Pittsburgh Penguins' Slow Start Could Signal A Trade Is Coming — But Not One That Will Help Them This Year

What a difference a year makes.

The Pittsburgh Penguins entered this season optimistic they could build upon last year's success, where they finished second in the Metropolitan Division and snapped a four-year playoff drought. But after winning their first two games, the Penguins have gone 1-5-1 and now have the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference.

Time for a trade? 

From this writer's perspective, the answer to that question is 'No' — unless it's to sell off players for the future.

Pittsburgh's struggles this year — they can't score, they can't defend and their key players are all past their prime — are not things that can be fixed through a trade. The franchise is at a crossroads moment and rather than selling off the future for a first-round exit, the more prudent approach might be in taking a step back and settling in a year or two from now.

In other words, this season could get worse, not better.

If Penguins GM Kyle Dubas wants to double down on his current group, he's got $8 million in salary cap space to acquire help. But that might not be enough to turns things around. Even if Dubas did acquire some veterans who can help the team on the defensive side, the best he can really hope for is sneaking into the playoffs as a wild card team.

As we saw last year, when Pittsburgh was swept by the Philadelphia Flyers, it's not exactly a step in the right direction. If anything, it delayed the inevitable rebuild that the Penguins have been putting off for years.

We're not saying the Penguins should trade Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But defenseman Erik Karlsson is another story entirely.

Karlsson will be a UFA this summer and he can get Pittsburgh some very good assets. The same goes for Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust, who are off to slow starts but who are also signed to reasonable cap hits with years remaining on their current deal. For teams looking for experience and cost-certainty, there's value there.

Rust currently has three goals in six games. Rakell has two points in nine games. Karlsson, who is in the top-5 amongst defensemen in scoring, has nine assists in nine games. Combined, they have a minus-13 rating — a number that is indicative of the Penguins' slow start this season.

Ultimately, Dubas must worry about the Penguins' long-term prospects more than a quick fix.

So while it will sting in the short-term to move Karlsson, Rakell and/or Rust, the haul the Pens would get for them would ensure Pittsburgh faces a shorter rebuild than they would if they wound up as a mushy middle team this year. Just think of how much of a waste the Penguins’ season would be if they missed the playoffs, but still ended up in 10th or 11th in the East.

You need top-end picks to get better. But a top-5 pick is something the Penguins have not had since they drafted Jordan Staal (No. 2 overall) in 2006. Heck, they haven't even had a top-10 pick since 2012.

Dubas must maintain a delicate balancing act between his needs in the present and his needs in the future. But the more we see the Pens wobble, the more apparent it is that they have to clear out a few veterans in order to form a new core that'll be in place long after Crosby and Malkin have retired. 

Pittsburgh plays in one of the league's weaker divisions, and the fact that one of its three wins this season came against the struggling Flyers makes it all the more obvious that the Penguins do not have what it takes to be a playoff team this year — let alone be a true Cup threat. 

Isn’t it a smarter choice to cut their losses and peel off some veterans in order to make the Penguins a legitimate up-and-coming team a couple seasons from now? 

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