For Pittsburgh Penguins’ GM and POHO Kyle Dubas, the free agent frenzy in July isn’t the best time to do business.
Nope – that comes in the month of August.
On August 6, 2023, Dubas completed one of the biggest trades in Penguins’ history, acquiring Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks as part of a three-way trade in exchange for a first-round pick, some bad contracts, and change.
WE HAVE BIG TRADE NEWS TO ANNOUNCE 🚨
The Penguins have acquired defenseman Erik Karlsson, forward Rem Pitlick, forward Dillon Hamaliuk and a 2026 third-round draft pick in a three-team trade involving the San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) August 6, 2023
And this August – after almost an entire offseason of, seemingly, steering the organization into the direction of a rebuild – Dubas may have just given the Crosby-era Penguins another shot at some life.
On August 13, he acquired forward Cody Glass – first round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 – and on August 22, he shocked the hockey world when he acquired Winnipeg Jets’ top prospect Rutger McGroarty in a one-for-one swap for top prospect Brayden Yager.
Not even two weeks ago, the Penguins seemed like a team that was dead in the water, completely reliant on reclamation projects to give them a chance but with no real hope to legitimately compete for a playoff spot.
Now, all of that may have changed.
Although the loss of Yager stings, the swap for McGroarty was a no-brainer. McGroarty has a higher ceiling, is likely NHL-ready now, and can help the Penguins now and in the future. In contrast, the likelihood that Yager would have been on a crowded Penguins’ roster this season – especially with one year of junior eligibility remaining – was low.
And make no mistake: The move for McGroarty sends a message. If the Penguins were truly going full-rebuild, they could have simply held on to Yager. Instead, they opted for a forward prospect who can make a more immediate impact. And given that McGroarty didn’t want to sign with the Jets because there were no guarantees for playing time, it’s safe to assume that he will see that NHL playing time with the Penguins this season.
So where does this leave the NHL roster? Well, for one, it makes the Penguins’ forward depth a whole lot better.
Prior to the McGroarty trade, the Penguins projected to roll out a top-six of Sidney Crosby, Drew O’Connor, Bryan Rust, Evgeni Malkin, Michael Bunting, and Rickard Rakell. And while that very well could still be the case, there’s a strong possibility that the talented McGroarty sees time in the top-six this season.
WELCOME TO PITTSBURGH RUTGER MCGROARTY ! 🐧
McGroarty is a 6’1 200 right winger who captained team USA at the WJC last year.
NCAA :
36 GP – 16 Goals – 52 Points
WJC-20:
7 GP – 5 Goals – 9 Points pic.twitter.com/vBsULHFXOa— Mario LeCrosGoat (@MarioLeGoat) August 22, 2024
This allows for someone like O’Connor or Rakell to bump back down into the bottom-six. You take that, combined with new younger acquisitions in Blake Lizotte and Cody Glass and other pieces like Valtteri Puustinen, Anthony Beauvillier, Lars Eller, Kevin Hayes – or even prospect Vasily Ponomarev – this starts to look like a deeper team than the Penguins have had over the last two seasons.
It also allows for Dubas to shop some of his veterans – such as Eller and Noel Acciari – on the trade market in order to free up some cap for more NHL talent and continue stockpiling valuable draft capital. And given the logjam of forwards in the Penguins’ bottom-six, more of these kinds of moves are likely on the horizon.
As for goaltending, the Penguins have two legitimate prospects knocking at the door in Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashev to provide insurance for Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic. They also have a surplus of defensemen and figure to have five guys competing for the final spot on the bottom pairing.
All in all, these Penguins – unlike in previous seasons – have legitimate options. They will have decisions to make in training camp. They will likely have to offload salary before puck drop on October 9. They have some young prospects waiting in the wings to help if called upon.
And all of this is a good thing. We haven’t seen a Penguins’ team that, simultaneously, has options at the NHL level and has surplus draft capital. It’s the perfect mixture for a Penguins’ team at the juncture that they are: A team with an old core still playing at too high a level to mail it in but in need of youth and a future to look forward to.
A team that – as it has now become apparent – is looking to rebuild on-the-fly, hold on to valuable draft capital, and legitimately compete as soon as they possibly can.
Maybe the Penguins compete this year, maybe they don’t. Arguably, a lot of this depends on their power play finding some life and on several reclamation projects to be net positives for the team.
But, perhaps the biggest development out of all of this is that the Penguins now have the ability to be reactive this season. They can see where they are in the standings and react accordingly without destroying the team or the draft pool one way or the other. That’s huge.
At the end of the day, trading for a player like McGroarty gives the Penguins a shot. And, sometimes, that’s all a team needs. It’s a sign to Crosby and his Penguins that their GM still believes they can win hockey games – and that there is some hope for the waning years of the Penguins’ greatest generation.
So, go ahead and sleep on this Penguins team. This might be the year they prove everyone wrong.
Related: BREAKING: Penguins acquire top prospect Rutger McGroarty from Jets
Related: 5 Things to Know About Penguins Prospect Rutger McGroarty
Related: Opinion: Yes, Dubas should keep his draft picks – but not all of them
Related: 5 Things to Know About New Penguins Forward Cody Glass
