February 1, 2025 | 5:15pm ET
TheFourthPeriod.com
PENGUINS REMAIN ACTIVE IN TRADE TALKS
Getty Images
Penguins GM Kyle Dubas
The Pittsburgh Penguins made a bold move Friday night, sending defenceman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor to the Vancouver Canucks. It is one of many trades the team is expected to make between now and the March 7 trade deadline.
On Wednesday’s episode of “The Latest” on TFP, Kate Petterson and David Pagnotta discussed the Penguins being open for business and they were engaged in multiple trade talks. During Saturday’s trade recap edition, Pagnotta reiterated how Friday’s move is the tip of the iceberg.
“They’re not done,” Pagnotta exclaimed. “We’ve talked about it. They got a lot of pieces and balls up in the air. This obviously checks a couple of their boxes by moving out Pettersson and O'Connor, who we talked about; they’ve been available for some time.
“Pittsburgh will continue to listen. They’re going to look to see what other deals are available to them. Michael Bunting. Rickard Rakell has generated a lot of interest, (although) there’s hesitancy to move them, but they will listen. Erik Karlsson. Anthony Beauvillier is another pending UFA. Matt Grzelcyk. They’ve got a lot of pieces that are up in the air that they are going to continue to listen on.”
Beauvillier, Grzelcyk, and forwards Matt Nieto and Jesse Puljujarvi are all on expiring deals and can become unrestricted free agents July 1 and could be on the move by deadline day.
Bunting, Rakell, Karlsson, Bryan Rust, Ryan Graves and Blake Lizotte are among the players the team is willing to take calls on – anyone, at this point, but Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin will have Penguins GM Kyle Dubas pick up the phone and talk about.
“They added a bit of cap space, but they’ve got cap flexibility in order to pull (off more moves),” Pagnotta said. “Kyle Dubas said in a statement yesterday after his deal was done that this is exactly what they wanted: NHL calibre (player), plus a high pick. They’re going to continue to look to do that as the weeks move forward and we get closer to that March 7th deadline, but Pittsburgh not done by any stretch.”