The NHL trade market had a little bit of everything Sunday, from a Seattle move that raised eyebrows to more chatter around Detroit’s Simon Edvinsson and another reminder that the Penguins are not just handing out scoring help for free.
The biggest name to move was Shane Wright, who Seattle sent to Nashville for 2023 first-round pick Matthew Wood. The return is already drawing debate, and the fit is hard to ignore: the Penguins passed on Wood to take Brayden Yager, which makes the whole thing feel even more tangled.
As the Daily put it, Nashville essentially got Wright for an asset Pittsburgh used on Rutger McGoarty. Maybe it’s time McGroarty is in the Penguins lineup …
Detroit’s Edvinsson is also getting plenty of attention. San Jose has reportedly stepped up its offer, with Sheng Peng digging into the Sharks’ pursuit and noting Keaton Verhoeff in the mix. The full story sits behind the paywall, but the message is clear: the Sharks are pushing hard.
Then there’s Pittsburgh, which keeps popping up in trade conversations as a possible partner for teams chasing NHL scoring. The catch is simple.
The Penguins want something back. That’s where the talks get tricky.
Elsewhere around the league, the New Jersey Devils made a small but interesting move involving goalie Rémi Poirier. After claiming him off waivers and then acquiring Connor Hellebuyck, they flipped Poirier to the Capitals rather than risk losing him for nothing.
There was also a former Penguins prospect making noise in Anaheim. Judd Caufield scored twice as the Ducks rolled the Senators 6-0, with Cutter Gauthier posting a hat trick and Anaheim scoring six straight.
Caufield, who played college hockey at North Dakota and three full years in the AHL, now has four goals and eight points in 12 games. That’s a long way from the rookie camps, where he looked like a big, slow forward who never really registered on the NHL radar.
Ottawa, meanwhile, is shopping for wingers who can play in the top six and score. That’s where Bruce Garrioch’s take gets interesting, because he essentially brushes aside Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust while noting the Penguins want a hockey trade.
Back in Pittsburgh, the reaction to Saturday’s stinging report card is still settling in. The fan questions in the Penguins Q&A cut right to the point, with concerns about how close the team really is to contending, where the trades are, and even Sidney Crosby. It was a blunt session, and one answer in particular stood out.
And if you were wondering, yes, the Steelers beatdown of the Browns was as lopsided as it looked. The drive home from up north took forever, and the plan to stop between Buffalo and Erie to catch the second half never quite mattered - by the time there was a chance to watch, Pittsburgh had already taken control.
In Other News...
Penguins Just Created A New Opening For Rutger McGroarty
Rutger McGroarty is back with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after Pittsburgh reassigned the young forward, a move that trims the NHL roster but also keeps the door cracked open for him. Since breaking in during the 2024-25 season, McGroarty has appeared in 34 NHL games and put up four goals and nine points, while his work in the AHL has continued to show why the Penguins view him as a real part of their future.
For now, the assignment gives Pittsburgh a little more flexibility up front and keeps McGroarty in a place where he can keep building confidence and production. He has already shown he can handle the minors with scoring touch and strong underlying numbers over two seasons, so the next step may depend less on what he does in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and more on how the Penguins manage the rest of their roster in the days ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Loss Just Raised Bigger Questions About Where This Team Is Headed
The loss to the Canadiens did more than add another mark in the standings for Pittsburgh, it sharpened the sense that this season is drifting toward a tougher conversation about direction. There have been bright spots, including Tristan Jarrys consecutive shutouts, but the Penguins have also been living with the kind of uneven play that invites scrutiny from the coach and the front office alike.
Dan Muse now has a team that needs a reset in more ways than one, and the questions around the roster are only getting louder. Trade chatter keeps circling around names like Nikita Kucherov and Dylan Larkin, while the broader NHL landscape keeps moving around Pittsburgh, from Carolinas interest in Simon Edvinsson to the latest international hockey buzz, leaving the Penguins to decide what kind of next step they really want to take. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Defensive Problems Are Becoming Harder To Ignore
The defensive issues that have followed the Penguins through October were back in plain view after the loss to Montreal, and Dan Muse did not try to soften the picture. Pittsburgh has spent much of the month living with mistakes and breakdowns that turn routine shifts into dangerous moments, and the result has been a team that has struggled to find any consistency in its own end while the rest of the Metropolitan Division sorts itself out around it.
Muses comments fit a larger pattern for a club that has not been able to string together reliable defensive performances, even as the standings continue to tighten. The Penguins have been trying to keep pace in a division where every point matters, but the recurring problems around their net are making the margin for error awfully small, and the next stretch will say plenty about whether these are fixable habits or a more stubborn issue. [Read more 🡒]