Penguins Trade Reilly Smith; Dubas Stockpiling Picks
Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas has thus far kept his word. Dubas said he wanted to acquire draft picks as urgently as possible, and he acquired three in the last three days, trading winger Reilly Smith to the New York Rangers during the heat of the NHL Free agent frenzy.
The Penguins trade netted them a 2027 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick.
Smith, 32, got off to a hot start with center Evgeni Malkin last season but soon swooned, finishing with only 13 goals and 4o points. Both totals were well off the expected numbers, and he scored only nine goals in his final 67 games.
The Penguins parted with a third-round pick for Smith at the 2023 NHL Draft, acquiring him from the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. Smith remained in Las Vegas for most of the summer, completing charity events, including a large annual charity softball event that had become quite popular.
Reports of Smith’s unhappiness in Pittsburgh surfaced, but the player spoke with PHN, aggressively shooting down what he called “totally baseless.”
Smith’s deal, with an average annual value of $5 million, has one year remaining. The salary will come off the books, giving the Penguins additional salary cap space. The Penguins traded for a second-round pick and forward Kevin Hayes Saturday in exchange for future considerations.
Update: The Penguins are retaining 25% of Smith’s salary. The retention reduces the Penguins’ cap space to about $7.5 million.
Categorized:Penguins Penguins Trade Talk
Nice move. Now use it to bring in a sniper or a net front presence.
Why? They likely are not going anywhere this year. Instead, use that cap money to try to acquire players, remake the bottom 6, and add speed and strength. If this team makes the playoffs, it will be because they figured out how to use the existing talent on the power play, and their bottom 6 forwards improved. No single addition will fix this team and make them contenders next year.
Pens retain 25%
Any complainers on this one?
Pens get some picks and cap space, although the 2nd rounder is a ways down the line, but could also be flipped if need be. Unfortunate there is 25% RS, but must be what it took to get the deal done and get the additional pick. Overall good deal.
It gives us cap space. Hopefully its used wisely and can help improve the bottom 6, LD partner for letang, or LW for Sid. Guessing the latter two will need done via trade.
Of course he would deny the claim that he didn’t want to play here. It was obvious throughout the middle of the year that he wished he was still in Vegas
The whole team played like they wanted to be in Vegas…
ZING!
Dubas best move today so far
Stamkos to sign with Nashville.
Nobody wants Jarry or Graves yet.