On the Pittsburgh Penguins’ summer shopping list was not only a later 20s impact player to bridge the gap between the coming crop of young players and the aging crop of veterans, but also players who are unhappy in their current situation or want a bigger role.

As part of general manager Kyle Dubas’s rebuild plan has been to find those players and give them more of what the Penguins term, a runway. Space to push their game without fear of a short slump or a mistake being immediate grounds for a plate of press box nachos or fourth line duty.

There are also the faded prospects who have settled into secondary roles, who may have more to give than their current situation allows. Or who may be surpassed in their current situation, finding themselves banished to purgatory within their organization. A couple of names have long appeared on trade lists yet remain where they are, while others might be ready for a change … and a breakout.

As the final in our three-part Penguins trade target series, we’ve listed the potential impact players who might hit the trade market this summer, the unhappy RFAs, and now perhaps a few players who need to be saved.

Penguins Trade Targets

Mavrik Bourque, 24, Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars prospect has finally stuck in the NHL after being labeled the best player in the AHL for a couple of years running. After a full NHL season in 2024-25 in which he notched only 25 points (11-14-25) in 73 games, he used greater opportunity and his sophomore campaign to post a respectable 20 goals and 41 points in 82 games while getting a healthy amount of top-line duty beside center Wyatt Johnson and left-wing Jason Robertson.

However, Dallas has cap strapped fever and is trying to re-sign Robertson, whose 96-point season did nothing to lower his cost. Dallas will need to sacrifice a player or multiple players to make the Robertson signing happen.

Bourque is a high energy, high-intensity player who finally made good. His simple game and speed would fit well with the Penguins’ direction, and his skill set isn’t dissimilar from a young Bryan Rust.

After his breakout season, Bourque is a restricted free agent who will get a few million dollars at a time when Dallas can least afford it. If Dubas can’t pry Robertson free, Bourque might be the perfect sort of consolation prize.

Nick Robertson, 24, Toronto Maple Leafs

Essentially every trade list for the last two years has included Robertson, who has on multiple occasions requested a trade out of Toronto. In a move that later affected the Penguins, last summer Toronto presented a swap of unhappy players, offering Robertson to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Egor Chinakhov.

Of course, Columbus rejected, and Chinakhov seems quite happy in his new digs with the Penguins. Now, Robertson is again an RFA and looking for love in all the wrong places.

The left-handed winger has ample offensive skills, but lacks size and speed. Robertson books at 5-foot-9, 178 pounds, and was part of the Toronto org and developing while Dubas was the GM, so there is a familiarity that could cut both ways, positive and negative.

Since the Penguins’ sports science department is confident that it can help players achieve more speed, perhaps this is the summer that Robertson finally escapes, and the Penguins are a soft landing spot.

This season, Robertson notched 16 goals and 32 points in 78 games while averaging just 12:40 of ice time. He wouldn’t be a natural fit on Sidney Crosby’s line, but he could add skill to a middle-six line.

Cole Perfetti, 24, Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg selected Perfetti 10th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft. The LW reached the NHL a year later and improved his offensive output in each of his three seasons, though his totals were modest.

After registering 30 points in 51 games in his rookie season of 2022-23, he posted 19 goals and 38 points the following season in 71 games, before appearing to breakout with a 50-point season (18-32-50) in 2024-25. But Perfetti slumped with the rest of the Winnipeg team this season, scoring only 12 goals with 32 points in 68 games.

Now, Perfetti has become a question mark in Winnipeg’s future, as his two-year deal with a $3.25 million AAV expires. Sign him and hope for more, or don’t sign him and potentially watch him succeed elsewhere. Winnipeg is between the devil and the deep blue sea here and maybe Dubas could help Winnipeg as he did when he swapped his 2023 first-round pick (14th overall) Brayden Yager for Winnipeg’s 2022 first-round pick (14th overall) Rutger McGroarty, who had informed the ‘Peg he would not sign there.

Maybe Dubas and Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff can again find common ground? Perfetti is another smaller winger with big offensive upside, but unlike Robertson, Perfetti is also a good skater and plays the game at full speed. His defensive work can be sketchy, but at this point, it seems far too many players who can put the puck in the net also lack consistency on the dirty side of the red line.

If the Penguins are willing, they have a couple of prospects who might get the trade done … just not McGroarty.

Kirby Dach, 25, Montreal Canadiens

Lastly, and maybe most interestingly, the previously highly touted Dach has had a wild ride to begin his career. He was the third overall pick in 2019 by the Chicago Blackhawks, who were embarking upon their great rebuild, which still isn’t done.

Dach is a natural center who has size (6-foot-4, 219 pounds), skates well, and flashes great vision with ample skill, but after a few disappointing seasons, Chicago sent him to Montreal in a controversial trade during the 2022 NHL Draft, getting back the 13th and 66th overall picks. Chicago selected Frank Nazar with the 13th pick, but after Dach’s promising first season with the Bleu Blanc et Rouge in 2022-23, knee surgery derailed his career in 2023-24.

Dach shuffled around Montreal’s loaded lineup this season, including over 100 minutes with Nick Suzuki, but he ultimately settled as the fourth-line RW. Unfortunately, injuries continued to hamper Dach, as he missed months with a broken foot suffered in November, and then weeks with an upper-body injury suffered in March.

However, in 37 games, Dach posted 15 points with eight goals. Dach will be an RFA after the season as his four-year deal with a cap hit of $3.36 million expires. Complicating things up north, Montreal has an overflowing prospects depth chart, but the Penguins would have the runway to allow Dach to be their second or third-line center. And if it worked, Dach could be more than a bridge to what comes next.

Tags: cole perfetti kirby dach Mavrik Bourque nhl trade nick robertson Penguins Trade Pittsburgh Penguins

Categorized:Penguins Trade Talk