With August just around the corner, the onset of NHL training camps is drawing nearer and nearer, which means time is beginning to dwindle for any kind of roster reshuffling prior to the 2026-27 season.

And, if general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins elect not to change anything up in the meantime, things will be quite interesting once the season gets underway.

The Penguins have been a relatively active team since the end of the 2025-26 season, as they have added a few players via trade and free agency. But through that addition, a bit of a logjam has been created both in the forward unit and on the blue line, even if it gives the team a whole lot of options as far as lineups.

The logjam on the forward front was covered already, but the blue line will certainly have its own intrigue. There are a lot of questions about the left side especially, particularly with the departure of Parker Wotherspoon, who played alongside Erik Karlsson on the top pairing last season. They also have a boatload of right-side defensemen, which could hinder chances of a promising young prospect cracking the roster.

Again, for these purposes, we can't assume that any trades will be made, however likely it may seem. So, barring there is no roster movement prior to training camp and the beginning of the season, what will the Penguins' defensive pairings look like?

Trevor van Riemsdyk - Erik Karlsson

Sam Girard - Kaeden Korczak

Declan Carlile - Kris Letang

Extra: Ilya Solovyov

Going into last season, there were a whole lot of questions concerning how the blue line would hold up. After all, the Penguins' defensive work was weak going into 2025-26, and it remained to be seen how the blue line would respond to new coaching.

Well, Karlsson responded very well and then some, as he registered 15 goals and 66 points in 75 games last season. He found his vintage form, playing well in all three zones, earning team MVP at the end of the season, and leading the Penguins down the stretch run of the season to the playoffs.

Last season was, by far, the best from Karlsson in a Penguins' uniform, and he has one year remaining on his current deal. He is 36 years old, but he is still very capable of playing at an elite level.

Simply put, the Penguins need that again from Karlsson if they hope to make any playoff noise. He is the best player on their blue line by a wide margin, and him regressing this season would be nothing short of catastrophic for the Penguins.

The departures of Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea left a bit of a void on the left side of the blue line for the Penguins, and - techinically - they've only added one left-side blueliner in the aftermath in Declan Carlisle.

But on the right side? They have Karlsson, Letang, Korczak, van Riemsdyk, and even Harrison Brunicke pushing. There is certainly much more depth on one side, as the depth on the other side - at least, as far as traditional handedness - includes Girard, Carlile, and Solovyov. 

van Riemsdyk can and will probably play the left side, and anchoring down Karlsson on the top pairing seems to make the most sense to start. So, the left side figures to consist of him, Girard, and Carlile, with Solovyov as an extra. The Penguins kind of have to bank on Carlile and van Riemsdyk to offset the losses of Wotherspoon and Shea, which is not going to be a walk in the park. 

Of course, Owen Pickering could push, too, and Ryan Graves is still ever-present. But the Penguins will need to figure out a way to optimize their pairings, even with a lack of left shots. 

Letang has been a fixture on the Penguins' blue line for two decades, but it's no secret that he largely struggled last season. 

He did find some wind in his sails in the back half of the campaign, as he had chemistry with Brett Kulak, who was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers but then dealt to the Colorado Avalanche just two months later. It took a while for he and Girard to find chemistrry, but they got a bit better late in the season ahead of the playoffs.

However, aside from that, things didn't look too good. The best situation for Letang is to have a partner who allows him to be more stay-at-home, which Girard is on paper. But Carlile might provide the right kind of balance for him, especially if Letang isn't exactly itching to move away from the transitional and high-risk playing style entirely. 

So, it will be interesting to watch how the Penguins approach Letang, his deployment, and his minutes this season. It seems like the third pairing is the best place for him at this point. 

A bit like several other prospects on the forward front, one of the most interesting storylines to follow on the Penguins' blue line will be that of 20-year-old Harrison Brunicke.

Brunicke earned an NHL roster spot out of training camp at 19 years old last season, and he spent nine games at the NHL level dispersed across a few months. There were clear things for him to improve on - including play in front of his own net and along the walls as well as adding some size - as he subsequently went on a five-game AHL conditioning stint, played in the World Junior Championship for Team Canada, and was reassigned back to the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL in January. 

Not only was he on a point-per-game pace for the remaining 24 regular season games for Kamloops - their best player down the stretch and in the playoffs - he also improved upon pretty much everything asked of him as he was summoned back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) for the rest of the AHL regular season and their playoff run. And, in the playoffs, he was arguably their best player at 19, playing top-pair minutes and headlining both special teams units while putting up two goals and seven points in 15 games to along with a plus-4.

It's not hard to deduce that, had Brunicke been AHL-eligible last season, that's where he would have spent the year, which means he would have had a full year of development there. Despite that, Brunicke looked NHL-ready in those playoff games, and given his track record at both training camps he's participated in - he almost made the NHL club as an 18-year-old, too - it won't be surprising if he has another dominant, standout camp.

If Brunicke earns an NHL roster spot, he should be on the team. However, realistically, Karlsson and Letang are locks, and there's next to no chance Korczak doesn't get regular playing time. So, it's more likely that he begins the season in the AHL, and some runway there may not be the worst thing for his development into a sure NHL-ready blueliner, anyway.

But, don't expect him to be there all that long. The Penguins believe they have a top-pairing type of talent in Brunicke, and if his rapid development has told us anything, he's going to blow his AHL assignment out of the water.

Oh, and as far as other blue line prospects go, don't discount Owen Pickering making a push, especially with the question marks on the Penguins' left side. The organization was very happy with Pickering's development in the back half of the 2025-26 season in WBS, and they believe he's developing the game-to-game consistency as a reliable shutdown defenseman with offensive upside that was lacking before. 

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