3 Pittsburgh Penguins Most Likely to be Traded

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the NHL's hottest team as they defeated the Boston Bruins on Monday behind a stellar performance from Tristan Jarry. While the team on the ice is putting in work lately, so have been the new management regime of Brian Burke and Ron Hextall. Let's take a look at the three Penguins most likely to be traded.

Michael Matheson, LHD

Penguins fans want Patric Hornqvist back from the Florida Panthers after ex-GM Jim Rutherford made this trade and then signed Matheson long term. While it's at a reasonable number at $4.875 per season, he hasn't been playing like a defenseman making almost five sheets. At 27-years-old there's still upside to be tapped into, but this season so far it's been a struggle with only four points in 20 games. Teams like Winnipeg, Philadelphia and Montreal are looking for defenseman, perhaps a deal gets done. Moving Matheson's contract frees up endless possibilities for Burke and Hextall.

Marcus Pettersson, LHD

The 24-year-old is in the same boat as Matheson, signed long-term by Rutherford and not producing at all. Pettersson is making $4.025 million per season and so far this year he's averaging only 17:30 of ice-time a night, playing mostly on the bottom pair. He's managed to chip in with two points in 19 games but quite frankly for the money, it's not good enough. The market for defenseman is hot right now and the Pens would love to free up some cap space, even if it means just draft picks coming back. Rutherford was busy trading all those away before he left.

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PROSPECTS

The Penguins don't have a ton of high-profile prospects so if they want to make a splash at the trade deadline they may need to package one of the defensemen mentioned with a couple of their 'better' prospects. Names like Drew O'Connor, Kasper Bjorkqvist, Samuel Poulin and Jan Drozg.

Burke and Hextall don't have any significant ties to any of these players so moving them out of town is easier. If they had been there to draft and develop any of them, it's certainly tougher to see them go. While it may not be a blockbuster out of Pittsburgh, expect some movement before the April 12th trade deadline.