Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is still hunting for offense, and the Pittsburgh Penguins keep hovering in the conversation.
Davidson’s search has been public for a while now. On Oct.
27, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli said on Chicago Sports Network’s pregame show that Davidson is after “shoot-first, scoring wingers with size.” Since then, TSN’s Chris Johnston and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman have backed up the idea that Chicago is still working the market to find help for captain Connor Bedard.
That’s why Penguins winger Rickard Rakell has become such an obvious name to watch. Chicago Hockey Now had already floated him as a fit after Seravalli’s report, and the logic is easy to follow.
Pittsburgh is 6-10-2 and sitting dead last in the Eastern Conference, while Kyle Dubas appears to be preparing to move veterans out of town. Rakell is one of the players who could be on the move.
Rakell has been on trade boards before, and he’s back there again now. Johnston listed him at No. 10 on his latest Trade Board 3.0 for The Athletic.
The 33-year-old has kept producing goals into his early 30s, including a career-high 35 in 2024-25 for Pittsburgh. He got off to a rough start this season with no goals and two assists in his first nine games, but he’s heated up lately, scoring in six of his last nine games and piling up eight points over that span.
From Chicago’s side, the appeal is obvious enough. Rakell is under contract through 2027-28 at a $5 million cap hit, so the commitment isn’t overwhelming.
He’s a middle-six scorer who shoots the puck, plays a responsible two-way game, and brings 15 years of NHL experience along with decent size at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds. He wouldn’t fix everything by himself, but he checks a lot of the boxes Davidson seems to be targeting.
Then came the wrinkle.
On Tuesday’s episode of Spittin’ Chiclets, former NHL defenseman Keith Yandle said he heard a rumor that Rakell turned down a trade to Chicago, and Rutger McGroarty was recalled from the AHL in case the deal went through. Rakell’s contract includes an eight-team no-trade list, and if that rumor is true, the Blackhawks would be on it.
Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski later pushed back on parts of that story. He said Dubas would already know the eight teams on Rakell’s no-trade list, the Penguins recalled McGroarty because Ville Koivunen was banged up, and if a trade was truly that close, Rakell likely would not have played over the weekend.
The rumor could still have some truth to it, but the details don’t line up cleanly.
If Rakell is off the board, Bryan Rust is another Penguin worth watching. Unlike Rakell, Rust has no no-trade or no-movement clause, so he has no veto power.
The 33-year-old winger doesn’t fit Davidson’s size preference, but he does bring the kind of grit and finishing touch Chicago could use. He’s also a veteran presence with 717 regular-season games and 85 Stanley Cup Playoff appearances.
Rust has put together the two best offensive seasons of his career recently, scoring at least 29 goals and 65 points in both 2024-25 and 2025-26. For a player in his early 30s, that’s a strong run. His cap hit is a manageable $5.125 million, and his deal runs through 2028.
There’s a catch, though. Rust is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and won’t be reevaluated until early December.
That makes a deal harder to line up right now, even if Chicago likes the fit. Kingerski recently suggested Rust could bring back something similar to what the Ottawa Senators got for Claude Giroux in 2022, though he believes Rust’s value would be a bit lower.
Ottawa landed Owen Tippett, a conditional first-round pick, and a third-rounder from Florida for Giroux. Kingerski thinks Rust could fetch a late first-round pick and a lesser prospect, or a quality young player and a second-round pick.
Chicago has the draft capital to chase that kind of player. The Blackhawks hold two late first-round picks in the 2027 NHL Draft from Florida and Edmonton, plus their own second-round pick and another from Vancouver.
Still, the timing is awkward. The Blackhawks need help now, and Rust may not be back until mid-to-late December. That makes him look more like a possible later-season target than an immediate solution.
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