Penguins' options limited as trade deadline approaches

The Penguins roster is bound to look different after Monday’s trade deadline.

After all, injured forward Jason Zucker is in the process of rehabilitating a core muscle injury that has hobbled him since December.

But the possibility of any kind of transaction that would involve adding an external piece appears to be less and less likely as the deadline approaches at 3 p.m. Monday.

Two main factors are at play with the Penguins’ approach:

First, the salary cap.

Basically, the Penguins don’t have a great deal of financial flexibility with which to operate. With Zucker eventually bound to return from long-term injured reserve before the end of the regular season, the Penguins are expected to have less than $150,000 of projected salary cap space.

And there’s little to suggest the Penguins will utilize the long-term injured reserve designation the way the Tampa Bay Lightning did last season when All-Star forward Nikita Kucherov was shelved with a hip injury until the first game of the postseason. That approach allowed the Lightning to direct an extra $9.5 million of salary cap space (Kucherov’s cap hit) toward other parts of the roster.

The Penguins could create some salary cap space by jettisoning the likes of disappointing winger Kasperi Kapanen ($3.2 million), but a potential trade for a player this frustrating would likely require the Penguins to sweeten the pot with a future asset such as a high draft pick or a prospect (see more on that below).

They could always deal from an area of surplus such as the left side of their blue line. They have three left-handed veteran defensemen who all carry cap hits in excess of $4 million (Brian Dumoulin, $4.1 million; Mike Matheson, $4.875 million; Marcus Pettersson, $4,025,175). But the market for left-handed defensemen is always going to be bloated compared to the demand for right-handers.

Second, their future assets.

Seemingly from the day general manager Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke took over in February 2021, they have stated a goal of restoring the Penguins’ limited pool of prospects and draft picks.

They are scheduled to have a first- and second-round pick in this year’s draft. That would mark the first time they’ve had selections in those rounds in the same draft since 2012 when Ray Shero was the general manager.

“Trading high picks for an outside chance of winning a round, that math doesn’t make sense anymore,” Burke said in January.”

In recent days, the arithmetic for trades elsewhere in the NHL has required at least one first-round pick.

On Friday, the Lightning acquired versatile forward Brandon Hagel from the Chicago Blackhawks in a multi-asset deal that involved the Lightning’s first-round picks in 2023 and 2024, albeit with some level of protection should either of those picks wind up being in the top 10.

Two deals on Saturday followed a similar path.

First, the Boston Bruins acquired defenseman Hampus Lindholm, a pending unrestricted free agent whom they signed to an eight-year contract extension Sunday, from the Anaheim Ducks. Part of the package the Ducks received included the Bruins’ first-rounder in this year’s draft as well as second-rounders in 2023 and 2024.

Then, the Philadelphia Flyers dealt away longtime captain/forward Claude Giroux, another pending unrestricted free agent, to the Florida Panthers. That transaction saw the Panthers deal away top forward prospect Owen Tippett and a first-round pick in 2024 that carries protection should it be a top-10 pick.

The Penguins could get involved in a trade along those parameters, but such an approach would go against just about everything current management has stated for the past 13 months.

A lot of things can (and will) happen around the NHL by 3 p.m. Monday.

But the probability the Penguins will be involved seems minimal.

Follow the Penguins all season long.