The Pittsburgh Penguins may be getting close to a Rickard Rakell decision, and the signal is hard to miss: his name keeps coming up as the kind of veteran the team could turn into younger pieces as it reshapes the roster.
Rakell’s fit with that direction is part of why he’s suddenly such a natural trade candidate. He’s 30-goal forward pedigree on a team that appears to be moving toward a younger group over the next year or two, and his season has started slowly for both him and the Penguins. That’s pushed his value into a tricky spot - still useful, but possibly not at its peak.
Chris Johnston of The Athletic put Rakell on his recent trade board and described why the conversation around him hasn’t gone away:
“No stranger to the Big Board in the past year or two, Rakell’s time may finally be winding down with a Penguins team slowly transitioning to a younger group. While he’s delivered an outsized amount of production on a reasonable contract, it’s been a slow start to the year for both player and team.
Still, Rakell is an above-average finisher who has a history of holding his own when playing alongside highly skilled linemates. He’s scored at a 29-goal-per-82-game pace across the last four seasons.”
Rakell is signed for this season and next at $5 million per year, and he also has an eight-team no-trade list. That gives him some say in where he lands, though not enough to make him untouchable if Pittsburgh decides the timing is right.
If the Penguins can find a team willing to pay for his track record, they could try to move him before the trade deadline for a solid return. But there’s also a case for patience.
GM Kyle Dubas would be wise to let Rakell play through the slump, because his trade value looks lower now than it would if the scoring picks back up. A couple of productive weeks could change the market fast for a player who has usually been a reliable finisher.
There was also some summer chatter around Rakell being included in a larger trade idea involving the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets as part of a Kirill Marchenko deal. That never materialized, and the Blue Jackets instead landed Matthew Knies in a trade that sent Marchenko to Toronto.
The bigger question is whether Pittsburgh has already passed the best window to move him. The Penguins were said to be open to dealing Rakell last season, but the asking price was high. Now the team is left hoping that opportunity hasn’t slipped away before it can cash in on a player who still clearly has value.
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