The Penguins went into the summer expecting to use the trade market as a bridge into their next phase. Instead, the market turned into a roadblock.
Pittsburgh wanted to move prospects and draft capital for younger NHL talent, and general manager Kyle Dubas also tried to land first-round picks in the 2026 NHL Draft. But the asking prices climbed so high that the Penguins never got where they wanted to go.
That was the pattern all summer. The Penguins have veterans they would like to move, but the market hasn’t exactly been eager to cooperate.
Players in their mid-to-late 20s began costing four premium assets, including a top-10 pick, and Pittsburgh didn’t have that kind of ammo. Even the veterans the Penguins tried to shop in June did not bring back a first-round pick.
Dubas didn’t pretend otherwise after the first round of the NHL Draft. When asked about the effort, he said, “we worked our asses off” trying to make the big trade.
What Pittsburgh did manage were smaller, quieter additions. The team brought in winger Nick Robertson for a fourth-round pick and third-pairing defenseman Kaedan Korczak for Parker Wotherspoon.
Those moves help fill out the roster, but they do not alter the top end of the lineup or change the rebuild’s direction in any meaningful way. For now, the whole thing sits in a holding pattern.
Dubas said on June 26 that the Penguins would keep trying to find the right fit between the younger group and the veteran core. When asked whether the market might force a change in approach, he said, “It might not be the same way that everybody else does it, but I don’t know that we’ll pivot,” said Dubas on June 26.
“We’ll continue to stay involved in all those discussions and see where it lands … It’s trying to find that middle kind of bridge (between our young players and older veteran core). We’d love to have it done already, but it might be something that’s later in the summer, in the year, or next summer, but we’ll stay after for sure.”
That bridge still hasn’t been built, and the offseason is basically over.
The problem is bigger than Pittsburgh, too. Fewer teams are giving up premium players, even when those players want out. Dylan Larkin, Connor Hellebuyck, Shane Wright, and Alexander Nikishin are all on that list of names who asked for a change but remain where they are because the price tag is too steep for would-be buyers.
That same dynamic could affect the Penguins later, especially if a contender comes calling near the March 6 NHL trade deadline. Bryan Rust’s 30-goal upside and hard-nosed style could attract a team looking for a top-six winger.
Rickard Rakell’s offense and 200-foot game could draw interest as well. But right now, the market hasn’t been biting, and the returns Pittsburgh would get back look thinner than Dubas likely wants.
Training camp opens next week, and the Penguins will only get three days of three-squad practices before preseason games start and the roster gets trimmed for regular practices. That means a wave of cuts is coming early, and many of the young players arriving with hopes of carving out a role are likely to be pushed out quickly because there simply won’t be enough room.
Dubas entered the summer with a plan and plenty of optimism. The market changed the equation.
The Penguins still have young players to evaluate and room to create if they want to move this rebuild, retool, or whatever comes next along. The question is how they get there now that the trade landscape has shifted underneath them.
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