Dan’s Daily Links: Penguins Rumors, Avalanche Wants ‘Impact’ Player

The true definition of Penguins trade rumors sprang forth on Wednesday night and we’ll get to those below. The Los Angeles Kings will be busy on draft day 2020 after they acquired more picks for defenseman Ale Martinez on Wednesday night. The Colorado Avalanche has been stung by injuries this week and GM Joe Sakic is contradicting himself regarding the Avalanche trade plans. And it could be Toronto vs. Florida for an impact defenseman.

Let’s tackle the Penguins rumors and reports. In the electronic media age, it can be difficult to distinguish between real and…not real. We won’t reprint it here, but Penguins Twitter went bonkers for one of those anonymous accounts which linked the Penguins to Chicago defenseman Erik Gustafsson. Don’t fall for it.

The Penguins trade rumors we’re chasing today came from a source who tipped us that Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is aggressively seeking depth, and that likely means a center.

Being told Jim Rutherford is aggressively trying to add depth—looking at centers. (Updated from deleted tweet).

The ZAR injury didn’t help and the slow rehab of Bjugstad isnt reassuring.

— Dan Kingerski 🇺🇦 (@TheDanKingerski) February 19, 2020

I also tweeted the source connected the Penguins to a defenseman (and voila, defensemen to Penguins trade rumors), but the name mentioned was not Gustafsson. The name was New Jersey d-man Damon Severson, but the Penguins are not believed to be strongly interested.

Some good injury news, Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin has begun a skating program in his rehab process (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

The Colorado Avalanche lost Mikko Rantanen for 6-8 weeks. Stick tap to Colorado Hockey Now and Adrian Dater for breaking that story. Yesterday, Joe Sakic outlined his upcoming NHL trade deadline strategy. He wants a “depth goalie” and is watching an “impact player” (Colorado Hockey Now)

The Penguins have scouted the last two Colorado games.

The Penguins are in Toronto tonight, after embarrassing Toronto on Tuesday night. Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas desperately needs an impact defenseman, but so too does Atlantic Division rival Florida. The battle on the phones (Sportsnet)

Toronto isn’t going to be a happy place this spring if Dubas does not get some sandpaper on the blue line.

The Vegas Golden Knights did land a defenseman, LA Kings rearguard Alec Martinez (Las Vegas Sun)

The Winnipeg Jets are exhausting ALL trade options on Dustin Byfuglien before terminating his contract (TSN)

I get asked almost daily if the Penguins should trade for Byfuglien. My answer is no. He hasn’t skated since last season. Any team which acquires him does so for next year, not today. Players who miss a full year have a long road back, especially ones in their mid-30s.

Today at 1 p.m., we’ll also do a Penguins Live Chat on the YouTube channel.