It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Penguins have a wealth of playoff experience on their roster.
Five of them – Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, and Sam Girard – have Stanley Cup rings. A few more have gotten a taste of the Stanley Cup Final, only to have fallen just short. Many have limited playoff experience but playoff experience nonetheless.
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But there are a handful of players – six of them, to be exact – on the Penguins’ active roster who have never been graced with the opportunity to experience the greatest postseason in all of sports. Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov, Elmer Soderblom, Ryan Shea, Jack St. Ivany, and Ilya Solovyov will finally, in some capacity, have that opportunity when the Penguins face the Philadelphia Flyers in round one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which begins Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET.
And a player’s first time in the NHL playoffs is something that they can only experience once.
“It’s, obviously, been a whirlwind of a season, but this has always been the goal since making the team,” Kindel said. “Really, really excited to have this opportunity to go into the playoffs with this group of guys and see what we can do.”
Kindel, a rookie, made the team out of training camp and was given the chance to stick around through the entirety of the regular season. And some of the other players in a similar situation didn’t join the squad until midway through.
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Chinakhov is one of those guys, as he was dealt from the Columbus Blue Jackets to Pittsburgh on Dec. 29. He has played in five NHL seasons up to this point, and all have ended in futility.
To come to the Penguins’ organization mid-season and be thrust into the Stanley Cup Playoffs has been a whirlwind for him, but he’s happy to finally have gotten here.
“I’m excited to play in the playoffs,” Chinakhov said. “I played in the KHL [playoffs], and I know it feels different than the regular season. Yeah, just need to prepare and be ready for Game 1.”
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The same can be said for Soderblom, who joined the team at the NHL Trade Deadline from the Detroit Red Wings on Mar. 7.
“It’s going to be fun,” Soderblom said. “I think it’s going to be something special, and it’s going to be exciting to play, for sure. I think we can just learn a lot from the players who have been through it, you know, and won the Cup. So, I think it’s a good opportunity to just get better.”
The “new guy, new team” situation doesn’t apply to everyone in this position, though. Shea and St. Ivany have been with the organization for a few years now, and they have seen the Penguins at the lowest point they’ve been since Crosby’s rookie season.
Shea joined the Penguins in 2023-24 after getting drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks and spending a few years in the Dallas Stars’ organization. He’s been to the playoffs before, but nothing quite like the NHL playoffs.
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“I mean, it’s pretty cool. I’ve played a lot of meaningful hockey in my life, whether it’s playoffs in the AHL or college hockey, but this is obviously the pinnacle,” Shea said. “This is what you want to get to.
“I feel like the first two years, we were so close, but always the outside looking in. And this year, we had to learn how to play when we were in a position to make the playoffs, and we did pretty well coming down the stretch with that. But, I’m just super excited. It’s great for the guys.”
Of course, there’s not really any other way to truly prepare for the NHL playoffs aside from simply getting thrust into it. Crosby knows that feeling all too well, as he remembers his first taste of the playoffs.
But, regardless, he and the other veterans in the room are ready to help those with little to no NHL postseason experience – even if they can only do so much.
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“I think you’ve got to prepare as best you can, but until you’ve actually experienced it, there’s only so much you can do to try to prepare,” Crosby said. “But, we’ll definitely do that. You can do your best to try to help them out and make sure that [they] prepare, but just getting thrown into it is just sometimes the best. And I think anyone who has played in the playoffs, you remember that first game, that’s for sure. You’ll remember that first shift, first period… those always tend to stick out.”
And Shea – like Soderblom – said that the experience of guys like Crosby and the other veterans in the room will certainly help him and others, especially in terms of regulating emotions.
“I pick up the little things that guys talk about, whether it’s body language, picking up teammates, all that stuff,” Shea said. “For me, I’m pretty hard on myself. So, having those guys through this experience and having a guy of that caliber coming up to you and being like, ‘Hey, go get it next shift’ or something like that… that goes a long way. We’re all in this fight together. I think we’ve done a great job this year being a team and keeping the vibes at a high, and I think we need that no matter what, whether we go down 2-0, up 2-0, whatever the case may be.
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“We need to control our emotions, and that’s where those guys come in. And, for me, I know I’m going to be overly excited to start the game, but I think, at the end of the day, it’s just another hockey game. My nerves and my excitement will just pull back, and then, you’re pretty much just going about your business.”
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