Penguins Post-Deadline Buzz: Summer Offer Sheets, Aggressiveness, Rakell’s Future & More Buzz

Kyle Dubas had a horrible first summer as Penguins General Manager and then sat on his feet way too long in year one to make necessary tweaks. We’re talking a ‘D’ grade and the biggest Dubas fans can’t always blame everything on Ron Hextall.

However, after pivoting towards a soft rebuild/retool, Dubas is on quite the heater over the last 12 months in building up the prospect base and draft capital in short time.

It’s easier said than done but what Dubas has done is at least given himself a chance to try to add to the aging core on its last leg without mortgaging the future and toe that line of trying to accelerate this, albeit smartly. The salary cap rising to $96 million, $104 million and $113 million over the next three summers opens up possibilities to go with 30 draft picks over the next three years as Pittsburgh has stockpiled the most draft picks in the league. There are avenues to really transform this roster at the NHL level next season without being stupid.

Could luck in the lottery also play out in April?

Pittsburgh enters the day with the sixth worst Points% in the NHL at .446P%; Buffalo is 4th at .443P% and Pittsburgh ending in the top-three (Nashville .427P%) is not out of question.

“I think I’ve always come in and said there is no ambition on my end to have this take any longer than it needs to take, both for the city and for the people who put in a lot,” said Dubas. “That’s not just players, but staff that has been around for a long time. There is a certain level, and when the league drops off, you don’t want the standards and the core ideology to erode. We’re going to survey the landscape as urgently as we can each day to find moves that can best help propel the team ahead,” said Dubas.

Dubas in his post-deadline presser continues to put it out there of giving the aging core one more chance. When you’re keeping Rickard Rakell and plan on him being part of the program for the foreseeable future, you gotta start picking up the aggressiveness at the NHL-level.

“How it lines up with the older players, all I can give is my pledge that we are going through everything we can to attempt to have them all have one last chance or multiple depending on how long they play,” Dubas said.

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— Teams that engaged with the Penguins on Rickard Rakell believed the Penguins were never going to move him. Rakell trade scenarios and preliminary offers teams explored with Pittsburgh were all centered around futures and a young forward. Los Angeles discussed a deal centering around the likes of Alex To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— What you hear about the Penguins right now in league circles is there could be a shift in the age group they target this summer to try to speed things up a bit. Pittsburgh pursuit of a couple truly young impact players on the trade front have been situations where offering futures isn’t getting you a seat at the table. Think JJ Peterka. That’s led to discussions of where a sense seems to be the team will explore bigger moves (excess draft capital) for players with term in that To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! On the free agent front, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! is a name getting linked to Pittsburgh already as a likely target.

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— Agents are buzzing to watch for the Penguins as a top threat for To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— Pittsburgh’s 2025 Draft Pick (NYR) was not popular To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!