Penguins Live Chat: Pressure on Dubas; Dragged into Jarry Speculation

LAS VEGAS — The Pittsburgh Penguins do not have a first-round pick, but the 2024 NHL Draft remains a pivotal point in president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas’s current plans to improve for the 2024-25 NHL season and set the team up for future success.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski discusses the big-picture Penguins’ path and why the coming week is so vital. The pinwheeling effects of both success and failure could be significant and set the franchise on entirely different paths. Kingerski both laid out the cataclysmic changes that could occur should Dubas not improve the team and what should constitute a successful season with the team.

We continued with rebuilding strategies (13:00) and the importance of the draft in that strategy.

In addition, NHL trade chatter is beginning to envelop goalie Tristan Jarry, but thus far, it’s only speculation. Kingerski was dragged into it and laid out the probable trade return, the scenarios under which a trade could happen, and why it is still a long shot, at least until next summer (15:00).

And the readers’ questions started coming fast and furious. Rickard Rakell has become a target for some, and Kingerski untangled the misguided trade talk, including one reader who felt the Penguins must affix a draft pick to Rakell in order to facilitate a trade.

And finally, some readers toss veterans on the bonfire in an attempt to save money (35:00).