Analyst: 2 Penguins "Good As Gone; 2 More in the "Please, Take This Player" Category

It's well known around the NHL that the Pittsburgh Penguins are 'open for business' and will be a player on the trade market, as they continue their plan to inject a lot more youth into the aging roster.

Plenty of names have been circulating on the rumor mill as to who will stay and who will go, which has led Josh Yohe of The Athletic to break it all down into the names the Pens are most likely to move on from.

His list has some colorful category names, and the most interesting ones are as follows:

Penguins Who Are "Good As Gone"

Marcus Pettersson

The solid defenseman's name has been near or at the top of trade boards everywhere in recent weeks, and as a reliable top-four lockdown D, he will have a ton of interest. He finished last season with 30 points and a plus/minus rating of +28. He also has a reasonable cap hit ($4.025) on this, the final year of his deal. He is a UFA, so he is a rental. But a damn good one. A trade is inevitable.

Rickard Rakell

The 13-year veteran had his worst season in 10 years in 2023-24, but he's off to a nice bounce-back year, with nine goals in 25 games, and his time on ice is up a full two minutes per night to 18:32. Pittsburgh is hopeful that's enough to convince other teams to take on the three remaining years (after this one) at a $5M cap hit. He's a five-time 20-goal scorer and two-time 30-goal man, and at 31, shouldn't really be on the downside just yet. As Yohe notes, for the Penguins, "To get out of his contract would be significant." They'll do everything they can to make it happen.

The 'Please, If You Wouldn't Mind, Take This Player' Category

Tristan Jarry

The beleaguered goaltender has not been the No. 1 that the Penguins had foreseen when they handed out a 5-year deal to Jarry with a $5.375M cap hit before last season. But he has been an All-Star twice in the past, and doesn't turn 30 until after this season. As Yohe notes, "Make no mistake, he’s there for the taking if anyone is interested."

Ryan Graves

Graves' stock continues to plummet, and with another four years after this one still left on his contract ($4.5M cap hit), the Penguins are desperate for anyone to take the 29-year-old D-man off their hands. He's been a healthy scratch, and has zero points in 20 games with a -8 rating this season. With a career average of close to 19 minutes of ice time per game, that's down to just 15:19 TOI this year.

They'd likely have to be much more forceful than 'Please, if you wouldn't mind' to find a taker.