{"id":455902,"date":"2026-02-12T18:22:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455902\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T18:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:22:25","slug":"4-trade-targets-cited-for-two-penguins-deadline-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455902\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Trade Targets Cited for Two Penguins’ Deadline Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pittsburgh<\/a>
Wasn’t this supposed to be an all-out tank year for the Pittsburgh Penguins? Not so much, as it turns out. The team is unexpectedly having a sensational season, sitting in 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division at 29-15-12 for 70 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, building for the future is still squarely in focus for GM Kyle Dubas.\u00a0Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now<\/a>\u00a0tells us that “Multiple reports and confirmations to Pittsburgh Hockey Now indicate Dubas has been working the phones to uncover more young players to be part of the Penguins\u2019 next era.”<\/p>\n

But at the same time, if they intend to continue their current Cinderella Story run to a playoff spot, they’ll need to address a couple of issues at the trade deadline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Maybe, just maybe, Dubas can sacrifice just a little bit of the future to give the dynamic duo of\u00a0Sidney Crosby\u00a0and Evgeni Malkin one more ride,” writes Kingerski.<\/p>\n

In particular, he notes that a right-shot defenseman is needed, likely of the third-pairing variety.\u00a0 He suggests the Winnipeg Jets’ Luke Schenn and the Columbus Blue Jackets’\u00a0Erik Gudbranson as as potential targets. However, we wrote earlier this week about the Jackets’ possibly looking at an extension for the pending UFA<\/a>, assuming their hard charge to a playoff spot continues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Top-nine scoring forward & right-shot D-man needed for Penguins’ playoff push<\/p>\n

Up front, Kingerski can see the need for a scoring top-nine winger as a secondary trade target for the Pens.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There are as few scoring wingers as there are righty defensemen, so the pool is shallow. However, the Columbus Blue Jackets could have a few interesting candidates, such as Boone Jenner. Montreal Canadiens sniper Patrik Laine is notably available for pennies when the Canadiens find a replacement.”<\/p>\n

As for the Columbus captain, he falls into the same category as Gudbranson\u2014a potential extension could await, instead of a trade. Laine will almost certainly be on the move, however, and would be a nice piece to add.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo: \u00a9 Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wasn’t this supposed to be an all-out tank year for the Pittsburgh Penguins? Not so much, as it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5113],"tags":[5,181,4,465,550,106,60,107,549,548,546,547,118,1469,100,5216],"class_list":{"0":"post-455902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-hockey-news","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-nhl-draft","12":"tag-nhl-free-agency","13":"tag-nhl-news","14":"tag-nhl-playoffs","15":"tag-nhl-rumors","16":"tag-nhl-teams","17":"tag-nhl-trade-deadline","18":"tag-nhl-trade-rumors","19":"tag-nhl-trades","20":"tag-penguins","21":"tag-pittsburgh","22":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","23":"tag-pittsburghpenguins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116059056167170412","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}