Dan’s Daily: Dubas Pulls Back Curtain, Petry & DeSmith on Trade Block?

On Monday, Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas pulled back the curtain on the weeks-long process and eventual Penguins trade for Erik Karlsson. Dubas also delivered a relatively positive update on winger Jake Guentzel. Part of the Penguins’ receipt in the Karlsson deal was forward Rem Pitlick from the Montreal Canadiens, and reports are that he requested a trade out of Montreal. The Canadiens may not keep Jeff Petry and Casey DeSmith for long, as both are again in the NHL trade rumors.

Also, Mikael Granlund was honest about his flop with the Penguins and is looking forward to another opportunity elsewhere.

Can we shorten Dubas’s title yet? PoHoGMKD isn’t cutting it.

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Pittsburgh Penguins:

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Montreal Canadiens’ late inclusion in the Erik Karlsson trade made it work, though several teams were involved. Dubas pulled back the curtain just a bit on the blockbuster Penguins’ trade.

LTIR is unlikely. Dubas also offered a positive prognosis on Jake Guentzel.

Mikael Granlund and Jan Rutta spoke to the San Jose media. With help from our folks in San Jose, Granlund admitted that partially because of his role and who he played with, it “didn’t work” with the Penguins.

Steelers Now:

The offense is struggling in one key area in Steelers training camp.

Kendrick Green is pancaking linebackers from the fullback spot. Alan Saunders writes–The Steelers are serious.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now:

Hey hey! Here is the quickie recap from a Pirates WIN.

The Pirates kids are showing now fear against the mighty Braves. The young Pirates roster looks good.

NHL Trade Talk, News & National Hockey Now:

TVA: New Penguins forward Rem Pitlick requested a trade out of Montreal after a couple of seasons spent bouncing between the AHL and NHL.

We’ll have more on Pitlick. I think he’s an interesting player, but he might get caught in a salary cap crunch at the end of training camp.

TVA Sports: NHL trade rumors aren’t going to leave Casey DeSmith alone in Montreal. They now have four NHL goalies for one net. Montreal media is already putting DeSmith on the trade block.

The thing about Casey is that he’s had two consecutive solid second halves of the season in which he’s looked like a pretty good backup goalie. He’s also had two consecutive first-half stinkers. I enjoyed it when I had a reason to talk to him. He really likes to talk about goaltending. I wish him well.

Montreal Hockey Now: I think this got lost in our massive Penguins trade shuffle, but Marc Dumont was the first to raise the possibility. Why did the Canadiens acquire Jeff Petry? He may not want to unpack, as his name also immediately popped up in the NHL trade rumors.

Philly Hockey Now: Gauthier and Michkov. Remember those names. The future looks pretty good for the Philadelphia Flyers.

NYI Hockey Now: The Metro Division is stronger than last year, and Andrew Fantucchio writes that it’s diminishing the Islanders’ playoff chances.