The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t expected to have a fire sale prior to the NHL Trade Deadline but they could be one of the busier teams this week according to Josh Yohe of The Athletic. Yohe projects that the Penguins will try and get their bigger moves done mid-week because they will be in Las Vegas on Friday and will have a difficult time getting players to the West Coast if they make moves right at the Deadline.
Yohe believes that Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas and his management team may have altered their plans due to the market shifting and becoming much more of a seller’s market. There are only six teams that are truly in sell mode, and this has led to first round picks being moved routinely in recent weeks. The Penguins have already acquired one in the swap with Vancouver for Marcus Pettersson and could be looking to land another for Rickard Rakell.
Dubas has been stockpiling young assets since last year’s Trade Deadline and is expected to move out more veterans in favor of futures. Most of the roster appears to be in play except for Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, and likely Kris Letang.
Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, and forwards Anthony Beauvillier and Noel Acciari are available and Yohe speculates that at least one of them will be moved. Grzelcyk and Beauvillier are UFAs this summer and are unlikely to remain in Pittsburgh long term, so moving them makes sense even though the return will be minimal. Acciari seems the least likely to go as he has another year on his deal at $2MM and Dubas has always had an affinity for the 33-year-old.
Then there is the Erik Karlsson $10MM question. Yohe guesses that a summer deal is more likely for the three-time Norris Trophy winner as no trade talks have happened yet and he hasn’t been asked to waive his no-trade clause. Penguins’ management reportedly believes that Karlsson would be willing to go to other teams, but the list of potential destinations isn’t long.
Several Western Conference teams have expressed interest in forward Rakell, but the Penguins don’t feel any pressure to move him. That being said, given that few teams are selling the Penguins might get an offer in the final few days that is too hard to refuse.
Regardless of what the Penguins do, it’s hard to imagine that they make any moves in net, the team reportedly would like to keep Alex Nedeljkovic around to mentor their younger goaltenders, and Tristan Jarry is unmovable at this point, other than perhaps swapping him for another overpriced player who is underperforming.