Speculation over the futures of
Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell and
defenseman Erik Karlsson has persisted throughout the off-season.
Rust and Rakell are signed through
2027-28 with annual average values at, or above, $5 million.
Meanwhile, Karlsson has two seasons remaining on his deal with the
Penguins paying $10 million of his $11.5 million average annual value.
The Penguins are rebuilding, though
management is reluctant to say it out loud. That’s fuelling the
conjecture about where those veterans fit within management’s plans.
On Sept. 2, Josh Yohe of The Athletic expressed surprise that Rust, Rakell and Karlsson were still on the
Penguins’ roster with training camp fast approaching. He believes the
two forwards could fetch returns of prospects, draft picks, or young
NHL players. Shipping out all three would improve the Penguins’
chances of winning the 2026 draft lottery and the opportunity to
select top prospect Gavin McKenna.
Two days later, Yohe reported Penguins
GM Kyle Dubas is content to start the season with his current roster but didn’t rule out Dubas attempting to make a move or two.
Yohe thinks Karlsson stands the best
chance of moving, despite his cap hit, his disappointing play over
the last two seasons and his no-movement clause. He claimed some
teams remain interested in the 35-year-old puck-moving defenseman,
provided the Penguins retain a healthy chunk of his cap hit.
Teams are usually reluctant to retain
salary on an expensive contract that has more than a year remaining.
However, PuckPedia projects the Penguins will have over $13 million
in cap space for the coming season and a whopping $53.2 million for
2026-27. They can comfortably afford to retain up to half of
Karlsson’s remaining cap hit.
Yohe wondered if Fenway Sports Group’s
attempt to sell the Penguins could affect any attempt by management
to retain part of Karlsson’s salary to facilitate a trade.
Shifting our focus to the Toronto Maple
Leafs, Yohe’s colleague James Mirtle was recently asked if there was
any truth to rumors suggesting defenseman Brandon Carlo might become
a trade chip.
Carlo, 28, was acquired from the Boston
Bruins before the March 2025 trade deadline.
Mirtle thinks the Maple Leafs are still
looking to add to their forward group. He felt that Carlo might be a
viable option because they don’t have much trade capital, and they
could prefer replacing the shutdown blueliner with a puck-moving
rearguard.
The Leafs haven’t suitably addressed
the departure of right wing Mitch Marner, but there are few decent
options currently available. If Carlo becomes trade bait to address
that need, it might not come until later in the season when better
trade targets emerge.
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