Penguins Trades Stymied; a Slow Rebuild & Dubas’s New Choice

For those waiting or expecting the big trade, or at least one of the shoes to drop on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ dismantling to make room for the next era, the draft weekend provided rays of hope for the future and time spent waiting … and waiting for nothing in the present.

Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas was shut out, except for swapping draft picks upward and down.

No, the waiting was not sitting through the hours long the poorly executed draft broadcast with such wonderfully awkward moments as 1990s band The Goo Goo Dolls following 6-foot-6 defenseman Radim Mrtka into what we could only describe as a giant sci-fi reprogramming chamber where he and all of the new draftees video conferenced with their new teams moments after selection. The GMs and scouts sat at unadorned tables, blankly staring back like nonplussed American Idol judges about to deliver bad news.

Oh, the draft broadcast was, umm, interesting and short on several things that the Canadian broadcasts had, but fans have already savaged the Gumpish broadcast enough.

No, the Penguins, who led the league in draft picks and openly questioned if they could use them all, took a different strategy than expected. They used all of their picks and added more, 13 in total, including three first-rounders.

Unfortunately, two of the Penguins’ first-round picks were taken well over their projected slots, which has temporarily steered the conversation toward the immediate rather than the big picture.

Where do the Penguins go from here?

“We know what people say about the prospect pool and the (2025) class and how long of a road people think it’s going to be. But we are (in the office) and every ounce of our focus is about getting the team back to contention as urgently as possible,” Dubas said Friday night. “So I know that can at times be confusing. But we don’t sit down and say it’s going to be X amount of years. (It is) what can we do to help bring the team back to contention as quickly as possible, and then execute and try and get us there.”

After the dust has settled on the draft, there is some sunshine shining toward the horizon of the future, but there remains the same murkly light on the present.

None of the three first-round picks appear ready to leap to the NHL. However, 22nd overall pick Bill Zonnon is a 6-foot-2 physical horse of a scoring center who might just be able to overpower his way into the league in a lesser role if a few opportunities exist.

So, neither Friday nor Saturday brought immediate aid to building the next chapter or tearing down the current one.

Instead, the prospects selected are probably two to three years out, some longer if ever, and the Penguins remain stuck in the middle. As the team sits today, they are just bad enough to watch the playoffs on TV, but not bad enough to be contenders for the first overall pick, longshot lottery win notwithstanding. Neither are the Penguins good enough to truly contend for anything more than a Round One beatdown.

The rebuild took a step forward, maybe, with three first-round picks and a couple of steals in the third round, but the core of the rebuild is still idling, stuck in the middle as the veterans remain firmly ensconced upon the roster like gargoyles standing guard.

In fact, Dubas traded none of the veterans, not even the expendable daily contributors such as Noel Acciari or Kevin Hayes. There was only smoke that the Penguins tried to move others, such as Rickard Rakell, and received interest in Bryan Rust.

Nothing got close enough that the bloodhounds at the national outlets, who are paid to break such stories, got a sniff. The only trade rumors were the persistently silly Sidney Crosby chatterings.

So the rebuild remains in process, but with nothing really on the horizon until 2027 or 2028.

The next opportunity to swipe some young talent will be Monday, when teams make their final decisions to qualify or non-tender their restricted free agents. Draft trades failed to materialize, and Mitch Marner seems to be headed to Vegas, though that potential Marner trade is under a cloud of accusations of tampering and pettiness. Teams have a much better idea regarding the values of their players, the costs to trade, and what they need.

Perhaps a few more things will shake loose, but Dubas openly admitted to trying to make the moves all have been waiting to see, and admitted that teams are not moving players as he may have hoped a few months ago. The salary cap spike means teams can afford to keep their players, especially the young ones coveted by the Penguins.

Now, Dubas most likely faces a choice: To take an ax to the dying oak that is his team and suffer the losing consequences for the next few years or more, or stand firm with the talented veterans who are keeping the team good enough to avoid the highest draft picks and continue stockpiling picks for the long rebuild.

As we observed earlier this month, the Penguins are stuck. With dwindling opportunities to shed the weight of the past that is slowing their progression toward the future, sooner or later, Dubas will need to make the choice.

Eventually, the law of averages will produce a better Penguins team if Dubas continues to run drafts like the 13-pick haul of 2025, but eventually could be a long time. And that’s where the Penguins stand.