Report: 3 Penguins Who WON'T Be Traded

There's been all sorts of talk about when or if the Pittsburgh Penguins will blow up their roster. They made one small trade Tuesday night, but what will come of the rest of the team?

Per Senior Writer for the Athletic, Rob Rossi, team executives at the GM Meetings in Toronto did NOT come away hearing that Penguins boss man Kyle Dubas would be holding a "fire sale" during the season — "mostly because it isn’t realistic".

But what he did say is that no matter who is moved, there are three players that absolutely WILL NOT be traded:

Sidney Crosby
Evgeni Malkin
Bryan Rust

In fact, Rossi calls these three "Dubas’ absolute untouchables."

There are no surprises on this list. Crosby is obvious. The Captain chose to re-sign this summer because he and the team agree that he simply isn't going anywhere. Malkin's history, success, and meaning to the franchise is almost on the same level as Crosby's. Rust has been as consistent as they come over the last decade in Pittsburgh, has a couple of Cup rings himself, and a reasonable contract ($5.125M AAV) that still runs for another three years after this one.

So while a wholesale tear-down is not in the offing, Rossi did suggest that the Lars Eller move this week could give us a hint as to how Dubas will handle the futures of players like Noel Acciari, Blake Lizotte and Anthony Beauvillier.

The Penguins are in 7th place in the Metropolitan Division, at 6-9-2 and are tied for the worst goal differential in the conference (-21).

It looks like it's going to be another long year in the City of Bridges.