Penguins Trade Talk Out West, Rust Rumors; Latest We’re Hearing

It did not take long for the 2025 NHL Draft to turn serious for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Friday afternoon, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman dropped a small bombshell during his latest 32 Thoughts Podcast. Friedman reported that the Penguins and Buffalo Sabres are in trade talks for the ninth overall pick. Ordinarily, that would be an expected development unworthy of much more attention, as multiple reports indicate the Penguins aggressively trying to trade up in Friday’s first round, and it seems the Penguins and Buffalo have been in talks for most of the last six months.

However, the big news was that Friedman reported the Penguins and Buffalo have discussed Penguins’ stalwart winger Bryan Rust. Friedman’s podcast is below:

Rust, 33, has a no-movement clause through July 1, so he could block any trade; however, it would seem only a momentary delay until Rust has no protection next week.

The Penguins currently have the 11th and 12th overall picks, and Friedman didn’t clarify if there were more to the potential trade, such as one of the Penguins’ existing picks or if Rust himself was worthy of the top-10 pick.

Last season, Rust popped a career high 31 goals and 65 points in 71 games. He remained adamant throughout the season that his great preference was to remain with the Penguins. He answered the potential trade question with good humor, but always made a point to emphasize his deep desire to remain.

PHN asked Rust if he had communicated his desires to management before departing for the summer.

“Yeah, and I will say it to you (reporters), too:  I don’t want to leave here,” Rust said on April 16. “This is home for me. This is where I intend to be, where I want to be. We’ll talk more (with management).”

Those statements from Rust and others conflicted with general manager Kyle Dubas’s desire to move forward to the next phase of the team’s youth movement, yet all has been quiet since the end of the season. Despite the Penguins’ breakup day taking place more than two months ago, Dubas has not yet begun moving out veterans in favor of young players. Thus far, all of the Penguins’ veteran players remain, and the only changes are the departing free agents.

Rickard Rakell

It’s now just a couple of hours until the draft. To say that agents and teams are in full disinformation mode would be an understatement. The poker games are getting serious as the chips are finally on the table.

The other hotly rumored Penguins to be on the NHL trade block are winger Rickard Rakell, who also netted a career high in points and goals last season with 35 goals and 35 assists for 70 points, and defenseman Erik Karlsson, who was far from career highs with only 52 points and 10 goals.

PHN is hearing that several Western Conference teams are interested in Rakell.

One team to watch is the LA Kings. They had interest in Rakell at the March 7 trade deadline, but Dubas held out for better offers this summer or next season. LA has since swapped general managers, relieving Rob Blake of those duties and hiring Hall of Fame GM Ken Holland. LA does not figure to be players for the top free agents on July 1, though they’re a perennial playoff team with a solid nucleus and a Cup-winning veteran core.

So, they should have more motivation to make another run at Rakell than other teams might. Other interested parties might be engaged in shedding salary before they could take on Rakell’s relatively bargain $5 million salary for three more seasons.