Kyle Dubas responds to reports that the Penguins are having a “fire sale”

Earlier this week NHL insider Marco D'Amico reported that the Pittsburgh Penguins are planning major moves ahead of the NHL's March trade deadline. Not only are pending unrestricted free agents like Anthony Beauvillier and Marcus Pettersson are in play, but every "big name player" short of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust are in play. D'Amico also reports that Philip Tomasino and Owen Pickering are also unlikely to be moved. It's also unclear what will happen with Kris Letang.

Everyone else though... game on.

This means likely retaining salary for Erik Karlsson and Tristan Jarry.

From D'Amico:

Waiving goalie Tristan Jarry and the three years ($5.38M AAV) left on his contract this past week was just the beginning of what the Penguins hope can be a re-tooling of their roster. The goal still remains to contend next season and also continue to build for the future.

An NHL source close to the situation has confirmed to RG that everyone on the current roster - except captain Sidney Crosby, longtime alternate captain Evgeni Malkin, veteran forward Bryan Rust, forward Philip Tomasino, and defenseman Owen Pickering - is available for the right price before the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.

“Sid, Malkin, Rust, and the two kids, Tomasino and Pickering, they’re off limits for now, but everything else can be had for the right price,” the source said.

When asked to clarify that longtime Penguins defenseman Kris Letang wasn’t on that list, the source replied:

“I don’t know right now.”

Another notable name not mentioned in the reported untouchables above is veteran defenseman and two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. Karlsson has two years left with a $10M AAV and a full no-movement clause. The San Jose Sharks are picking up 13.04 percent of that cap hit already, but Pittsburgh is open to retaining more to get a deal done.

- Marco D'Amico

Yesterday though Penguins GM Kyle Dubas pushed back on D'Amico's report, flatly denying that the team is in selling mode.

“As our actions have shown from last March (onward), we’re trying to bring in younger NHL players, bring in prospects, and bring in draft picks, with the goal being to quickly develop them into assets that can help the core win one more time and set the team up for the long-range future,” said Dubas. “That’s our goal, our ambition, and we’re not going to stray from that but to say that’s a fire sale or (we will) retain money on long-term deals–I understand how that stuff gets out and begins to take a life of its own–it’s not accurate.

“We’ve had lots of conversations, but are we telling teams that everything must go? No, we’re not.”

So...

Who exactly is the play here? 

You have to imagine that the aforementioned Beavillier ($1.25M UFA) and Pettersson ($4.03M, UFA) as well as Matt Grzelcyk ($2.75M, UFA) are all in play right. But about the likes of 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 GM Kyle Dubas makes some big moves between now and March 7th.