The Pens might be looking at the Sabres
A term like “fire sale” is catchy, but never has reflected what Kyle Dubas has said he intends to do with the Penguins. The team’s goal, whether noble or misguided, is going to be to attempt to surround Sidney Crosby with a decent enough team in his final years while stocking up talent for the future. That goal isn’t all encompassing, and they have been willing to trade cap space and short-term focus for getting more draft picks, but overall the Pens look set on a future of a somewhat soft retool/rebuild or whatever term that is most fitting.
The NHL’s trade deadline is on March 7th, giving teams a few more weeks to jockey and consider their last meaningful movements until June’s draft season.
Elliotte Friedman at Sportsnet had an intriguing note on Pittsburgh in a recent column.
11. With all of the noise around the Penguins, I believe they have interest in some of Buffalo’s younger, NHL-ready prospects. It fits what they want.
On the surface, it might seem an odd trade fit for Buffalo and Pittsburgh to work together at this point. But remember how Philip Tomasino got to the Pens — via the fourth round pick the team acquired for Chad Ruhwedel. That’s the type of rebuild that Dubas will want for the Penguins where and when he can get it. The strategy is for the team to turn older NHL talent into draft picks, and then trade those draft picks for new, younger NHL talent.
Now let’s tie that thinking into Frank Seravalli’s latest trade board. The names from Buffalo are Dylan Cozens, Byram Bowen and Jack Quinn. Cozens is no prospect, he carries a $7.1 million cap hit and a large potential value that could put him out of the Pens’ range of being a realistic target. Bowen could be in that boat too, but if the Pens could use whatever return they get for Marcus Pettersson and flip it to the Sabres that could get a conversation started.
Quinn might be the most fitting target:
14. Jack Quinn
Right Wing, Buffalo Sabres
Age: 23
Stats: 41 GP, 9 G, 9 A, 18 Pts
Contract: Pending RFA, $863,334 AAV
Scoop: At the start of this season, we picked Quinn as one of our breakout stars. We were wrong. It’s been a really tough year for Quinn, who sat for a stretch of time as a healthy scratch. It still feels like there is something there. He’s still on his entry-level contract, still two seasons removed from a 14-goal, 37-point year. It doesn’t make much sense for the Sabres to sell low on Quinn, but that’s why teams have been calling
Quinn’s early career has a lot in common with that of Tomasino. A first round pick, offensive minded player. Has shown just enough to be intriguing but it may never work out with the team that drafted him to grow quite into the player that Buffalo thought they would get from the eighth overall pick in 2020.
In other words, an ideal target for what Dubas is trying to accomplish. Targets don’t always become acquired players, but it’s an intriguing thought to keep in mind for the type of player that potentially is available.
Seravalli listed only one Penguin player in his top-30 trade targets, of course being Pettersson.
5. Marcus Pettersson
Left Defense, Pittsburgh Penguins
Age: 28
Stats: 44 GP, 2 G, 15 A, 17 Pts
Contract: Pending UFA, $4,025,175 AAV
Scoop: If you can truly stick a fork in the Penguins‘ season – and there is little convincing evidence otherwise – Pettersson is instantly Pittsburgh’s most valuable trade chip. He has his limitations moving the puck, for sure, but he has a reasonable cap hit that GM Kyle Dubas could use his last retained salary transaction slot on to juice a return. Point blank: Pettersson is Pittsburgh’s only pending free agent that moves the needle on the market.
The last sentence is a harsh reminder of why there won’t be a “fire sale” or excessive amount of trades made. Many of the players under contract have restrictive clauses or present challenges to move during a season with their salary cap hits. Pittsburgh will have plenty of interest in Pettersson and ought to be able to bring back a decent return there. The Pens might be able to fetch a mid-round pick for Drew O’Connor or maybe even a later pick for another veteran on an expiring contract but other teams aren’t going to have a lot of time for what Pittsburgh has to send out.
Beyond the general math of how many trades the Pens make, the more intriguing angle will be to watch for what they do with those futures. or the ones already stockpiled. Pittsburgh has 10 picks in the 2025 draft already and are loaded up in the longer-range drafts with extra second and third round picks in 2026 and 2027. Those picks, plus what the team figures to gain for trading Pettersson, could open doors to be active in the near future for bringing in more ready NHL talent, whether it’s from the Buffalo organization or somewhere else.
Which leads to a big picture thought about the term “fire sale” being misleading for the actual strategy the Pens are looking to accomplish. Dubas will surely be scouring all opportunities to flip future assets into more immediate players that can make impacts quicker where possible. The next few weeks will give clarity if they can get aggressive to flip futures or continue to sit on the picks and keep such possibilities open later down the line.