Latest Penguins Draft Day Buzz

 

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes have talked Justin Faulk as recently as Tuesday but where some momentum has emerged in the last 48 hours between the two sides is [hide] trade talks surrounding winger Jeff Skinner.

Skinner, 26, has emerged as a top trade target for the Penguins as the Hurricanes have zeroed in on three teams in trade talks regarding Skinner, Pittsburgh being among the three teams.

In addition to Pittsburgh, Pierre LeBrun mentioned on Thursday that St. Louis had talked with the Hurricanes. Elliotte Friedman reports the Islanders are in the mix for Skinner and the Isles hold the 11th and 12th overall picks.

Skinner with one season left on his contract ($5.75 million cap hit) is widely expected to be traded tonight.

The Hurricanes have been motivated to trade Skinner, initially eyeing a first round pick, young NHL roster player in return that league types say has been tied to clear salary and adding additional assets to secure a trade for Ryan O’Reilly from Buffalo in a separate deal but the Hurricanes in recent days have also been strongly looking at deals that bring in 2-3 NHL (‘youngish’) roster players in swapping Skinner out who will walk next season.

Adding Skinner would immediately bolster the Penguins top-6 left winger situation, giving a pretty good combination of left wingers at the top in Jake Guentzel and Jeff Skinner.

Skinner’s slippery skilled game, playmaking ability would fit extremely well with Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins feel.

What might a Skinner deal look like?

As mentioned the other day, Hurricanes GM Don Waddell is high on goaltender Tristan Jarry so he’s a potential option with value.[/hide]

One scout said last night he couldn’t see the Penguins acquiring Skinner without BTo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

More Draft Day Buzz:

— Two Eastern Conference teams have given consideration to trading for Conor Sheary. Not a guarantee he’s part of any deals this weekend but Sheary’s carrying a bit more trade value To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— The Los Angeles Kings are a finalist for Ilya Kovalchuk (among the front-runners) and are also waiting word from John Tavares representatives at CAA Sports on if they’ll be one of the five teams granted a meeting during the interview period. (If Tavares get to the interview period)

The Kings have been engaged in talks (Off & On) with the Penguins To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Minnesota will be a team to still watch on the Kessel front in the coming days. They’re on his approved [hide]list, a league source confirms, and Pittsburgh has strong interest in Charlie Coyle.

The Wild, though, have reportedly been trying to move Tyler Ennis in deals connected to Coyle/Niederreiter or Zucker.

Ennis has one year left on his contract with a $4.6 million cap hit and his point totals the last three seasons has been 11, 13, and 22.[/hide]

— Every off-season Evgeni Malkin presses Jim Rutherford to sign a Russian winger for him from Nikolai Kulemin to Danis Zarapov in the past to Malkin reaching out last month to management for the Penguins to sign [hide] Ilya Kovalchuk.

Malkin and Kovalchuk both have the same agent in JP Barry.

They also happen to work out together…..

Pens are not in the mix

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Penguins 2018 Draft Picks

Round 2 | Pick 53
Round 3 | Pick 64
Round 5 | Pick 129
Round 5 | Pick 146
Round 6 | Pick 177
Round 7 | Pick 208

The Penguins lack a first round pick tonight but what got overlooked in the Derick Brassard trade was nabbing an early third rounder from the Senators.

There’s not much difference in this draft from 30-65 and the Penguins are going to get two good players at 53 and 64 with NHL potential.

There’s also some trade ammunition to trade up higher into the second round by moving both picks if a player the Penguins really like is there.

Related posts:

NHL: Sabres acquire Jeff Skinner Latest NHL Buzz: Jeff Skinner’s Payday, Erik Karlsson, Taylor Hall, Flyers going big in RFA market? Latest Pens Buzz: Skinner was ‘lukewarm’ of joining the Penguins when Pittsburgh was in pursuit Latest Pens Buzz: On stalled trade talks; Brassard-Malkin, Dumoulin-Johnson likely experiments in camp; Skinner still in play?