What Comes Next for the Penguins (+)

It has been a tumultuous week for the Pittsburgh Penguins, though they probably would resoundingly reject such a characterization if not loudly scoff.

Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas is executing his stated plan or at least part of it. Dubas pulled no punches at the NHL Draft in June when he conceded there might be a difference in wants and needs between him and the Penguins’ locker room, which included coach Mike Sullivan.

The team is trying to win.

Dubas is trying to rebuild.

“I have to look at it through a broader lens,” Dubas said.

With a little pat on our back, it was just a week ago that we wrote that Dubas would likely spend the Penguins’ remaining salary cap space on bad contracts to acquire draft picks and the cap value of those players.

Read More: Penguins Blog: How Dubas Will Use Remaining Cap Space (Probably)

For once, our timing was perfect. Dubas did indeed continue to sell the cap space to the highest bidder.

First, Dubas allowed the St. Louis Blues a re-do on their trade at the draft in which they affixed a second-round pick to Kevin Hayes so Dubas would bite. St. Louis re-acquired their second-rounder and the Penguins fifth-rounder in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2025 third-round selection.

Next up was Cody Glass, who finally cracked the NHL with some regularity in 2022-23 after being part of a trade for retired players and contracts from the Vegas Golden Knights to the Nashville Predators.

And that’s where our updated story begins.

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