The Pittsburgh Penguins must retain their best defensive defenseman.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in hockey purgatory as the All-Star break approaches. They've performed well over the past six weeks, accumulating a 10-5-3 record, but remain outside of a playoff spot and in seventh place in the Metropolitan division.

Penguins President/GM Kyle Dubas remains patient with his club, even signaling to The Athletic's Chris Johnston that he will push back his previous All-Star break deadline.

"Dubas, even after the two games to end the first half for the Penguins this week is going to keep watching beyond that point," Johnston said on TSN's Insider Trading this week. "He insists that his team will make decisions for him in terms of their performance."

The fact remains that the Penguins have only won more than two consecutive games twice this season and have struggled to find consistency in almost every aspect of the game.

If Dubas and the Penguins decide to sell this year, very few players should feel safe approaching the March 8th deadline. The Penguins "big three" are the obvious holdovers, and Erik Karlsson is likely untouchable due to his contract and the Penguins investment of this season's first-round pick just five months ago.

Marcus Pettersson should also join that short list of Penguins' "untouchables." The Athletic's Rob Rossi even put Pettersson above Karlsson when grouping Penguins that Dubas shouldn't actively seek trades for. 

Pettersson has been the Penguins' most consistent defenseman this season and still has one year remaining on his contract at a very affordable cap hit of $4.025 Million.

While his age and performance make him an attractive candidate on the trade market, the Penguins have struggled to find a defenseman that inspires complete faith in their defensive zone (See Graves, Ryan).

The Penguins' window will never be completely closed as long as Sidney Crosby remains on their roster, but trading away Pettersson would remove a large chunk of whatever opening they may have left of that window.

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