Kyle Dubas Got To Work With The Eller Trade. What – And Who – Is Next?

After an embarrassing 7-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Monday, it felt like a game that could end up being a season-altering loss for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Only one day later, that appears to be the case.

On Tuesday, the Penguins made just the first in what could be several moves, trading veteran center Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals for a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2027 third-round pick.

Eller, 35, is a pending unrestricted free agent, so this news isn’t all that shocking, even taking out the disaster of a showing against the Stars. Eller had put up four goals and seven points on the season for the Penguins and is a solid third or fourth-line center for any contending team.

Given that the Penguins are trying to rebuild on-the-fly, selling off expiring contracts – especially valuable ones, like Eller’s – should come as a surprise to no one.

But where does GM and POHO Kyle Dubas go from here?

Well, that could be a whole lot more interesting.

It’s no secret that the Penguins are due for a shake-up. They are staring down a 6-9-2 record and are just two points from the basement of the Metropolitan Division.

However, they currently sit just one point out of the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, which – given how this season has gone – seems completely inconceivable.

Make no mistake: the Penguins are not a playoff team in their current state, and a lot would have to go right for them this season to have a chance at the postseason, none of which has happened thus far. But – as Taylor Haase of DK Pittsburgh Sports reported on Monday – the Penguins aren’t interested in a full rebuild yet.

And what this means is that, yes, they’re going to stockpile draft capital, as evidenced here – but there’s a whole lot more to the story than that.

What is the corresponding move?

On the surface, the Eller trade was a futures-oriented one. But, looking at it from a cap savings perspective, that might not be entirely true.

When factoring in all players on long-term injured reserve and injured reserve (IR), the Penguins now have $1.78 million in extra cap space with Eller’s $2.45 million off the books. They currently do not have an extra healthy forward on their roster and have one remaining roster spot open because of IR.

Unless there is an immediate trade to follow since no player aside from Matt Nieto – currently on an AHL conditioning stint – is eligible to be activated from IR yet, this likely means that one of the Penguins’ young players from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) will get the call.

Here are the top candidates:

Emil Bemstrom
Bemstrom has been a point-per-game player for WBS, registering two goals and 11 points on the season. He’s the type of player who Dubas might want to call on to fill Eller’s role, as he is definitely one of the safer options.

Vasily Ponomarev
Ponomarev is probably the closest Eller-type player in the Penguins’ organization. He is very good in the defensive zone, is a conscientous player, and has a “motor,” as head coach Mike Sullivan has said. The one snag is that he was recently activated from IR, so he may need a bit more time to get into game shape.

Tristan Broz
Broz is off to a great start in his first professional season, leading WBS in goals with six and having eight total points on the season. He’s not exactly a replacement for Eller, but he could provide a scoring punch for the team.

Ville Koivunen
Like Sam Poulin, who was recalled on Sunday by the Penguins, Koivunen has put up three goals and nine points for WBS. He isn’t exactly a defensive standout, but he is a very gifted player with a great shot. He or Broz could bump somebody else like Drew O’Connor down in the lineup to fill Eller’s spot on the third line.

Rutger McGroarty
Although McGroarty isn’t off to a blazing start – he has just one goal and two points in nine AHL games – he already has some NHL games under his belt and may benefit from seeing more time in a defensive role – with room to grow – on Pittsburgh’s NHL roster.

Could the Penguins trade for an NHL player?

Yes, absolutely. With the cap flexibility the Penguins now have, it seems like a legitimate possibility that the Penguins may be freeing up some cap for a bigger move for a young player.

As Haase suggested in her report, Dubas is looking for NHL players to help reshape the roster. This is a good indication that the Eller trade is just the beginning, and that, perhaps, freeing up cap space is one of the biggest priorities.

There are several teams around the league looking to make moves right now. One of them is the Buffalo Sabres, who are in a weird middle ground of having both young players and players in their prime yet falling short of expectations. In addition, the health of star forward Tage Thompson is unclear, as he was injured on Monday.

Dubas, Jason Spezza, and Amanda Kessel all attended the Buffalo-Montreal game on Monday, and Dubas is currently attending GM meetings in Toronto.

Don’t be surprised to see a subsequent move of some kind in the coming days, even if it’s not a trade involving Buffalo.

Who is the next Penguin to go?

In case it bears repeating, no, the Penguins are certainly not done. Not only do they have a host of pending UFAs, but they also have some other players who have both some value and a bit more term on their contracts.

There are some players like Anthony Beauvillier, Rickard Rakell, and Tristan Jarry who may be traded later on. But who is most likely to be dealt next?

Marcus Pettersson
Even though Pettersson is a pending UFA, he can still fetch a decent return – and it would certainly be a shake-up trade for the locker room. He hasn’t had a running start to the season, but based on merit alone, he should still command a decent asking price.

Noel Acciari
Acciari is the kind of player any contending team would like to have in their bottom-six come playoff time. He has one more season remaining on a deal that pays him $2 million per year, so he comes relatively cheap. If he is moved, it will probably be a lot like the Eller trade, with the goal being to clear more cap space for a bigger move later.

Alex Nedeljkovic
The Penguins currently have one too many goaltenders on their roster. If the urgency to make moves is as, well, urgent as it sounds, Nedeljkovic will be much easier to trade than Tristan Jarry. A team in need of goaltending help would take him in a heartbeat, and, again, this clears more cap space.

One of Jesse Puljujarvi or Drew O’Connor
These are depth players who Dubas could deal in a player swap of sorts – think Los Angeles’s Arthur Kaliyev, Toronto’s Nicholas Robertson, or Chicago’s Philipp Kurashev.

Kris Letang
Yeah, this would be a game-breaker. A room-breaker, back-breaker, whatever you want to call it. But there were rumors over the summer, although mostly shot down, that Letang requested a trade to Montreal. Of the legacy players on this roster, he may make the most sense to move.

He’s having a down year, but he’d provide a valuable veteran presence on a young Canadiens roster, assuming he’d waive his no-movement clause in that scenario.