3 Penguins Trade Targets that Fit Dubas Plan

The Pittsburgh Penguins will not make a splash before the March 7 NHL trade deadline, at least regarding acquiring the big-name players meant to push a team over the top toward a Stanley Cup championship. That’s not where the Penguins are in their life cycle, and big moves will be exits, not entrances, according to general manager Kyle Dubas’s plans.

The pending lack of veteran acquisitions does not mean Dubas doesn’t have options to continue the team’s transition. In fact, there is some precedent for acquiring assets in this position rather than letting the team make the long walk down hockey’s Green Mile all alone.

But the precedent comes from the Houston Astros, who used analytics and what was considered a backward trade strategy–backward until it worked. As the Astros tanked between 2011-2014, former GM Jeff Luhnow revamped the organization from the bottom up and was not shy about acquiring fading prospects from other organizations to give them a second, or third chance.

Of course, there are a billion differences between MLB and NHL, not the least of which is a salary cap, but good drafting and good acquisitions rebuilt the Astros.

Dubas is already stockpiling draft picks and will continue to add young players this season as he deals away veterans who do not figure into their future, but he might find a few diamonds in the faded rough with prospects and young players who haven’t gotten over the hump.

In some sense, Dubas has already made a couple of such acquisitions, with Cody Glass from the Nashville Predators and signing Anthony Beauvillier. Of the Penguins’ many … many problems this season, neither of those players has been a detriment.

The trade market has a few more offerings that Dubas may be able to swipe on the cheap or even get paid to take, including one from an archrival.

As a primer, the Penguins have about $1.1 million in salary cap space and are projected to have a proportional $3.8 million, according to Puckpedia.com.

As another caveat, some young players deserve more leeway than others. More talented players will get more chances and be permitted to work through more mistakes because the payoff will be greater.

Potential Penguins Trade Targets

1. Morgan Frost

The player that Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella once referred to as a “toilet seat because he’s up and down,” Frost has never been comfortably entrenched in the Flyers lineup.

Frost is 25 years old and a long way gone from his 100-point seasons in juniors (at Ste. Sault Marie–Dubas’s old stomping grounds. However, Frost didn’t arrive in the Soo until a year after Dubas left for Toronto). He’s only a couple of seasons removed from his 19-goal, 46-point season in 2022-23.

Frost is a playmaking center with speed, who gets lost away from the puck (So he might be a bad addition to coach Mike Sullivan’s requirements). However, he carries a $2.1 million salary that expires after this season. He’ll be a restricted free agent after the season, so any team that takes on Frost will both be buying low, with the only risk being a modest salary cap hit

Can Frost put it together in a new spot without the constant specter of the press box looming? He’ll never be a banger or an aggressive player, but neither is Cody Glass or Kevin Hayes.

The Penguins have plenty of fourth-line centers, but none with offensive potential behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (unless you count Drew O’Connor).

The cost of acquiring Frost will be minimal. Since the Flyers are rebuilding, GM Daniel Briere has little incentive to dish a third-rounder to move him, but he also has little incentive to keep him. Swapping prospects or a mid-rounder seems quite possible.

Upside: 40-point offensive center who appreciates a fresh start.

2. Nick Robertson

Is it possible to put forth such a list without Robertson? This season, he has one goal in 17 games, and things are absolutely not working with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

#FreeNickRobertson

Toronto’s lineup is a bit of a jumbled mess without Auston Matthews, and Toronto has significant needs because they’re chasing the Stanley Cup. Perhaps if Dubas and his Toronto replacement, Brad Treliving, can work together, there exists the framework for a larger deal if Toronto can unload some salary on the Penguins and give up additional draft picks and Robertson as part of a larger deal.

Toronto could also use a bit more energy in their bottom six, which the Penguins possess, even if it’s not working for them.

3. Trevor Zegras

Stop. Do not get too excited. Zegras has a lot to prove to people around hockey. Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek has a five-alarm fire on his hands as the team is falling apart from the inside out, and Zegras has been available on the trade market before with no takers, at least at market price.

Zegras, 23, popped for 65 points in 2022-23 but has gone ice, ice cold with just six points this season. Zegras has every tool in the toolbox, but there are questions about his willingness to play on both ends of the ice.

Abandoning the tough side of the red line would not fit well in Sullivan’s room, or any other coach’s, for that matter.

Actually, Zegras’s reputation is not entirely dissimilar to a young Phil Kessel’s situation. If Dubas wants to add some talent—real talent—to work with Sidney Crosby, he won’t do better than Zegras. This space has often downplayed or outright dismissed acquiring the slick forward. When he scored 65 in 2022-23, he was primarily a center but has been moved to the wing since then.

Adding a player like Zegras would allow Sullivan to slide Evgeni Malkin to Crosby’s wing and put Zegras in the middle of the second line.

Cost: ??

Zegras’s inflated $5.75 million salary cap hit negates almost all of his trade value, and Anaheim has no use for quality veterans in return. Anaheim has $25 million in salary cap space, so a hockey swap would make sense, but getting two GMs to agree on his value in relation to others would be a difficult task.

Zegras is an enigma, but at 23, he’s got the potential to grow up and accept the rink is 200 feet long. Perhaps watching Crosby for a couple of years is the ticket. Surely, that gamble would be worth one of the picks acquired during the Penguins’ summer trades or one of the prospects getting some seasoning in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.