I don't know that they're going to hasten it after this.

Kyle Dubas has already been vocal saying, I'm not trading Eric Carlson this summer.

He actually answered that a couple weeks ago.

Look, I think you enjoy the ride and you see if maybe you can piece together enough for one more run next season.

But again, it's almost like an unexpected bonus that they've received as this core has aged significantly.

I think there's three that had separated themselves before Tom Fitzgerald went to Nashville this week.

There's some overlap with the Leafs.

Scott White is one of those guys overlapping.

The other two guys that had put themselves in a strong position and had multiple in-person interviews were Bill Scott of the Edmonton Oilers and Brett Peterson of the Florida Panthers.

I think the big question this week is where does Tom Fitzgerald fall into all this?

Does he become the frontrunner?

Is it his job?

There's only a tiny overlap between that and Toronto and then thinking how Vancouver plays into all this.

I mean, I think you would probably include Tom Fitzgerald in that experienced pool.

But other than that, those guys have not held the GM title somewhere else.

I think moderately is underselling what's happened in Carolina.

Sure.

I think in a lot of ways, they are one of the model franchises right now for how a team should operate in 2026.