Elliotte Friedman reveals Pittsburgh Penguins may make another major trade involving first-round draft pick
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed on Monday that Kyle Dubas may have another trade up his sleeve in the next few weeks.
Last month, the Vancouver Canucks finally ended the drama between Elias Pettersson and JT Miller by trading Miller to his former club in the New York Rangers.
The Canucks were not done though as they immediately flipped one of the assets they acquired in that deal to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Drew O'Connor and Marcus Pettersson.
That asset of course is the New York Ranger's first-round draft pick in 2025.
According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, that pick may still not be done switching hands this season.
The Penguins are potentially interested in moving the pick to get a young player with team control, and teams around the league may be interested.
"Pittsburgh wanted that pick. I'm going to be very interested to see if Pittsburgh keeps that pick or if they try to turn it into another young player. It's top 13 protected this year but unprotected next year and I'll be curious to see if a team wants to gamble on what kind of year the Rangers will have next year."
Of course, the Penguins are expected to be active around the trade deadline with multiple reports suggesting an upcoming fire sale.
As a result, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas will certainly be working the phones over the next few weeks and the Ranger's first-round pick could very well come up.
That being said, Dubas is far more likely to be selling than buying. Although, it is very possible that he is hoping to turn things around as fast as possible, and moving a draft pick for a young, established NHL player is certainly one way to do that.
After all, it will likely be at least three or four years before the player taken with that pick would be making their NHL debut, so maybe this is the best course of action for the Penguins.
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