Trade brewing between the Penguins and Sabres

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas might have denied speculation about a fire sale, the team is still finding itself at the center of many trade rumours. One of them has been brought up by insider Elliotte Friedman who revealed in his latest 32 Thoughts column on Sportsnet, that the Penguins could be tempted to deal with the Buffalo Sabres.

“With all of the noise around the Penguins, I believe they have interest in some of Buffalo’s younger, NHL-ready prospects. It fits what they want.”

The Penguins remain just outside the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth and the feeling is that a retooling could take place if they slip further out of playoff contention. Friedman believes the Sabres have exactly when GM Dubas is looking for in young prospects that could solidify the future in Pittsburgh.

The untouchables remain the same and would not be placed on the block by the Penguins to get a deal going with the Sabres. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Philip Tomasino and promising defenseman Owen Pickering are not for sale and the Pens have other trade chips to offer to Buffalo in order to land younger players:

Anthony Beavillier ($1.25M UFA) and Marcus 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 there are interesting to mention in this latest speculation.

If Friedman is bringing up the possibility of an interest from the Penguins to get after Buffalo’s prospects, there could be a chance that we see a trade takes place prior to the March 7 deadline…