After the devastating playoff loss to the Flyers in 2012, Penguins fans were looking for good news. The first piece of wonderful news was that half of the season would be cancelled due to a lockout. It would eventually be resolved, and hockey would kick off in January with a 48-game regular season.
The Penguins team to start this season would be missing one familiar face and featured a new one -- Jordan Staal had been traded to the Hurricanes at the NHL Draft in Pittsburgh one exchange for Brandon Sutter, Brian Dumoulin, and Carolina’s 1st round pick, which was used to select Derrick Pouliot.