The rumors linking the Pittsburgh Penguins to Dallas Stars superstar left winger Jason Robertson don't seem to be going away anytime soon.

On Jul. 1, The Athletic's Josh Yohe wrote a piece discussing the Robertson rumors, saying that POHO/GM Kyle Dubas and the Penguins "still absolutely want to trade for Jason Robertson."

"I sense that the Penguins have made what they believe to be a fair offer," Yohe wrote. "Dallas seems to be holding up the proceedings because the Stars would prefer to keep Robertson. The money he is demanding, however, is making it more likely that he will be dealt."

Some say that Pittsburgh couldn't possibly execute a trade with Dallas, and others say that Robertson couldn't possibly want to go to Pittsburgh. Maybe that's true. However, it's worth keeping in mind that the idea of him going to the Ottawa Senators, Seattle Kraken, and St. Louis Blues was shut down almost immediately, and despite the Pittsburgh rumor lingering for weeks, it has yet to be rebuked. And, yes, there probably is something to that.

If all of this is true - and the Penguins are still in the running for Robertson - value is a legitimate question. Dubas already admitted during the 2026 NHL Draft that Pittsburgh did not possess some of the assets that teams were looking for going into the draft because they did not possess a top-10 pick.

Well, with the "top-10" pick part of things shelved until next season, perhaps Dubas does believe a fair offer has been made without one of those. However, if other teams bring themselves into the mix, there is a good chance that they can offer more than what the Penguins can, or, are at least, willing to offer.

But, there may be another way for Pittsburgh to execute a trade with Dallas for fair value. And it would, hypothetically, involve a third team.

Well, how about the Detroit Red Wings?

GM Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings are in a tough spot with captain Dylan Larkin, a legitimate first-line center who has scored 30 or more goals in five consecutive seasons but requested a trade this summer. Yzerman wants fair value for Larkin, and he is not budging on whatever his perceived asking price is.

The 29-year-old might be a bit of a downgrade from Robertson's production, but he would fill in the second-line center role nicely for the Stars, or he could flank Wyatt Johnston on the first line. And he would nearly fill the void left by Robertson until 2031, when he becomes an unrestriced free agent.

So, how can the Penguins fit into the picture? Let's dissect a proposed three-way trade for the clubs and how it would benefit each.

To Pittsburgh:
- LW Jason Robertson (from DAL)
- RW Colin Blackwell (from DAL)
- LD Shai Buium (from DET)

To Dallas:
- C Dylan Larkin (from DET)
- C Tommy Novak, 50 percent retained (from PIT)
- RW Rutger McGroarty (from PIT)
- RD Quinn Beauchesne (from PIT)
- 2028, 2029 second-round picks (from PIT)
- 2027 third-round pick (from DET)

To Detroit:
- RW Bryan Rust (from PIT)
- C/LW Will Horcoff (from PIT)
- C Brandon Gorzynski (from DAL)
- 2027 first-round pick (from PIT)
- 2028 conditional first-round pick (from PIT)
- 2028 fourth-round pick (from DAL)

Simply put, Pittsburgh is getting one of the league's elite talents in this scenario. Players like Robertson don't always go to market, especially not in a situation where the other club's money situation makes it difficult to retain such a player.

In a three-way trade scenario, Pittsburgh can work around the fact that they don't really have the asset in the form of a player the level of Larkin, but they have enough to provide a fair return otherwise.

Losing Rust is a blow to the now - and losing the versatile Novak doesn't help, either - but the Penguins are at a stage where they need to start getting value out of some of their aging veterans. Plus, Robertson immediately replaces that. Losing two firsts and two seconds, as well as two of their best prospects in Horcoff and McGroarty, isn't ideal, either, but they may be able to recoup one of those firsts by offloading Rickard Rakell. And they are getting back a close-to-NHL-ready Buium in the process while sacrificing Beauchesne, whose upside is intriguing but who is farther out.

Also, if the Penguins are smart about selling off veterans for draft capital and other assets, they may still be able to acquire a center in addition to Robertson. The Vancouver Canucks have Elias Pettersson on the trade block, and he may be someone worth looking into, especially since the Canucks are a bit limited return-wise because of his $11.6 million contract.

Robertson's brother, Nick, was already dealt to Pittsburgh, and the Robertson camp has yet to shut down Pittsburgh rumors that have been around for weeks despite shutting down other team rumors almost immediately when Robertson wasn't interested in signing. So, there's something to that.

If the Penguins are serious about contending in the short- or long-term, paying up for Robertson is something that makes sense. And it shouldn't entirely deplete their asset pool to the point they can't do anything else impactful.

Well, in this scenario, Dallas is getting Larkin from Detroit, who is a pretty nice consolation prize for losing Robertson - and he'd also cost about 60 percent as much as Robertson would have. It affords them a bit more flexibility as far as the salary cap this season to put other pieces in place on their roster.

Larkin is a legitimate top-six center and goal-scorer, which would certainly help them down the middle quite a bit. They already have Wyatt Johnston and Roope Hintz, and they'd also be adding Novak in this scenario, who can play the wing or the center position and produce at around a half point-per-game pace. McGroarty could help the NHL roster for cheap, too, as he is due for a breakout of sorts and has the potential to be part of the short- and long-term.

Beauchesne provides another upside prospect option at right defense - something that Dallas needs - and they can use their own first-round pick and the seconds to leverage for something else. Moving out Blackwell to Pittsburgh as a cap dump makes the money work, too, with Novak being retained.

This gives Dallas the perfect mix of win-now and future-oriented moves, as Larkin should be an elite player for the life of his contract, Novak helps now, McGroarty could help both the now and the future, and Beauchesne and the picks helps the future. 

Yzerman doesn't want to give up Larkin without a nice haul, and in this scenario, there is some nice future-forward intrigue to consider.

Of course, Rust is a veteran who has been coveted by contending teams for a long time. There is no looking back now for Detroit, as they have spent the last decade rebuilding and missing the playoffs and don't want to tear it all down again. He may be 34, but he has scored 20 or more goals for six consecutive seasons, and he's been above or around 30 goals for the last three seasons as well as a notch below the point-per-game mark. So, he helps them get over the hump in the now.

Then, there is Horcoff, who scored at a goal-per-game clip as an 18-year-old for the University of Michigan in the first half of the season last year, and a shoulder injury sustained in December likely inhibited him the rest of the way. He still finished one point below point-per-game and is one of the Penguins' top-two forward prospects.

Gorzynski is a young, 19-year-old center with a lot of upside, as he's been above point-per-game in the WHL for the past two seasons and keeps getting better every year. He is a playmaker and two-way center, and he could still add some size at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds.

And, in addition to the player assets, Detroit would get Pittsburgh's 2027 first, a conditional 2028 first from the Penguins, and a fourth from Dallas, all of which they could leverage for a center if they want to. They can also still flip Rust, who is worth a first-round pick.

This is a futures-oriented trade for them, but there is more than enough intrigue in Horcoff, especially, that it makes the three-way trade viable.

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