Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Penguins looking for a first round pick?

April 11, 2021, 12:53 PM ET [252 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
In close to 24 hours the NHL trade deadline will have come and gone. To this point the only thing the Penguins have done roster wise is put Juuso Riikola and Colton Sceviour on waivers yesterday. Both players cleared and remain with the team. They can be moved to the taxi squad or WB/S. They both make over 1M and if the Penguins wanted to clear some cap space for a trade this could certainly be one way to do it.

The only thing we've had to go on with Ron Hextall and Brian Burke is that they seem to want a big and physical player. They don’t want to trade their prospects, but haven’t ruled anything out.

Something new is Ron Hextall feeling out the market for acquiring a first round pick in the 2021 draft per The Athletic




The Penguins are believed to have inquired with clubs about their first-round picks for the 2021 NHL Draft. These conversations were said to be more along the lines of information gathering, a way for Hextall to gauge the market for acquiring that specific asset.
It’s presumed within the NHL that Hextall prefers to add a first-round pick for the upcoming draft. (The Wild own the Penguins’ 2021 first-round selection as part of former GM Jim Rutherford’s acquisition of winger Jason Zucker last season.)

If the Penguins did land a first-round pick prior to the NHL trade deadline, it’s believed Hextall would not move it as part of a package for adding a player to the current roster.


Teams aren’t really valuing the 2021 draft because of the limited samples of being able to scout players due to the pandemic. Perhaps Hextall can snag one. There are going to be very good players in every draft. Might not be horrible to find a way to get one if the market value is at an all-time low to acquire one.


On the injury front things are looking a little bit better for Evgeni Malkin. He skated today, although Nikita Kucherov is skating for TB as well and we know he won’t play until the playoffs start for cap reasons. I don’t think the Penguins are going that route with Malkin so the skating is encouraging.

Teddy Blueger remains a game-time decision. I really thought he would have been in the lineup by now given that has been his status the last few games. Perhaps tonight is the night.

Kasperi Kapanen and Brandon Tanev are not skating. Kapanen likely has some sort of broken bone in his foot from being hit with the puck. I think he will ultimately miss about 4-5 weeks.

As far as the schedule this week it is conducive to getting a new player acclimated to the team. The Penguins play New Jersey tonight and then don’t play until Thursday against the Flyers. There is an opportunity for some practices which is a luxury not always available around the trade deadline.

The most reasonable thing the Penguins can do before tomorrow’s deadline is get some more depth forwards who are competent. Nothing ground breaking, but anything keeping Mark Jankowski, Colton Sceviour, and Sam Lafferty from dressing again would be a positive. If you did enough to make Evan Rodrigues a 13th forward I think you’d be in really good shape heading into the playoffs.

In other trade news...

The Tampa Bay Lightning laundered David Savard’s salary through two teams to make it palatable, but they paid a premium to do so. They spent a first, third, and a fourth round draft pick. I have no problem with teams doing this and I wish we saw more of it. Brian Burke was actually the GM who pushed for salary retention in the CBA. I don’t quite understand why the Lightning felt the need to invest all those picks into someone like David Savard, but they are in a great spot either way. It does make me wonder what kind of haul the Penguins could get for Marcus Pettersson if he was right-handed because no way Savard goes for as much as he did as a left-handed player.



More updates as they happen over the course of the next day


Thanks for reading!
Join the Discussion: » 252 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Ryan Wilson
» Penguins earn victory on Jake night
» A salute to Jake Guentzel
» Sid puts on show as Avs dig out of hole
» A dud in Dallas
» My thoughts on Dubas' thoughts