Change is inevitable each NHL trade deadline and offseason, even for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are going through a rebuild.
They didn’t make any significant trades at the deadline or signings during free agency, but that was their intention. They moved out some of their pending free agents for more draft picks and signed a few players to short-term contracts. They want to get back to contention as urgently as possible, but are making sure they do it right and don’t take any shortcuts.
With all of that in mind, let’s look at a few former Penguins players who were on last year’s team and see how they’re doing on their new teams to start the 2025-26 season.
Alex Nedeljkovic
Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas felt it was time to shake up the crease a little bit when the season ended. He traded Nedeljkovic to the San Jose Sharks on July 1 for a third-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft. Nedeljkovic spent two seasons with the Penguins, playing in 38 games each.
As expected, his results were mixed. There were times when he’d give them quality starts, and others when he’d look out to lunch. One of his quality starts came on January 17 of this year against the Buffalo Sabres when he became the second goaltender in the Penguins’ franchise history to score a goal. He also had a .952 save percentage and made 40 saves on 42 shots. It was one of the highlights of the 2024-25 Penguins’ season before they ultimately missed the playoffs for a third-straight season.
Fast forward to the 2025-26 season, and Nedeljkovic has struggled in his two starts with the Sharks. He has a 0-1-1 record with a 4.45 goals-against average and an .878 save percentage. His goals saved above expected is also -2.6.
He started in the Sharks’ first game of the season, and it looked like he was going to help them win against the Vegas Golden Knights until he made two huge blunders. The first one came late in the third period after it looked like Sharks forward William Eklund was going to put the game away with an empty net goal. He had multiple chances to score, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Those missed chances led to Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel scoring from the red line off a very innocent shot. It took a weird bounce, and Nedeljkovic completely misplayed it.
Things went from bad to worse for Nedeljkovic in overtime when he came all the way out of his crease to the blue line. He was trying to play the puck when he messed it up, leading to the game-winner by Reilly Smith.
The Sharks are still looking for their first win of this season, and they’ll have a chance to get it on Saturday against the Penguins. Nedeljkovic will likely start in that game since fellow goaltender Yaroslav Askarov played on Friday.
Anthony Beauvillier
The Penguins traded Beauvillier to the Washington Capitals for a 2025 second-round pick at last season’s trade deadline. It came after Beauvillier compiled 13 goals and 20 points in 63 games as a Penguin.
Beauvillier was a solid depth piece for the Capitals down the stretch and into the playoffs. They liked his play enough that they opted to re-sign him to a two-year $5.5 million contract in early July. They let him test free agency before bringing him back.
His solid play with Washington has carried over into this season. He already has one goal and two points in the Capitals’ first five games. That goal came against the New York Rangers in the Capitals’ third game of the season on October 12. It was a really nice redirect off a nice feed from Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin.
The Capitals are off to a 4-1-0 start to the season after beating the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.
Rookie Comes Through Shorthanded, Propels Penguins Past Kings, 3-2
Pittsburgh Penguins‘ rookies have certainly been making their mark in the earlygoing of the 2025-26 season.
Michael Bunting
Bunting is in his first full season with the Nashville Predators after they acquired him from the Penguins for forward Tommy Novak and defenseman Luke Schenn before last season’s trade deadline. The Penguins later traded Schenn to the Winnipeg Jets since he wanted to play in the playoffs.
Bunting played in 18 games for the Predators last season, compiling five goals and nine points. He has played in all five of their games this season and has one goal and two points. He scored the first Predators goal of the 2025-26 season against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 9.
The Predators won that game 2-1 to start the season with a 1-0 record, but are now 2-1-2 after losing to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
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