Kyle Dubas places one of Pens’ untouchables on trade block!

There aren’t many untouchables in Pittsburgh and quite frankly it does not seem like Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas cares all that much. According to Josh Yohe of the Athletic, other than legacy players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, everyone else could be moved ahead of the March 7 deadline. Therefore, that means that the last of the Core 3 veteran players, defenseman Kris Letang, could be traded. This is what Yohe said about the star blue liner who could get moved for the right offer:

“I’ve never sensed it’s a given that Letang will retire a Penguin. Teams would certainly be interested in his services. I haven’t heard that he wants out of Pittsburgh, and I’m not suggesting otherwise, but I do wonder how he’d respond if Dubas received a call about him from the right team.”

Letang turns 38 in April and holds a full no-movement clause in his deal until 2026-27 when he’ll have a 10-team trade list. He has three years left on his contract with an average annual value of $6.1 million.

Like it is for defenseman Erik Karlsson, while both could be discussed on the trade block, the Penguins aren’t willing to retain part of Letang or Karlsson’s salary and it’s quite of hard at this point on the market to get a team who’s looking to acquire an expensive aging asset whose best seasons are behind him.

Dubas however has other trade chips available in pending unrestricted free agents like Anthony Beauvillier and Marcus Pettersson, but there is a sense that all players except for Crosby and Geno are being considered.

The aforementioned Beavillier ($1.25M UFA) and Pettersson ($4.03M, UFA) as well as Matt Grzelcyk ($2.75M, UFA), Drew O’Connor ($925K UFA), Rickard Rakell (three years, $5M AAV, eight-team NTC), Michael Bunting (one year, $4.5M AAV), Kevin Hayes (one year, $3.5M AAV, modified NTC), Noel Acciari (one year, $2M AAV, eight-team NTC), Cody Glass ($2.5M AAV, RFA) and Matt Nieto ($900K), and P.O. Joseph ($950K, RFA).

That’s an awful lot of players of varying quality on varying deals. They may not all be moved ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline, but don’t be surprised if Dubas makes some big moves between now and March 7th.