The national reporters are hanging up their ties and mics for the summer. We are just a few weeks from hockey\u2019s lakehouse season, in which everyone from all stripes retreats to corners of Ontario and the western mountains for one big deep breath before the carnage and chaos of the NHL season.<\/p>\n
That also means the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>\u2018 offseason runway to reshape the team or massage the roster gaggled positions isn\u2019t as long as some may think. So, when lakehouse season begins, player movement and decisions slow to a crawl.<\/p>\n Thus, in the next few weeks, our preliminary look will become a near-final version of what the 2026-27 Penguins will look like.<\/p>\n Of course, on his way out of the studio Monday, reporter extraordinaire Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet dropped a little thought that sent Penguins fans scurrying to the internet, fingers twitching with comments and ideas ready to unleash. <\/p>\n But before anyone jumps to conclusions, Friedman merely opined that struggling Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson<\/a> would be a natural fit with the Penguins.<\/p>\n 3 Penguins Thoughts<\/p>\n 1. Nope.<\/p>\n Respectfully, this writer disagrees that Pettersson would be a good fit for the Penguins. In fairness, the Pettersson-Penguins ponderances and some rumors of contact have been floating for a few weeks, but nothing real or rumors of substance have emerged.<\/p>\n Pettersson, 27, has six more years remaining on a contract that carries an $11.5 million cap hit. His contract includes annual signing bonuses, and the overall cost does dip in a few years to about $8.5 million (annually) in actual money, but in 2026-27, it\u2019s about $11 million in real-world funds, and next year it exceeds $14.4 million before dropping to about $12.5 million in two years.<\/p>\n In other words, Pettersson is yet owed a truckload of money.<\/p>\n As for his performance and production, no one in Vancouver is happy, including Pettersson. His calamitous slide was the spark that lit an organizational fire that eventually led to trading away J.T. Miller, coach Rick Tocchet leaving, trading away elite defenseman Quinn Hughes, firing first-year coach Adam Foote, firing GM Patrik Allvin, and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford stepping down.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t misunderstand, Pettersson isn\u2019t directly responsible for all of those actions, but his swoon over the last two years was the floor dropping out of the organization. It was the iceberg for a ship that had much higher aspirations. Not only did Miller chide Pettersson internally and externally, leading to tension before Miller\u2019s trade to New York over a year ago, but new presidents of hockey operations, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, used their introductory press conference in May to challenge Pettersson\u2019s preparation, ask him and others to be better teammates, and to lead by example.<\/p>\n If you unwind the Sedins\u2019 asks to the opposite, it\u2019s telling.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for the player (or fortunately?), there are also questions about Pettersson\u2019s health. He admitted at the end of 2024-25 that a knee injury had been nagging him<\/a>, limiting his top speed and softening his previously exceptional wrist shot.<\/p>\n 2. Other Gambles<\/p>\n Conversely, the Washington Capitals seemed to roll sevens instead of snake eyes when they acquired embattled young center Pierre Luc Dubois from the LA Kings two seasons ago. Dubois was similarly criticized and struggling, but returned to his best game in Washington before injuries again cost him much of last season.<\/p>\n However, Washington was also able to dump a significant salary in the deal by including out-of-favor goalie Darcy Kuemper, thus limiting their exposure in the event the trade went sideways. <\/p>\n For the Penguins, six more years of Pettersson is a $69 million gamble that could make a mess of their cap situation as they hope to turn the corner in the next couple of seasons. For statistical comparison, current Penguins 2C Tommy Novak had 42 points (16-26-42) with sparing power play time in 82 games. Pettersson had 15 goals and 51 points in 74 games while getting prime real estate on the power play and in the Canucks deployments. <\/p>\n Make of the comparison what you will. Novak makes $3.5 million this coming season before becoming a free agent.<\/p>\n Even if the Penguins included defenseman Ryan Graves in any Pettersson deal, it\u2019s still a whopping $55 million net outlay over six years for a player whose production fell by more than 50% after signing his wallet-busting deal. If the acquisition went poorly, such an albatross would significantly and negatively affect the Penguins\u2019 immediate future, take space in the middle of the lineup, sour fans, and, quite frankly, that amount of money tied up in a losing proposition could have the same cascading effect on the Penguins\u2019 front office that it did in Vancouver. <\/p>\n So, after a few top-rop elbows, it\u2019s time to go for the cover. No. Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has done an exceptional job moving from an atrocious pool of young players and prospects toward a hopeful future with some real talent. He doesn\u2019t need to gamble on a franchise-altering move because success is on the way.<\/p>\n Pettersson would be an all-or-nothing gambit. The view here is to stick with the \u201cbrick by boring brick\u201d approach until a strong foundation is built. <\/p>\n Hopefully, a clean slate in Vancouver re-ignites Pettersson, and he resumes the superstar path he was on, and then perhaps it would be worth revisiting, for a much higher price tag but a lot less risk. <\/p>\n 3. Evgeni Malkin. Kris Letang. Alex Ovechkin<\/p>\n There are a handful of generational players who emerged as the butterflies from the NHL\u2019s 2004-05 lockout cocoon. As those players approach 40, their reputations and enormous accomplishments precede them, but in 2026, only Sidney Crosby maintained his performance, and Malkin had what I would consider a good season. <\/p>\n Yes, Ovechkin had 64 points and scored 32 goals, but he was goal hunting. As further indictment, Ovechkin had only five power-play goals last season. Teams were able to cover him, and his shot from the circle wasn\u2019t whizzing past helpless goaltenders as it used to. <\/p>\n Letang had genuine struggles for extended periods last season. His high-water mark was the few weeks in which he played with Brett Kulak, but his offensive production has sharply fallen to just three goals and 34 points last season, and his skating lacks the same burst (though his quantifiable measurables argue that point). <\/p>\n Both Dubas and Washington GM Chris Patrick are in the same predicament. How can the organization move forward when legends want to stay? <\/p>\n Some players walk away when it\u2019s time, but others need someone to take the stick out of their hands. Yet how do you rip the stick away from players who are greater than your \u201caverage\u201d Hall of Famers, but are instead franchise icons whose numbers will hang in the rafters and are still faces of the game?<\/p>\n Thus far, no one wants to say no, including fans in both cities who clamored for more. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: elias pettersson<\/a> Penguins Trade<\/a> <\/p>\n