Penguins Trade: Stockpiling Picks, Helping St. Louis RFA Offersheet

The Pittsburgh Penguins made what seemed like a small trade with the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday involving draft picks.

That’s the quick headline. The real story goes a bit deeper and is indicative of each team’s rebuilding strategy. The Penguins acquired St. Louis’s 2025 second-round pick at the NHL Draft last month. In exchange for accepting Kevin Hayes and his $3.5 million salary in each of the next two seasons, St. Louis included their 2025 second-round pick.

The trade Tuesday was just part of a larger move and some wheeling-and-dealing by St. Louis president of hockey operations/GM Doug Armstrong. St. Louis needed their 2025 pick back so that they could offer sheet a pair of the Edmonton Oilers’ restricted free agents, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway.

Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas used St. Louis’s need for the pick to add to the Penguins’ growing stockpile of picks. The Penguins trade was a re-do of the draft-day deal, but this time, Dubas charged a premium.

Penguins Trade Details:

Penguins trade St. Louis’s 2025 second-round pick and their 2025 fifth-round pick to St. Louis in exchange for St. Louis’s 2026 second-rounder and Ottawa’s 2025 third-round pick.

So, the Penguins’ current tally on the deal is they accepted Kevin Hayes and his $3.5 million salary (Hayes’s full salary is over $7 million, but the Philadelphia Flyers are eating the other half) and now have Hayes, a 2026 second, which could be high in the round, and a 2025 third-round pick.

St. Louis’s RFA offer sheets to Broberg and Holloway will presumably be successful because Edmonton is over the salary cap and does not yet have a permanent solution to shed salary. There is no official word on which offer sheet rose above $2.29 million to require the second-round pick as compensation should Edmonton refuse to match. However, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli is reporting St. Louis offered $4,580,917 over two years to Broberg and $2,290,457 to Holloway.

One more dollar for each player would have elevated the required RFA compensation level. St. Louis will owe Edmonton the second-round pick for Broberg and a third-rounder for Holloway.