Penguins Rumors: Defenseman's Future In Pittsburgh Looking Murky

The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to be a team to watch in the trade market as we get closer to the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. The future of Jake Guentzel in Pittsburgh will, of course, be what fans are paying the most attention to, as he is the club's top trade candidate. However, there is also a possibility that they make more changes to their group.

In a recent article for The Athletic, Chris Johnston and Harman Dayal discussed a handful of under-the-radar trade candidates for the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. In it, they named Penguins defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph one of the players to keep an eye on.

As they note in their piece, Joseph has been scratched multiple times this season, and this was after he had a breakout campaign for them last season. Due to this and his promising ceiling, it certainly would not be out of the question for the Penguins to consider moving him for a player who may better their roster immediately.

Joseph is a former first-round pick who has the potential to be a solid two-way defenseman for many years, so there should be teams interested in him if he is officially shopped. Rebuilding clubs could particularly be interested, as there is still a chance that he has not hit his full potential, and a change of scenery may be what he needs to do just that.

We will now need to wait and see if the Pens decide to move Joseph before the deadline passes from here.