Dan’s Daily: Penguins Trade Whirlwind; Blues-Oilers RFA Drama

The Pittsburgh Penguins were in the middle of the drama Tuesday as the NHL trade market shook loose. The St. Louis Blues are making a run at the Edmonton Oilers pair of restricted free agents, but first, they needed to re-acquire their second-round pick from the Penguins. That was trade one. Then Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas struck later in the afternoon by essentially selling more cap space to the Nashville Predators, who needed to dump Cody Glass’s $2.5 million salary. Elsewhere in the Daily, the Tampa Bay Lightning sale is pending, and the price is a ridiculous $2 BILLION. There’s plenty of debate about what Edmonton should do with the RFA offer sheets, and could the New Jersey Devils be the next offer-sheet target?

So much for my little vacation. The universe is a cruel and funny mistress. I happened to stop for gas in central Pennsylvania just as the Cody Glass news was breaking. The first trade delayed my departure by a few hours. The second forced me to sit in a truck stop parking lot with my laptop resting on my bike’s handlebars as I texted some industry friends who are far more familiar with Cody Glass than I am.

Their assessment of the person was exemplary. Their assessment of his game was … not.

Please bear in mind that last week, I wrote extensively on how Dubas would use the Penguins’ remaining cap space and what it was worth. Respectfully, we nailed it—Dubas would sell it for draft picks. The reaction online was rather interesting as I tried to explain the deal, and several basically repeated my column back to me.

However, there’s more to unpack after the Glass deal than I possibly could have expected. Oh, we’ll get to that today!

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: OK, here’s the first deal. It was pretty slick, as Dubas basically traded away his fifth-round pick for a second and a third and Kevin Hayes from St. Louis. Here’s the first Penguins trade.

Now, the second wasn’t a blockbuster, but it further log-jammed the Penguins’ bottom six with yet another struggling player who was superfluous to his team’s ambitions. Here’s the second Penguins swap as they acquired picks and Cody Glass.

If you’ve ever considered going on the road for a couple of Penguins games, here you go. In between the fun, I published a piece I thought was a nice “slow day” story offering the top five surprisingly awesome and affordable road trips for Penguins fans.

I must offer a little apology. The road trip story needed a little bit of cleaning up. If you read the first version, it was clunky. I was under pressure to get it done, and I had two more meetings before trying to get out the door hours late. I’ve patched it up, and I hope you enjoy it. That won’t happen again anytime soon.

Also–Pittsburgh Hockey Now and the entire Hockey Now network with Steelers Now and Pittsburgh Baseball Now are having a giant sale. Never before and NEVER AGAIN. Join PHN+ and get access to exclusive content from the entire network, plus an ad-free experience for just … wait for it … $10 for the year. The sale ends Saturday. I hope you’ll join the band of sports media rebels, who are some of the best at their craft. Subscribe here.

Steelers Now: While all of the Penguins drama was going down, we got the latest on the Steelers’ situation with the Brandon Aiyuk trade.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: It was wet noodle night in San Diego. The first nine Pirates in attendance were given free wet noodles to swing at the plate, and the losing streak hit NINE. Here are the ever-so-ugly details of the latest Pirates loss.

Gee, the Pirates needed bats before the trade deadline, and they still need bats afterward. I’ll stop there.

So, let’s turn our attention back to the latest Pittsburgh Pirates prospects report.

NHL Trade Talk, News & National Hockey Now

StL Today: Right after the Penguins helped St. Louis, they put their second-round pick on the table by making offers to a pair of RFAs, Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg of the Edmonton Oilers. Here’s the deal, and here’s what comes next.

It was a bit expensive for St. Louis as the offer cost them an extra third-rounder, but let’s not overvalue a mid-round pick, either. The aggressiveness is to be applauded. We had advocated the Penguins do the same, though St. Louis offered Broberg more than I projected, which is why they needed their second-round pick.

Sportsnet: The Tampa Bay Lightning may change hands, and the price is, to be polite, holy crap. Tampa is about to sell for about $2 billion.

We thought the Penguins went for a premium just a few years ago, but they were under a billion. I think we can assume that A) money is losing its value at the top end, and B) FSG is going to see that price, factor in the Pittsburgh arena district development, and consider doing the same. FSG doesn’t own sports teams because they love sports.

New Jersey Hockey Now: Under the radar, Dawson Mercer remains an unsigned RFA. Hmmmmm. James Nichols laid out the situation–what would an offer sheet for Dawson look like, and could the New Jersey Devils match it?

Washington Hockey Now: Heck yes, writes Nathan Moser. Follow St. Louis’s lead and deliver offer sheets for the exposed RFAs. Do it. And the Washington Capitals could.

Detroit Hockey Now: It’s not the biggest free agent signing of the summer, but I’ll tell you what–Magnus Hellberg was good fun to cover for the few weeks we had him in Pittsburgh. Hellberg has a new home on a two-way deal.