Pittsburgh Penguins Rumors: Defenceman Made Available For Trade

The Pittsburgh Penguins are slipping out of playoff contention this season and are looking to make some changes to their roster. They won't be full-on sellers and won't be rebuilding while their core is still under contract, but they would like to clear up cap space and get some new faces into their lineup. That should start with a few trade candidates including Jeff Petry who the Penguins have made available, per Dan Kingerski. There has also been another report that Petry is not available according to Pierre LeBrun. For the purpose here, we will assume that he could be available.

The Penguins acquired Petry in the offseason from the Montreal Canadiens after his worst season since 2016-17. The veteran defenceman finished with six goals and 27 points in 68 games after scoring at least 10 goals and 40 points in four consecutive seasons. This season he has three goals and 19 points in 40 games and is under contract for two more seasons at $6.25 million AAV. He also has a 15-team no-trade clause in his contract and the Penguins will likely have to eat some of his salary if they are going to move him.

The Penguins made a couple of defensive moves in the offseason acquiring Petry and Ty Smith in two separate trades and sending Michael Matheson and John Marino to Montreal and the New Jersey Devils. The trades have not worked out for Pittsburgh, and since they still believe they can compete, are trying to correct that by changing defensive personnel once again.

It isn't that likely Petry has many non-playoff contenders with cap space on his list of teams he can be traded to, so a trade will be tougher to pull off. Petry is still a decent third/fourth defenceman on most teams but isn't the top defenceman he once was in Montreal.